“No.” He was irrefutably serious. “Open the damn door. You’re being ridiculous.”
“I am not.” I gritted my teeth. “You’re still married to my sister. I’m being reasonable.”
There was no way around the weirdness. Nothing could ever change the fact that they were married. Even after time, I’d still be the other sister. It made me feel like shit.
He pressed his head against the window. “I want you to do this for me. If you feel uncomfortable, I promise we can leave. I need you to try.”
I opened the door and got out. “Couldn’t this at least wait until things get better? I don’t want to be the other woman.”
“You’re not.” He corrected. “You’re THE woman. You always have been; even when we weren’t together.”
I hated how he said the sweetest things when I wanted to remain mad at him. It made it hard to hold a grudge.
He didn’t knock on his parent’s front door before he opened it and walked inside. I followed behind him like I’d never been in the house before. For the most part, every room looked the same. There were new elements that had been added, but not much.
Stosh took my hand and pulled me into the kitchen where we could hear the clattering of pots.
His mother glanced over and smiled. She pointed right at me. “You, come here, right this minute.”
My hands began to shake. This woman had me scared to death. I turned around and looked at Stosh before walking in her direction. From the stern grimace on her face, I was sure she was going to smack me. With fast reflexes, she pulled me into a hug. “Willow, I am sorry for what has been going on. Charles and I have heard about it from Stoshua. We had no idea what she was up to.”
“Me either,” I replied sadly.
“It pains me to say this, but I never did trust your sister. She’s never made him truly happy.”
I kept my arms around her, feeling like her support was giving me added strength where my parents had taken away. “Thank you for saying that.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I often wondered why they were together. It never made sense how he ended up with Ivy. She wasn’t his type what-so-ever. Then when all this stuff started happening, I had to question my son. Things weren’t adding up. After he was arrested, he sat us down and explained what Ivy had done. I’m very sorry for believing her, Willow. I hope someday you can forgive me.”
I began sobbing. “I already do. You don’t know how much this means to me.” I pulled away and wiped my eyes. “I trusted her and all this time she’s been living her life with a goal to destroy me. I love your son. I always have.”
“Please dry your tears. It’s going to be alright, child.”
I shook my head. “Everything I’ve ever known about my sister has been a lie. I loved her and she never cared about me at all. She’d rather see me dead. In fact, she’d do just about anything to see me miserable.”
Emotions were pouring out of me at this point. I couldn’t control them. So much pent up anxiety had caused me to finally lose control.
“When we got the call Stoshua needed our help, you can imagine how much we wanted answers. Once we brought him home, he told us about your sister. Forgive me for being blunt with you, Willow, but you’ve really been dragged in the muck. I’m not one to use profanity, but that little bitch has messed with the wrong family. We had no idea about any of this. I never would have accepted her into my family, otherwise.”
Even though a weight was being lifted off me, it still didn’t change the disaster my sister had managed to make of my life. Stosh and I would forever be judged for our relationship. Still, I wrapped my arms around the woman and let her hold me back. “Thank you for saying that. It’s been difficult to take in, so I can understand how confusing it must be. I only wish this would have been avoided.”
“And your parents are not angry with her over this?”
I pulled away and peered down at the floor. “They think I’m the bad guy in all of this. In fact, they’re under the impression I pretended to be my sister to seduce Stosh. She told them lies about me, and about him. Now we’re trying to figure out a way to be together without her finding out about the bab…” I realized what I said and froze.
She was looking from me to Stosh. “Wait. Did you just… Are you… You’re pregnant?”
“I…” Stumbling for words, I couldn’t believe I’d messed up and almost spilled.
Stosh stepped between us. “It’s true. We’re having a baby, Mom.”
She put her hands over her mouth and kept looking at us. Stosh glanced at me and winked. “I’m going to be a grandmother?”
It was obvious he was elated. “Yes, you are. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but under the circumstances we couldn’t advertise it. We can’t let Ivy find out about it.”
His mom seemed alarmed by his comment. “Why? Do you think she’d put them in danger?”
This time, I didn’t care about keeping my feelings bottled in. “Ivy wanted me to get pregnant so she could steal my child and raise it as her own.”
The woman seemed to be having a hard time grasping the lengths my sister was willing to go to take over my life. “Come again? What are you saying?”
“We’re twins, so my baby would be the closest thing she’d ever get to having one of her own.”
She looked at her son. “You knew about this?”
He held his hands up. “It’s not how it sounds. I knew about some of it, but only toward the end, after I learned what she’d done to me.”
“How could you?” She slapped her son right in the face. “You were raised better, Stoshua. I don’t care what you’ve done to make up for it” I was in shock, standing back and watching her scorn him.
He didn’t back away from her. “Mom, let me explain. Hear me out before you assume I’d ever hurt Willow.”
“You’d better start.”
Stosh spent the next hour telling his mother the details he’d left out before. Even I could tell how disappointed she was in him. It didn’t matter how he’d acted out of desperation.
