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“Marnix, baby, I’m so sorry. You deserve to know. You both do. It…it was to silence Reilly’s dad, Eagan.” She gulps loudly, looking down at her hands wringing in her lap.
“Silence him? Silence him for what?” Reilly’s brows shoot up in confusion.
“What do you mean to silence him?” Rush is the one to ask this time as I try to piece this shit together.
“Your fathers never got along. They didn’t see eye to eye on many things, and it got even worse when Phillip found out a few things.” Her voice is shaky with every word she utters.
“Did he silence him for good? Is that why my parents were murdered?” Reilly growls, abruptly standing from his seat as he pounds his fist against the table.
“Oh god, no. No, no, no.” She shakes her head quickly. “Well, I don’t think he did. What happened to your parents was a tragedy, and although Phillip had his problems, he wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.”
“What the hell?” Reilly starts to pace back and forth at my mom's comment. Not that it helped anything, considering it’s never been solved as to who killed his parents.
Tara gently grabs my mom's hand and rubs her thumb back and forth to comfort her.
“I…I don’t know where to start. I don’t want any of you to hate me.” She’s nervously looking around at each one of us. It’s obvious that whatever she has to say will be a giant blow to the gut.
“How about from the beginning,” I say somewhat sarcastically. She gives me a glare but nods her head.
“Nix, your father and I loved each other very much. He was the man of my dreams from the very beginning. He had a rough exterior but was kind and sweet to me. We went through a lot together. I was young and in love, and he was a man who was promising to take me away from the life I was living. He truly was a doting husband.” She sucks in a deep breath, going back and forth on whether or not to keep going.
“In the beginning, I wanted a baby so bad. We tried and tried to get pregnant, but it wasn’t happening. I was upset about my body not giving me everything I wanted most in the world. It started to pull us apart. I was frustrated and projecting it onto your father, and he wanted an heir so bad he couldn’t understand why we couldn’t make that happen.” Tears begin to stroll down her face and I’m terrified of where this is going.
“He started to work later nights, and I began to resent him for it. I accused him of having an affair, even though he wasn’t, but it pushed me back to the West Side, where I stayed with my parents for a while. Your father begged and pleaded for me to return home, but I was too stubborn to listen.” She wipes away her tears and takes a moment to suck in as much air as possible.
“I was getting groceries one day, and I ran into Reilly’s father. We used to be really close friends growing up, but we drifted apart when he joined the Snakes. He saw how bad of a shape I was in being away from your father, so he offered to buy me lunch. We chatted for hours upon hours before I headed back home. After that, we met up a few more times and reconnected. At the time, Reilly, your father and mother were also going through a rough patch so it was something we could bond over. Well…” She instantly stops looking between both of us. I’m not sure what Reilly is feeling, but by the looks of it, he seems to be in pain. I think hearing about his family and his parents' marriage is hard for him.
“Keep going,” Reilly cuts through the silence. We are all on pins and needles waiting for her to continue.
“We…umm…we ended up sleeping together in the heat of the moment, out of pure loneliness. Both of us were hurting. We were drunk and upset. That’s no excuse, but it was one time and never happened again after that. Nix, your father and I were later able to reconcile, and I moved back home with him. Reilly’s parents also got back together. All returned to normal. After that, your father and I had you, and we were solid. Shortly after Nix was born, your parents had you, Reilly, and we all moved on with our lives,” she rushes out the last part like her ass is on fire.
“Then what did my father need to be silenced for?” Reilly asks. I think we all know where this is going, but we need her to actually say it out loud.
“Nix…Well…Nix was born only eight months after his father and I reunited.” She looks anywhere but at us, and I sit there stunned.
“What are you saying?” Reilly looks like a ghost. He looks like he’s going to pass out at any moment. He knows what that means but we need to hear her say it for it to be real.
“Phillip bought Eagan off because he didn’t want anyone to know that he was really Nix’s dad. He wanted everyone to think you were his because his ego couldn’t take the hit. After Eagan and Mary died, he stopped transferring the money, but I kept doing it out of guilt.” She closes her eyes, waiting for it all to sink in.
“He was paying my dad off, but the account’s in my name?”
Mom nods. “Eagan never wanted the money for himself. He wanted you to have it one day. He wanted you to be successful and happy.”
So what my mother is saying is that my whole life I thought that asshole was my father, but the truth is I had another asshole for a father. He cared more about money than he did me. He’d rather get money to give to hisrealson than claim me as his.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I’ve never been wanted by either of my “fathers.”
“So...we’re…we are—” I stutter, trying to comprehend what she’s really saying.
“You and Reilly are half-brothers.” We don’t even have time to process this information because just as my mother utters the words, the house begins to shake as three loud explosions go off around us. The pieces of the second-floor ceiling crash down like part of the explosion came from inside.
“What the hell was that?” Smoke begins to fill the room, instantly making me panic. I can hear a window crash in the distance as more smoke surrounds us. Another explosion goes off, this time shaking the house even more than before.
“Go. Now! Get to the safe room. Go.” Rush moves toward the window, peeking out as little as he can. “Fuck. Fuck. Get Tara and Rose down there now. Come on. You all need to move now!” he shouts, calm and commanding on the outside, but I know him well enough to see he’s freaking out on the inside.
Reilly quickly stands, ushering my mom and Tara to the shelter stairs to get to safety, the little mutt on their heels. I move to the window, standing next to Rush looking out to see at least ten people wearing all black, covered in masks surrounding the house. Fuck. My mom’s car looks like it’s been blasted to pieces, making me grateful she wasn’t in there at the time.
