Twisted Forever

by Danielle James

  I was trembling with anger and I wanted to punch something or someone. I never remembered my father being such a maniacal person. Whenever I saw him he was always quiet and smiling. Now I was seeing a side of him that showed me Manny wasn’t the only evil lurking in the church.

  I needed to get back to Miami. I didn’t have time to say goodbye to Anais. I didn’t want to. I just needed to see Camilla face to face because now I was having stupid fucking doubts about Mason. I sat in my car searching for last minute flights back to Miami and when I found one that left in a matter of hours I peeled off towards the airport.

  I didn’t have anything on me. No clothes, no bags, nothing. All I had was my wallet, keys and my phone. It’s all I really needed anyway. I could have Anais ship the rest of the shit or I could come back and get it another time.

  **

  Chapter Nineteen

  The entire flight I was restless. I looked at pictures of Mason and used and app to stitch our pictures together so I could compare features. When I stitched his picture beside Manny’s my stomach dropped and I felt like I was going to be sick.

  They looked exactly alike.

  The resemblance to me was minimal compared to Manny.

  My mind flashed to Xavier going crazy thinking Chloe wasn’t his. Thinking Emmanuel rigged the results just to preserve his pristine mayoral image. Xavier was wrong about Chloe but could it have happened to me?

  Was my father right?

  I called Camilla but it went straight to voicemail. I felt a rage bubbling up in me unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It consumed me and made me quake with anger. I tried to convince myself that Dad had just gotten in my head. Mason was mine.

  He had to be mine.

  Camilla told me he was mine. I saw the fucking lab results with my own eyes.

  I also saw the way Manny doted on Mason. The way he didn’t hesitate to tend to Camilla whenever I was out of town while she was pregnant. How he was at the hospital cutting the cord and not me.

  My world started to spin and my heart started to break. All of a sudden the plane was moving too slow. I needed to be in Miami immediately. All my reserve had gone out the window and I was a torrent of emotions and rage.

  The longer the flight droned on the more I scrolled through pictures of Mason against me and Mason against Emmanuel. I felt myself becoming unglued with each flick of my thumb across my phone screen.

  When I felt the wheels hit the ground I welcomed the bump and nearly flew from my seat the moment we got the okay. An Uber was waiting for me directly after I got off the flight. I declined the small talk from the driver because I was obsessed with looking at pictures of what I hoped to be my son.

  Something told me to go pick up my damn car so instead of heading straight to Manny’s like I wanted to, I got dropped off at my place so I could drive myself to my brother’s house.

  Two cars were in the driveway when I pulled into the driveway. Instantly, I recognized Camilla’s car the other one was Cole’s but there was no sign of Manny’s usual truck.

  Fine. I didn’t need him to talk to Camilla any fucking way. My fist pounded against the thick wooden doors the same way my heart was pounding against my chest. An irritated Cole flung the doors open with his usual scowl.

  “What the fuck do you want?” He seethed. “Why are you knocking on the door like the police?”

  “Where is Camilla?” I demanded, not answering any of his questions.

  “Look, Alexander I’m tired. I don’t feel like fucking you up tonight. Go home.” I eyed him angrily then pushed past him and into the foyer. Cole’s fingers dug into my shoulder as he slammed me against the wall.

  “Nobody ever fucking listens to me. I just said I was too tired for this shit.” He growled as he crushed his forearm against my throat. I used every bit of strength to shove his tall ass away from me. He stumbled backward but stood in my path.

  “What the fuck do you want, Alexander? She doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

  “Well I want to talk to her.” My voice boomed, bouncing off the foyer walls.

  “Cole, what the hell?” Camilla appeared behind him. “Alexander?” She moved Cole out of the way and put her hands on her hips. “I thought you weren’t coming home until Monday.”

  “Change of plans.” I snapped as I stalked into the house. “Where’s Manny?”

  “He’s not here. He’s with Chris,” she frowned. I looked at her face and saw bruises and momentarily my anger paused.

  “What the hell happened to you?” I asked, turning her head from one side to the other. She moved my hand away and I saw scratches on her arm and hand.

  “I got in a fight,” she sighed.

  “Yo, Camilla do you want me to stick around?” Cole asked glaring at me. I could feel the combative energy pouring off of him.