When it was all said and done she turned her attention back to me. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted nothing to do with my son for his part in all of this.”
“I believe in my heart he did what he felt was necessary at the time. He wasn’t the only one who lied. I told him I aborted the baby. I’d gone back to town and wanted to forget what happened. Regrettably, I did make the appointment, but the idea of giving up our child was too much for me to handle. Besides, I think in my heart, I wanted to have a part of your son, even when I assumed he didn’t want the same with me.”
“So you were never going to tell him? I suppose it would serve him right.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anyway. Stosh and I are together, and my sister isn’t going to get in our way this time. The years she took from us we’ll never get back, so it’s important we move forward with our future she isn’t a part of.”
She shook her head. “This is like something I read in my novels. I didn’t think this kind of stuff happened in real life.”
“Apparently, it does,” I replied.
She pointed at both of us. “So, where do you stand now? From the looks of it, you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be together.”
He put his arm around me. “You’re damn right we are.”
“And Ivy?” She questioned.
“We don’t know where she is.” I announced abruptly.
“You could be in danger?” It was right for her to think so. We were putting ourselves in a dangerous situation.
“I’ll keep her safe,” Stosh informed her.
“You’ll stay here with us. I’m not having that girl come anywhere near my grandchild. We can call the police. There has to be some kind of legal action we can take.” She was adamant.
It wasn’t ideal to throw our problems at their feet, but for the time being, we needed a safe place to stay until we could figure out what was next.
Since his father wasn’t around for the conversation, Stosh had to sit down with him later that night and explain it all a second time. He was as shocked as his wife, but ended up being just as supportive.
Before bed, Stosh held me tightly in his arms. I felt safer than I had in days. “I’m going to see your mother tomorrow.”
I sat up and looked at him. “What? Why?”
“It’s time she starts listening, Will. This shit has been going on long enough. Instead of running from Ivy, we’re going to fight her. She’s going down and I’m going to do my damndest to make sure it’s slow and painful.”
“Fine by me.”
He kissed me on my nose. “Get some sleep. You’ll need your energy when we dance with the devil.”
Chapter 24
Say What?
I didn’t want to face my parents, especially since they’d just written me off without hearing my side of the story. I get how things appeared, but I still deserved the chance to plead my case, whether I was having an affair or not.
His parents stayed up pretty late, asking a million more questions before retreating to their room. We understood it was a lot to take in. Hell, I still didn’t fully understand the complexity of everything that had been happening. One thing we all knew was my sister was sick. She needed help.
As much as she’d done to sabotage my life, there was still this small part of me that felt like I was the only one that could get through to her. Contrary to her accusations, I felt like she must love me enough to want to be me so badly. Against my better judgment, I walked out onto Stosh’s parent’s terrace with my cell phone.
Before I changed my mind, I quickly dialed my sister’s number.
“You have a lot of nerve calling me.” The way she answered let me know she was still playing her head games.
“You have a lot of nerve saying that.”
“What do you want, Willow? Are you calling to brag about how you got the guy, because I don’t care anymore? In fact, I’m totally bored with it all.”
“I’m calling because I want you to tell Mom and Dad the truth.”
“Fat chance, sis. I’m enjoying hearing them whisper how much of a disappointment you are to the family name.”
“You owe me, Ivy. After trying to ruin my life, it’s the least you can do. If you truly don’t care if I’m with Stoshua then tell them I’m innocent. You can’t be this cruel.”
“I owe you nothing! Don’t you get it? Are you fucking stupid? I hate you. All our lives you’ve gotten what you wanted. You don’t even have to try. You’ll never understand what it’s been like to live in your damn shadow. I’m done pretending to not care.”
“Ivy, please. We’ll leave town and never bother you again. You can have them all to yourself.”
“I’m not giving you the satisfaction of being the favorite again. Mom and Dad are eating out of the palm of my hand. They gave me a hundred grand to start a new life. You really think I’d fuck that up?”
“You’re using them. That’s not love.”
“Of course I am. Just because things didn’t work out with you, doesn’t mean I hadn’t come up with a backup plan. Things couldn’t be working out better. Mom and Dad are feeling so sorry for me they’re bending over backwards to make me happy. They think you’re the worst person on the planet. I love it. I know for a fact they’ll change the will. You’ll be left with nothing.”.
“They’re going to find out the truth someday, Ivy.” By this point I was fighting to urge to break down. She was ripping out my soul with a smile on her face. She didn’t care about; maybe she never did.
“They won’t find out. I’m making sure of it. As far as they’re concerned, you’re a lunatic.”
“What are you going to do?” The line was quiet. “Ivy, answer me. What are you planning?”
“Goodbye, Willow.”
The call ended.
I was immediately petrified of what was going to happen next. Without regard for what time it was, I dialed my parent’s house number in hopes of getting to them first, before she could ruin my life any worse.
“Hello?”
“Dad, it’s Willow. Listen to me, please. Ivy is up to something and you might be in danger. You have to trust me. I need you and Mom to leave town for a couple days.”
