KARLIE
These were never the answers I wanted. Pandora’s box was literal in this situation. They weren’t my answers. This whole time I wanted to open that box, thinking I would get everything because destroying Scarlett was all that mattered, but so many people have been destroyed due to us all. Due to us dwelling on our own bullshit, not being able to see the truth. Now it’s time for me to face my truth. So I can move on.
His face appears on the screen once I press play. He is unrecognizable. Nothing about him is vibrant or alive anymore. He is pale and drained. His cheekbones are too narrow and his eyes hang low.
“Karlie.” He says my name like it is torture for him. “If you’re watching this…” he closes his eyes. “No. When you’re watching this… it means… it means I am one of the fallen.” He opens his eyes and my heart stops like it used to when he would kiss me. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. That’s the first thing I want you to know. Everyone who resembled darkness had their hands wrapped around my throat before you even could help me breathe again. No matter how much your light shined on me… I was too enraptured. Too weak. I should’ve stayed with you. I should’ve fought harder, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be sad. I wanted to condemn myself. I don’t know why. I guess I’m just like her… and now I know why she was so sad. So sad. The things I’ve seen done to her. You can’t unsee that. So that’s why I erased what I saw…. So Hugo doesn’t see it. If you’re watching this, that means August has given the DVD to you along with the box. Then again, hopefully he doesn’t because maybe the truth is just the end to all. Leaving nothing but misery. Karlie, I hope you are living a life full of passion and good and everything you deserve, which is greatness. I hope you have met a man who is worthy of you. I hope you have children as beautiful as you.” He chuckles. “You know I had a dream that you were playing with our baby. I dreamed of a kid that we made together… and the selfish part of me is sad to know that will never become true. But it’s all for the best. Hugo will probably be angry at what I did… but although I know he is stronger than me… I didn’t want to take the chance of scarring the image of the mother that is already broken in his eyes. I love you, Karlie. I love you more than this world and this world is no longer a place for me. Too much pain is too much to bare… so this is my last will and testament… and I leave you with my heart. I leave you with love… and my brothers. If you want them. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t… but even through the torture you experienced… I know you’re gonna make it and that although changed… the real you will still rise into the woman that is strong, that is loyal, that is caring, that is you. That is someone I could never imagine being in a world without. That world is non-existent… and I’m gonna make sure it stays non-existent.” The determination in his eyes says everything. I wanted it not to be true. I wanted it not to be a possibility. “Goodbye.”
The screen goes black and I know. I know he was the one who pulled the trigger. He was the one who took his own life. He couldn’t take it and nothing was enough anymore, including me.
“Mommy.” I turn around and see Ollie staring at me, wondering why his mother is crying, and all I am scared for is that he saw the video and although he is too young to understand, he is not too young to question and comprehend at least one clear piece of the puzzle that I will one day have to put together and show him and his sister. “Did the man in the video make you cry?”
I nod, smiling and he runs over and climbs on the couch. I hold tight to him as he lays his head on my chest. “Was he a bad man, Mommy?”
“No baby. He was only a sad man who did something very good for me.”
He takes a deep breath, lifting his head up and looks at me. Those blue eyes, the same as the ones from the video, are all I need to be ready for his next question.
“Is he my daddy?”
My mouth almost crumbles with sobs, but I get over myself and I tell my son the truth.
“Yes. He was… and if he knew that you and your sister were here right now, made from not only me but from him… he would love you more than this world and he would tell you… that you are the greatest thing he has ever done.”
A child doesn’t know what to do with that information, so Ollie just hugs me again. I comb my fingers through his curls and rest my head on top of his and close my eyes. Gabriel, you bastard. I love you not for how you loved me, but for the gift you left me with. I will let our son and daughter know of your love for them. It does not matter that there is no record of it. What matters is the truth.
19
JULIET
I wake up in the afternoon to find myself alone with no Hugo in sight. Last night after his breakdown and August comforting him, Hugo and I just lay in bed, clothes still on, his tears still running as his eyes stared at the ceiling. I just watched him until I fell asleep.
“Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one who had a rough night,” Karlie says walking in his room.
“No,” I sigh. “Hugo watched the video but instead of horrifying images of his mother getting abused by his uncle… it was something pleasant. Simple yet… very important.”
“I figured.” She folds her arms and sits on the bed across from me in her grey trousers and white top. “I watched the DVD Gabriel left for me. He explained his reasons.”
“Yeah, I figured that too. Where’s Hugo?”
“He’s gone to the root.” She speaks of the term I am well aware of. “He wanted to do it himself. He said he’ll meet us here later. I unfortunately don’t want face what I am about to face alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I sent Anika and Cody with the kids and my mom would probably be arrested for assault if she were to come with me, and seeing that you and I have more than we want to admit in common, I figured why not you.”
“Where are we going?”
