Fatal Alliances: Chapter 39
Out of all the sick jokes anyone had ever played on me, that would probably be the worst. My throat felt like it was on fire and I felt as if someone had just pushed me into a sea of poisonous acid. I couldn’t be awake right now, I must be dreaming. This must be a nightmare.
“What?” I asked softly in disbelief as I grazed my hands down his shirt.
“Julie-“
“No-you-you’re lying to me.”
“I’m not lying to you.” He said, holding me up.
“If this is some sort of-“
“It’s not.”
“No! I- don’t believe you!” I said.
“He’s telling the truth, Juliet.” A voice echoed from behind.
Mr. Nelson entered the room, looking as distressed and regretful as ever.
“No I- this- it’s a lie- it isn’t true- I don’t- no.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out like this, dear,” Mr. Nelson sighed, “Actually, Miss Greene, when I heard that there was another Lucien alive and willing to sign the partnership, I was a bit shocked. I thought Rocillie’s daughter was dead along with her mother from the incident Michael Bronte had planned.”
“Bronte? You- you know about-“
“Yes. I know. I know what happened years ago.” He said, taking out an old album from his bag and giving it to me, “I had brought it to show you, to explain to you but I couldn’t do that after Mr. Vandermir said you knew nothing about your relationship with Rocillie. I didn’t want to cause you any stress, we didn’t.”
“You -you knew about this Adrian?” I asked turning towards him.
“No, not until I told him.” Nelson answered, “I’ve seen how complicated relationships are, Juliet.”
Swallowing my pain, I tried opening the book where I saw an old photo of a class. Some of those faces, they were familiar. I knew them. At the corner of the class picture, I saw a face that I knew too well. My mother. She stood next to a girl I thought I saw already as well. Everyone was so young, I almost couldn’t recognize them. Brushing my fingers over my mother, I felt like crying. God, I wanted my mother with me. I needed her. Why did she have to leave me? Why did Bronte have to take her away from me?
“They were lovely girls.” Mr. Nelson smiled, “Beautiful, smart, polite. They were the best of friends, always with each other, had such bright futures.”
This other girl next to my mother, who was she? I saw her already. I know I did. Almost as if reading my mind Adrian replied, “She’s my mother.”
“Yes. There is Rocillie.” Nelson pointed to a tall elegant boy at the other corner of the picture, “And this is Bronte.” He continued as he showed me a young childish-looking boy with glasses somewhere in the middle of the students.
“The others?” I asked, still feeling that intense pain in my chest.
“They’re Finny, Ricardo, and Donnie’s Parents along with a few other students. All the members of the partnership were in this class, Juliet. I used to teach them. It was just a small class I had, but I ran it efficiently. Somehow I convinced their parents that it was better than home-schooling them, I wished I didn’t though. They were special children, I knew it from the beginning. They wanted to make a change for the better. But it destroyed them in the process. I saw how money, greed, power, and obsession killed them. It hurt the ones that didn’t deserve being hurt.” He said with a break in his voice.
Turning the page, I saw a picture of Frank Dawnly and Mr. Nelson.
“He was my assistant.” Nelson smiled, “He was a good man, although I had lost contact with him after some time.” Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t keep myself up again. Mr. Nelson probably didn’t even know that Mr. Dawnly was dead. “Like I was saying, all those children came from pretty wealthy families, they were all privileged kids. So they decided to start something called the covert partnership to help others, yet it didn’t end too well. The members were only Rocillie, your mother, Adrian’s mother, Finny, Donnie, and Ricardo’s parents, and Frank Dawnly. No one else knew about it, I just assisted a bit with the paperwork.”
“I want to know about Rocillie,” I stated feeling tortured enough. I just wanted him to get to the point, to tell me how exactly I’m Rocillie’s daughter.
“Rocillie was a good boy, growing up he was always the alpha male, but a brilliant young man. He grew up to be no less. He fell in love with your mother, Juliet, he was madly in love with her. I always saw it in his eyes. Ever since I started teaching him, he wouldn’t watch any other girl other than her. Trust me, he had a lot of admirers, but the one who he really wanted was always so very reserved and cautious. Your mother was such a polite young lady. She never showed it, but she really did have feelings for him. When they had gotten a bit older, he confessed his love to her, and so did she.”