“Willow, how did you get out of jail? Tell us where you are. You need help, honey. The doctors can medicate you. We can get you help.”
“Dad, no! Please.”
“You need to stop this. Your sister has been through enough trauma.”
I hung up the phone, realizing I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. I’d have to prove it to them somehow. I just didn’t know what to do to make it happen.
Looking back, I should have woke up Stosh and asked him to go with me, but I was too worried about what my sister was planning to do. For some reason, I felt like my parents were in serious danger and I couldn’t shake it.
There was no time to rationalize with my quick decision. I was already halfway down the road in a pair of pajama pants. Stosh’s car was a stick shift, and I wasn’t used to them. The gears grinded as I switched from one to another.
When I pulled up out front, the house was dark and quiet outside. The lights were all turned out, as well as the other houses on the block. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I wasn’t going to be able to rest until I knew they were both safe. That eerie feeling was overwhelming me more and more by the second.
Unfortunately, the house was locked and the key that had been hidden was moved. I checked under every rock, in the mailbox and even the electrical panel on the side of the house with no result.
Maybe it was the worst thing I could have done, but I started beating on the back door.
I heard footsteps and someone unlocking it, albeit the person that answered was not one of my parents.
Rafe stood with a gun pointed at me. “Don’t make a scene, Willow. If you scream I’ll kill you.”
I immediately threw my hands in the air. “Rafe, please. Whatever Ivy has told you is a lie.”
He pointed behind him with the gun. “Get inside and keep your voice down.” I heard him locking the door behind me. I looked around quickly, but didn’t see or hear my parents. He turned around. “Where’s the boyfriend?”
“He’s not here!” I wished he was, but I’d left him sleeping.
“If you’re lying, it will be the last thing you ever do.” His threat wasn’t taken lightly. I said nothing as I backed away from him.
“I swear. I’m all alone. Now tell me where my sister is. Where’s Ivy and where are my parents? Why do you have a gun? What the hell is going on here?”
I heard someone walking down the stairs. “Well, I couldn’t have planned this any better. Did you come here to say goodbye, Willow? Did you know I was throwing a last hoorah?”
“What are you talking about? Are you leaving town? Did you come here for the money?” I pointed toward Rafe. “Why is he armed? Where are mom and dad?”
She started laughing. “The money? You mean the hundred grand? I can’t survive on that.”
I was scared with the way she’d said that. “Ivy, what are you planning on doing?”
“Don’t be stupid, Will. I think you already know the answer.”
I shook my head and backed up against the wall as she got to the bottom of the steps. Her boyfriend kept his gun pointed in my direction. “Please, Ivy. Please don’t do this. They’ll give you anything you want. Please don’t hurt them.” Tears streamed down my face. I felt devastated, like she’d already done something to them.
She reached over and ran her hand through my hair. I pulled away, but didn’t make any sudden movements to alert Rafe. “Dear sister, if you only knew how happy I am that you’re here. I’d been trying to figure out how I was going to make this go off without a hitch. With you here, everything just got so much easier.” Her smirk made me want to cringe. Whatever she was up to wasn’t good.
“What are you talking about?
Tell me now.”
She laughed at me. “You’ve already been arrested. The state thinks you’re a loose cannon. When they see your lifeless body holding the gun that killed our parents, there won’t be anyone to argue. I’ve already practiced my part. After a few weeks of grieving, I’ll meet with the attorney and collect their entire estate. The life insurance will take about a month to receive. The hundred grand check will hold me over until that comes.” She clapped her hands together and reached for Rafe. He walked over and kissed her like I wasn’t in the room. “Then we can run off and do anything we want, right, baby?”
“You’re sick!” She was utterly insane if she thought I’d allow it to happen.
“Fuck you! Do you think I care what your opinion is? Nobody has ever cared what I thought.”
“You’re wrong! I cared. I would have done anything for you,” I argued.
She pushed me, sending me falling to the floor. “I don’t want your fucking sympathy. You will never understand because you had everything I wanted. They were so proud of you. Their sweet Willow got the good grades. She made the right decisions. She fell for the good guy. I’M SICK OF IT! They worshipped you while ignoring me. I hate them! This world will be better without them in it.”
“That isn’t true, Ivy. They love you. We all did.”
She held up her hand. “Just stop, Willow. I’m done feeling like I’ll never be worthy. I’ve spent too much time planning this out to back down now. I want to be happy and the only way it will happen is if they’re out of my life for good.”
“Murdering your family isn’t going to make you feel better.”
“Awe, do you think I care what you think of me or how you think I’ll feel? I don’t!”
“Where are they?” If I was going to die, I wanted them to know I loved them. It didn’t matter if they thought I was the traitor in the family. I had to stall my sister in order to figure out a way to help my parents.
I was already sobbing, in fear of my fate. Stosh was never going to know I was gone until morning. He’d never get to say goodbye to me, or share in the birth of our baby.
Twinsequences Willow Page 17