“To see the man who I despise the most.”
HUGO
My leg shakes as I sit on the patio waiting for the old bag to come in. When she does, she smiles beyond repair of any damage she has done and dismisses her assistant once she is settled in her wicker chair.
“I’m so glad you’ve returned. I feared that the last time we spoke it was very crude and unresolved.”
“There’s a lot of things unresolved within our family, I suppose,” I say calmly. “Tell me about the night Gabriel came to see Uncle Stewart.”
That delighted smile she had before melts between “tell me” and “Uncle Stewart.”
“Gabriel never came here to see me or your Uncle Stewart.”
“You lie.”
“I want you gone.” She begins to stand up from her wicker chair, but I quickly reach over and firmly press her fragile hand on the arm of the chair. “How dare you,” she says, but she stays confined with fear in her blue eyes.
“My dear Grandmother, I am not fond of the sight of that smug grin you put on or that irritating squeak when you sit your slowly deteriorating body in that wicker chair or the way that you speak of my mother. I am not fond of any of those, yet I still sit here, face to face. Man to woman and I demand of you to tell me the truth. You owe me. You owe my brothers. You owe your daughter.”
I let go of her hand fold my hands together, elbows on knees, eyes on her face as she begins to tell me.
“Gabriel came in a frenzy. I knew something was not right, but he insisted on speaking to Stewart so I left them be. The workers had been sent home early. Only Grace was here, but she stays in the pool house so only I was in the house. Only I heard Gabriel screaming and Stewart begging for his life. I went downstairs as fast as I could, but I was too late.”
GABRIEL
“Stewart!” My eyes go from my uncle’s lifeless body to the screaming old woman in her white robe. She is my grandmother, Georgette Voncliff. She falls to him. Her hands cover over his face but do not touch it due to the blood. She grabs his wrist and feels for a pulse, but I know there is no rhythm, no beat, no nothing. I know because I made sure
there wasn’t.
“He’s dead.” She stares up at me and her tears mean nothing to me because I know she knew. Still I do not feel better. I feel no justice in the matter. I feel nothing but pain now. Pure nothing and pain. “You killed him!”
“He… He… He molested my mother.”
Her eyes switch from mourning to knowing. “He was sick.”
“He was sick and you did nothing for my mother. You let him get away with it!”
“You know what would’ve happened to this family’s name if anyone knew?”
“Of course… Of course public representation is all that matters. Never mind your son fucking your daughter on a regular basis.”
“You do not get to judge me!” She stands up. “Not when you have done this. You have killed my son.”
“He killed my mother.”
“Your mother killed herself. She was sick. Both of my children were sick. It will forever be the burden I have to bear. I have always cleaned up Stewart’s messes. Now I have to clean up yours. Go.”
“No.”
“Fine. You wait for the police and you tell them why you killed your uncle. You tell him the secrets of this family and watch as the world ruins us and ruins you and everyone around you. Your brother’s future will be destroyed and everyone will know the truth about your mother. Is that what you want?”
I throw the fire poker to the side because I don’t know what I want anymore. Then again I do. I want everything to be better. I want Karlie.
HUGO
Her trembling hands reach for her glass of ice water and she takes a sip, watching my eyes pierced on her, imagining that night when Gabriel killed our uncle.
“My mother was the one who pushed Uncle Stewart over the balcony, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“That’s how you fell out. You disowned her because of it.”
“I did no such thing. She decided to turn her back on this family. The only time she came to me was to complain about your philandering father.”
“Which you spat about in her face.”
“I told her the truth.”
“Ya know I used to think that. I used to think my mother would come and just complain about my father to you, but really she was just trying to get you to admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“Admit that you loved her… admit that you loved her and you failed her. You even failed your son. You failed as a mother and you failed as a grandmother.”
I stand up from the chair as tears fall down from her eyes.
“I loved both my children. I protected them.”
“You protected yourself and you have lost both of them and you will soon lose everything because the world will know what kind of club your son was running. I will do everything I can to keep my mother’s name out of it. Good luck dying alone. I’ve heard it’s rather depressing.”
Being related to this family was always supposed to be like being a descendant of royalty. Hell, it was being royalty. It was always just a name to me though. A name that felt like nothing to me. So now I know why.
KARLIE
We stand outside of Mandrake Capital. Its building is tall. One of the tallest in New York. It’s always featured in magazines as one of the most beautiful skyscrapers in New York with its tinted dark blue windows that glisten every time it’s sunny out. Mandrake Capital in big letters in that same dark blue except solid hover over us at the entryway.
“You sure about this?” Juliet asks me looking up at the letters.
“Nope,” I say. The two dopey looking security guards at the front desk check us out once we come in through the revolving doors.
“How can I help you?” one asks.
“Yes. Karlie Fairchild here to see Jonathan Mandrake.”