Hearing about this felt so wrong, it was like I was being screwed within the head. This, I had no idea of this. My mother’s past.
“They were a wonderful couple. They had everything. They even decided to start a family and had a child.”
My heart felt like it suddenly dropped, “A child?”
“Yes, a little boy.”
“A boy… I have a…he’s-“
“Your biological brother. Lucas- I believe his name was.” Nelson sighed, “But things didn’t end so perfectly in the end, Julie. Rocillie corrupted himself with all the power of the partnership. He wanted more of it, eventually distancing himself from everything, from everyone. That was probably when your mother left him. She couldn’t take her son with her, even though she wanted to. Rocillie had the boy under his control, under his care. When she left she met with Bronte.”
“Bronte,” I said in disgust.
“No. Michael Bronte was a wonderful boy, Juliet. He was always kind-hearted and sweet. Like Rocillie, he too had a liking for your mother, but he knew he couldn’t compete with Rocillie, so he backed away. When your mother left Rocillie she had nowhere to go. Her parents were already dead and her family lived elsewhere. Maybe she had begun to fall for Bronte because of his sweet and kind nature. He was such a respectful boy when I knew him.”
“That’s when she had my sister Jenna?”
“Perhaps. Your mother’s destiny was so very ill-fated. Somehow Bronte probably found out about the partnership your mother was in. He, too, wanted part of it. And it’s a sad thing to say that even Michael Bronte turned out to be a wicked man. He cheated on your mother with someone else the whole time. She couldn’t handle it. Somehow I had a feeling that during that time Rocillie had met back with her, he comforted her.”
I was a bit confused now, “But I thought you said Rocillie-“
“That’s where you misunderstand me. Rocillie turned into a terrible man, but one thing that resulted from that was his feelings towards your mother, they grew stronger. He probably couldn’t stand the thought of her being with another man. Leaving him. He wanted her back, except it wasn’t love this time, it was an obsession. He was obsessed with her.”
“He wanted something he couldn’t have.” Adrian scoffed in a disgusted manner. I hadn’t forgotten he was right behind me. Somehow I knew I would probably have collapsed on the ground if he hadn’t been here holding me.
“Wait, so you’re telling me that I- I’m the result of some- I- I was like a mistake?” I was suddenly feeling sick, of everything, of myself.
“I’m sure it wasn’t like that. As for your mother, she knew she couldn’t stay with Rocillie. She knew he was a dangerous man and she already had a child with Bronte. When she found out she was pregnant with you, Juliet, she couldn’t take the chance of Rocillie having his hands on you. She didn’t want you to become the way Rocillie wanted. She couldn’t even control her own son, who turned into such a spoilt brat, who only obeyed his father. So for your own good, Juliet, she left with you and told Bronte it was his child.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I used to meet with your mother sometimes. The poor girl used to feel so tortured. She went through so much.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued, “Bronte believed it, but he still wanted to make some kind of profit from the partnership.”
Did Michael Bronte really believe that? Somehow I had a feeling he figured out I wasn’t his child not too long ago. I mean, why would he choose me out of all his daughters to trick? To put in danger? He was going to kill me. What biological father would do that to his own blood, his own daughter?
“So in the end, your mother thought she would have been safer with Bronte, but she was wrong. Bronte was the worst monster she’d probably ever met. Because of his greed, he destroyed her. When I heard of her death I was devastated.”
“And Rocillie?” I asked.
“I honestly cannot say how he felt. He’s a complex man, Julie. But one thing I knew for a fact was that he loved your mother, because if he didn’t, she would’ve probably been dead just like the other members of the partnership Rocillie got killed, and that was long before Bronte killed her. Maybe that’s why she decided to stay away from Rocillie as well, she was scared of him. He killed the people she loved.”
“But I-” I trembled, “I don’t understand, what does he want now? I- his men-from the hotel. Adrian, the men from Carolina, they were watching us.”
“What is she talking about?” Nelson asked Vandermir.
“I just have a feeling that Rocillie knows about her now. He knows that she’s probably his daughter and I’m taking her to sign her part of the partnership. This is going to complicate every damn thing now.” Adrian frowned.
