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“I think we need this right now,” he said walking back into the room to hand me the bottle. He had no fucking clue. Unscrewing the bottle cap, I tipped the bottle back and took a huge swig.
The sweet whiskey hit my senses and instead of a burn, I felt a deep warmth radiate through my insides settling deep into my belly. The drink had calmed me slightly, so I decided to take another swig.
“Let me start at the beginning…” Jared said watching me as I wiped away any excess whiskey. I sat the bottle on the table as Zerro emerged from the bedroom coming to a stand behind Jared.
I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment, and then allowed my anger to go as I waited for Jared to start talking.
“Your mother married John. John was, well, strange. He was a cop, and his job was to protect and serve, obviously. He took his job a little too close to the heart. He ended up in a case involving the King Family.” Jared paused looking between Zerro and me. Had we been connected to one another far before our own births?
“Many of his own men, people he considered to be his best friends, were dying left and right. Killed mostly in the line of duty, but because there were many problems in the family back then, most died trying to take down The King Empire. John and your mother’s marriage started out great, but then turned dark. As he became more and more consumed with finding out what he could with the King Family, he left your mom alone. Verbal abuse turned into physical abuse, and eventually, your mom was running. Running from a life she felt she had caused.”
“Wait…? My mom felt she caused all these problems.” I couldn’t even wrap my head around this. My mother couldn’t be to blame. Then again, I thought John was a perfect angel. It was all a lie.
“Just listen,” Jared continued. “In the summer of 1994, your mom fell pregnant with you. Now, I say fell because it wasn’t a planned pregnancy. Your mother had been seeing James, my father—our father, I mean,” he corrected himself.
“She was seeing our father behind John’s back. Most of the time, it was just out of comfort and eventually, it morphed into so much more. Anyway, John came home and found out about your mother’s affair. She had to tell him she was pregnant. He would find out anyway. And thus, this started the long war of hate between the two brothers.
“Now, I’m not sure if the abuse stopped, but your mother was never allowed to tell my father. Never. John simply made her keep it secret. He threatened to take you away if she ever told. John later discovered our father was working for the King family. This only fueled his rage more. He hated Alzerro’s family, so he used you. Your mother died, and he used you. He made an agreement with Alzerro putting you in the line of fire. He knew what he was doing. He just wasn’t seeing it for all it was… His need for vengeance and revenge was more important than his love for a child who was never his,” Jared finished, and I couldn’t help but grab the bottle of whiskey again. This was too much.
Were there even words to describe how I was feeling? Zerro had killed John—someone I considered to be my father, but had he deserved it all along? Had he truthfully beat my mother, had he hurt the person I loved most and then used me for revenge?
The whiskey warmed me all over again, as my insides burned like fire. “This is so fucked up,” I whispered into the air. Sitting the whiskey back down on the table, I looked over at both of them.
“How did you find this all out?” I questioned.
Jared smirked, and I knew it was going to be an interesting conversation. “Well, asshole over here couldn’t handle losing you. He needed something to hold onto. I went to my father to do a little digging and he told me. Turns out, on your mother’s dead bed, she let our father know. She told him everything.”
I stared deeply into Zerro’s eyes. In them, I could see the flames of fire flicking back and forth. He had come for me. He had wanted to save me. He may have been a man of death who held pain and heartache, but he knew love. After all, his vengeance was fueled by his love for his mother.
I took a deep breath trying to digest all of it. It felt like one of those huge pills you had to take when you were sick. The bigger the pill the harder it was to swallow.
“Let me get this straight, John and James are brothers. My mom married John, cheated on him with James because John was abusive. She then ended up pregnant with me, but only managed to stay with John because he said he would take me away. John’s anger stemmed from his brother working for Zerro’s family who had killed numerous colleagues of his who had tried to bring them down. My mom never told James until she was dying. John took my mom’s death as a perfect chance to get revenge and made a deal with the new King of the family knowing if his life were on the line, I would step in?” My mind was reeling. I was angry, mad, sad, abused, and used. I felt not only my life had been a complete lie, but everyone I had known along the way was a lie, too.
All of this explained a lot but not soon enough. I should’ve known these things all along. I should’ve been told these things from the start. Times like now made me wish my mother was still here. Tears threatened to escape from my eyes, but I forced them back. I had been strong this far, I could go the extra mile, right?