He checks the attendance sheet on his clipboard. “You are not on the list.”
“I don’t need to be. Ring em up.”
Juliet’s brow arches as she is impressed with my attitude towards the minor roadblock.
“The Fairchild name is the definition of no worries.”
“I see that.” We share laughter as the security guard hangs up the desk phone.
“You’re good,” he says with slight envy that I not only have that plug but that I’m out of his league.
It’s quiet in the elevator and now that courage is starting to diminish. It takes forever to get to the top floor. The doors open and we are greeted by a young woman in black from her hair to her shoes.
“Mrs. Fairchild, Mr. Mandrake has cleared his schedule so he will be able to see you now.”
“I bet he would.” I start to follow but then stop and face Juliet. “You’ve done this. Faced him before.”
“You haven’t?”
“No… I haven’t.”
“He’s not that tall.”
“What?” I ask confused.
“He has that confidence, that intimidating thing Hugo has, but at the same time he doesn’t. When I came to him, I realized he wasn’t that tall like most men. Hell, like even Hugo. He’s just as scared as the rest of us. He’s a scared boy with daddy issues too.”
I get that, so I roll with that and follow the assistant into the office. Jonathan Mandrake is standing at the corner of his office with his suit jacket off. His right thumb rubbing on his black suspenders as he looks me up and down with annoyance.
“I suppose you’re not here to tell me that the NeoLock deal is mine.”
“Sorry, no.”
He chuckles. “You know I must admit I thought you would aim higher in your retaliation towards me.”
I laugh a bit at that. “I thought so too at some point. I always tried and tried to figure out something good but… I guess I just couldn’t do that to my children’s grandfather.”
He keeps the smug grin on his face, not showing any effect of the acknowledgement of his blood.
“I thought you didn’t get them tested.”
“I did. Hugo talked me into it. I always knew the truth, but the confirmation was needed.”
He nods his head in amusement. “So what do you need from me now?”
“Did you know that your wife used to get molested by her brother, Stewart Voncliff?”
He laughs like it’s absurd. “Who the hell told you that? Hugo making up things in his fragile head?”
“No. Gabriel. He left a DVD for me with August and this box Scarlett Brayson had. Inside the box is the truth about the Black Card Club. Stewart Voncliff started the club for pedophiles like him. There are video files of each member raping a child or teen. The youngest we saw was about seven years old. At least now you know that it wasn’t you when you were denied by the club. It was them. It was always them.”
“How do you know Suzanna was one of them?”
“There was a file on her in her brother’s file and Gabriel saw it. Who knows what age she was. I’m guessing when she was a young girl. Gabriel deleted it so Hugo wouldn’t see it.”
His eyes wander around his office. His jaw is thin and tight as he ponders on what I’ve just told him.
“Feels like your whole world is crashing down, huh?”
He makes his way to his desk and sits down.
“Makes sense. My wife was always very fragile. Far too fragile for anyone to not notice, even me. But she was beautiful and I was smitten and after I married her, I realized she was not cut out.”
“Cut out for what? A husband who cheats.”
“I wasn’t perfect, but I gave her everything.”
“You gave a rich woman more luxury. That’s what you considered to be everything? How about love?”
“I watched my mother forgive my father for every mistress, every bastard child he conceived, and in return he gave her security and reassurance of his devotion to keeping their marriage intact.”
“We are the product of our environment.”
“It is a well said saying.”
“Still not an excuse.”
“I agree, but what is it you want from me
? What do you want?”
I pull out the picture I brought with me and place it on his desk in front of him. He’s now staring at two of the most beautiful children the world has ever been blessed to see.
“Those are your grandchildren. Twins. Inseparable like their uncles. Eyes like their father. Mischievous like him. Intense like the whole Mandrake and Voncliff clan. But not monsters. No, they are not that. They won’t be because they got me. Gabriel had me. He loved me with whatever love he had left. Whatever love that was not badly damaged by you and his mother. He did fail me. Not by stopping what happened to me, but by giving up. He failed because that was all he knew. Failure runs deep in this family… but your sons that are still here. Your sons that you pretend are as dead as Gabriel and your wife… I don’t think they are gonna be failures when it comes to what matters most. It’s gonna be a struggle for Hugo… but I think he’ll persevere. I think that was something Gabriel wanted for him. I should’ve fought back that day I called and told you I was pregnant. I should’ve told you how sick you made me feel. It’s something when someone makes you feel less of a human and all you people did. You made me feel less… but I now see that hating you is a waste. I feel sorry for you, Mr. Mandrake. I just wanted you to see your grandchildren and for whatever heart and soul you have left… I wanted to see if there was a possibility that it was capable of feeling something. I will be letting everyone know who my children’s father is and it will be their choice if they want to bear the Mandrake name proud. And I hope they will.”
Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2) Page 22