“Wait, so they were after me in the Floris hotel?” I asked remembering that the men had asked Vanessa about some girl. God, it all made sense now. The sleeping gas seemed to come in every room I went to and was going in. Those men who chased me, Rocillie’s men, they weren’t after me because I saw them kill Vanessa from the Sovereignty Cult. They were probably after me because Rocillie had told them to find me. No wonder one of the men said I was ‘not how he expected me to be’, and they were stalking us since Carolina. They probably knew where we were right now. But why didn’t they kill me or come after me again? That seemed to be quite confusing.
“Well, just be careful. He’s a dangerous man.” Mr. Nelson sighed, “Maybe I could help with anything else you’re confused with before I leave?”
No. He needed to stop. I couldn’t. I couldn’t take any more of this. It was too much to process. He was saying that I was the daughter of some psychotic, murderous, domineering villain who’s basically the root cause of all deaths and screwed up the lives of everyone I knew and used to know. And that I was probably just a mistake that happened as well. Let’s not forget that Rocillie’s after me for God knows what. I didn’t want to hear anymore. Adrian was right, I couldn’t handle this. I knew tears were streaming down my face, I just felt like pretending it wasn’t. I wanted to pretend that everything is all right.
“No, we’re alright. Thank you.” Adrian said and Mr. Nelson walked out with a sad smile.
I felt weak, like my body had just been stuffed with glass and bricks. My head, on the other hand, felt light. I didn’t know what to say again. Nothing in my entire life felt real anymore. Nothing was. Slumping onto the edge of his bed, I tried to calm myself and tried to get myself together. I couldn’t. I couldn’t pick the pieces of my broken life back up again. This time, this time I knew I couldn’t. My chest felt heavy, everything was so painful right now, and even my nose was burning red. I was a mess, an utter deplorable mess.
“You hate me.” I sobbed.
“What?” Adrian asked kneeling next to me.
“You- that’s why you were avoiding me. You-you must hate me.” I cried.
“That’s not true, Julie.”
“Yes! It is, and- and Ricardo will and Finny will and everyone will when they know about this.”
The thought of everyone suddenly loathing me was unbearable. Even Mrs. Dawnly might if she gets to find out about this. I didn’t want to feel this agony right now. I wanted it to stop.
“They won’t, and I don’t hate you, why would I do that?”
“Because Rocillie- he-“
“You had nothing to do with what Rocillie did in the past.” Adrian tried to reason.
“I don’t want to be his daughter. I don’t even want to be in this partnership,” I broke down even more than I possibly could, “Why did my mother have to do this? Why did she leave me?”
“Greene.”
“It isn’t real!” I pulled the locket off in distress and throw it across the room, “My whole life was just a lie! It was all fake! My-my sisters they- they’re not- I’m just a-“
“You’re not.”
“I don’t want to be his daughter Adrian- I- he killed people- he-“
“You’re not like that, Juliet.” He said and gently pulled me to him, allowing me to bury my face into his chest.
“Everyone keeps leaving-” I sobbed.
“I won’t leave you. Stop crying so much.” He stated with his voice hoarse and soft as he held me with him.
“But you- when you were avoiding me.”
“The only reason I did that was because I didn’t want you to ask me about this. I knew this would happen.” He sighed and pulled away slightly to push the strands of hair behind my ears, “Honestly, Greene, I don’t like it when you cry.”
There was a silent moment where he just stared at me, it wasn’t awkward, it was different. That moment I felt like I could understand his invisible façade.
Getting himself up, he gazed down at me with a half-smile and continued, “It makes me feel disorganized. So, stop it right now.”
Trying to wipe my tears away, I stood up with small, short sobs and a sniffy nose. He was right, I shouldn’t cry so much. But somehow it just felt a little better that I got that out of the way. I kept bottling everything up inside that I forgot I was only human. Believe it or not, maybe crying isn’t all that bad, maybe it isn’t wrong to let out your emotions. Maybe it’s just feeling sorry for yourself when you do cry that’s wrong.
“Adrian.” Ricardo suddenly knocked on the door gaining our attention, “We have a problem. Donnie just called, Finny got in an accident.”
“What?” I breathed, horrified at his words.
“Where is he?” Adrian’s voice suddenly seemed rough.
“In the hospital.”
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