“Stacia, get your mom. I’ll take care of this,” Talon says, helping Mom to her feet. She sobs at the sight of me, her face red and puffy with her fear and sadness.
It’s enough to get me to stop swinging, and I rush to my mom and slide my arms around her, half dragging her and half carrying her toward the front door of the condo.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry, my baby. I didn’t intend for this to ever happen. He wasn’t supposed to find out,” Mom says, her tears pouring down her face. “I’m so sorry.”
I don’t respond as I rush her toward the car, leaving Talon behind to face my dad. I want so badly to go back in and go after him, but my mom doesn’t let me go.
And then a gunshot rings through the air, and I stare at the entrance to the condo, holding my breath. I expect Talen to come out, covered in blood, ready to announce that he took care of my dad, but he doesn’t.
Another pop shatters the quiet, and I push my mom into the backseat of Talon’s car.
“Stacia, get in!” Talon yells, swiveling and pointing a gun at the condo. “He has a gun and he’s not going down willingly.”
I scream as I spot my dad running out the door behind Talon. I brace for him to shoot Talon in the back, but he’s out of bullets. Talon swivels and aims, pulling his trigger. It misses Daddy by inches, penetrating the stucco wall of the building. My dad ducks, taking shelter behind some thick hedges.
“Hurry! The cops are already on the way. I hear the sirens. We’ll deal with him later.” Talon jumps into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut. “Drive!”
I stomp the throttle without hesitation, sending my mom forward against the seats. Her cries echo through the air, and I try my best to tune them out, focusing on getting as far away as possible.
My knuckles turn white as I clutch the steering wheel, turning onto the main street, only to step on the gas pedal harder, sending us accelerating well past the speed limit.
“Pull over up here. I need to make some phone calls,” Talon says, motioning to a busy parking lot at a strip mall.
“He’s going to turn me in to the police. I know he is.” I flutter my eyelashes, clearing the unshed tears away. “He’s going to put me in prison. He has the money and power to make it happen. Fuck!”
I smack my hands on the steering wheel, my breath coming in heavy pants, my whole body now strung out on adrenaline.
Talon grabs my chin, turning me toward him. “We have the evidence we need to put him away. This is not going to fall on you. Do you understand?”
I heave a breath, shuddering as it escapes me. “Yes.”
Talon strokes his fingers over my cheek, soothing me the best he can. “Good. Now let me drive. I want you in the backseat with your mom. Stay low. We’re going to get her somewhere safe. And then Kenneth St. Germaine is going to get what he deserves. That fucking king will fall.”
26
Demented Reign
“Iloveyou,baby.I am so sorry for all of this. I’ve just been so afraid of Kenneth that I didn’t really know what to do. I thought that things were going to be okay. I had apologized. I had admitted that I was young and stupid, I was caught up on drugs, and I’ve made some bad choices. I thought Kenneth had forgiven me. We came to an agreement to move past things because he wasn’t exactly faithful.” Mom curls her knees to her chest, sitting up in the bed of one of the guest rooms in Leandro’s home. “But I guess that didn’t matter, considering what happened to Sebastian. I knew Ken had struggled over his death, but he had you. This secret took that away. I feel horrible.”
“Wait, who is Sebastian?” I ask, my mind still reeling from the information. It sounds as if Daddy only found out about my mom’s unfaithfulness recently. It explains why something as little as embarrassing him sent him over the edge. He’s always been a little unhinged.
“He was your half-brother from your father’s own discrepancies. Kenneth wasn’t exactly a saint, despite his last name. That’s why I thought we could get through this. We had both made mistakes, but he was upset I didn’t tell him when Sebastian came into his life right before you graduated college. Your father had an affair with some lawyer in San Diego, and I guess the kid found out. I don’t know much about it. Your father was so happy to have a son. It was all so...I can’t explain it. It made me feel like utter shit, and it’s what made me spiral and end up back in rehab. The guilt. Then he killed himself, and a part of me knows Kenneth blames himself.” Mom rests her chin on her knees, her eyes glassy.
“This is too much,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut. I know every family has skeletons in the closet, but it seems like I found an entire cemetery. Now I know that the heir Christos spoke of was Sebastian. He was given the task to sacrifice me, because I was deemed unworthy. His suicide saved my life. He saved me. This is so twisted. My mom doesn’t even know the extent of it. She’ll live her life just assuming Dad lost it because he found out I wasn’t his. I’m certain he’s had a psychotic break because he lost his heir and then learned that the one he had left—me—isn’t even his blood.
“I know, baby. I don’t have all the answers. Kenneth is a very secretive man. I know he was trying to protect me from his criminal activities. I just wish it didn’t turn out this way. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he did love you. He didn’t want you to know, because he didn’t want you to think anything differently of him.” Mom sighs, her breath heavy with her exhaustion.
She’s making excuses for him even now. She needs so much help, and I don’t know if just talking about it’s going to do anything.
“Why don’t you get some rest?” I say, standing up from the loveseat. I can’t sit here and listen to her for another moment if she’s falling into old habits again. My dad tried to kill her. He wanted to kill me. He killed my biological dad. This shit has changed me.
I need to get ahead of it now.
Mom squeezes my hand. “Okay, Stacia. I am tired.”
I kiss her forehead and shuffle my way across the room, feeling as if the weight of the universe crashes down on me. Talon waits for me in the hallway, and then engulfs me in a hug, pulling me off my feet. He kisses me softly, trying his best to smother away the confusion and hurt, the anger and betrayal, the best he can.
Carrying me to the living room, Talon holds me close as he makes his way to the couch. The TV blares with the news, and I hear the newscaster say my name.