  “No, go back in the family room.” Before he left he locked eyes with me in a clear challenge that told me he would not hesitate to defend Camilla. Once he was gone I stared into those jade eyes of Camilla’s and broke. Something broke in my chest and pain flooded my body.

  Heartache.

  “Is he mine?” My voice was thick with raw emotion. I held up the phone and a picture of Mason filled the screen. The unshed tears in her eyes gave me my answer. A guttural, involuntary roar erupted from my chest and poured out of my mouth.

  “Answer me!” I screamed in her face until she was trembling and wincing.

  “N…No…he’s not.” She stammered. “I didn’t know either, Alexander! I’m so sorry. I just found out and I was going to wait until you got back to tell you. I found out when you left.” She sniffled and pleaded with me.

  “Camilla, are you okay?” Cole’s voice sounded from the hall.

  “I’m fine!” She sobbed. When she turned back to me her face was red making her bruises appear angrier than before. “When did Emmanuel tell you?” She asked tearfully. “I thought he was going to wait for you to get home.” I didn’t answer her. I was in a daze. My body was stiff with rage and pain.

  Mason wasn’t my son.

  Emmanuel knew. Maybe Camilla knew too. Maybe she was lying and she knew all along. I glared at her through the tears in my eyes.

  “He’s not mine.” I said full of sorrow. “I loved him. I watched him grow and he’s not mine.” My words were turning sharp and pointed the more the notion sunk in that I wasn’t Mason’s father.

  “Alexander, I’m sorry. I never intended for this to happen. I didn’t even know. I was hurt too.”

  “Oh were you hurt? Were you hurt to find out that the man you wanted to be with any goddamn way was the father of your fucking child?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Lying ass bitch.” I was drunk off of my own emotions. I couldn’t even see straight let alone think straight.

  “What?” Camilla froze with hurt invading her eyes. “Alexander, I didn’t know.” She reiterated. I couldn’t believe shit she said anymore though. Everything was a fucked up lie and she was at the center of it.

  “Everything he said was right.” I laughed out loud into the air.

  “Are you okay?” Camilla asked through tears. “We all need to just sit down and talk about this. It’s weird for me too.”

  “Weird? You just reduced this entire situation to weird? My life is fucked up!”

  “Mine too! You don’t think I felt the same way?”

  “It’s not about you right now. For all I know you were in on this shit with Manny.” I laughed again and rubbed my face with my hands. “I should have never thought in a million fucking years I could help someone like you progress. You’re weak and worthless.”

  “You’re hurting, don’t do this shit.”

  “Fuck you, Camilla.” Fury overtook me and it was turning me into a mad man.

  “Okay, look you can be mad at me all day but the fact remains that I. Did. Not. Know.” The more she insisted that she didn’t know, the more I hated her. The more I heard lies falling from her lips.

  The instant I felt my hand s
trike Camilla’s face I was flooded with regret. Her skin was hot and smooth and the impact made the back of my hand sting. She fell against the wall from the force and I flew backward into the wall with a thud.

  Numbness crept over my shoulder and I couldn’t move. I looked down to see blood pouring from my shoulder out of a singed, smoking bullet hole. I’d been shot.

  “Move another motherfucking inch and the next one is going in your goddamn head, Alexander.” Cole stood over top of me with his gun trained at my forehead.

  “Cole! What did you do?” Camilla scrambled to her feet and tugged at Cole’s gun wielding hand. I groaned in agony as the burning sensation set in and the heaviness of my arm caused me to drag it along as I stood.

  “Fuck him! I should fill his ass with bullets,” Cole shouted. He looked at Camilla but his hand still clutched his gun and it was aimed at my head…still.

  “Shit,” I moaned. “I…didn’t mean to hit you.” I told Camilla.

  “Oh, now you didn’t mean to hit her? Really?” Cole was looking at me again. “I knew I should have just shot your ass when you came to the door.” He marched over to me digging his thumb into my wound. I roared out in pain and tried to hit him but all I could see was blinding white light. “Get the fuck out.” Cole shoved me towards the door. “See, and who the fuck is going to clean this shit up?” I heard Cole grumble to nobody in particular as I limped out, terrified now for my fucking life.

  **

  Chapter Twenty

  Emmanuel

  The hospital chair in Chris’ room was sharp and bony and jabbing me everywhere I tried to get comfortable. My eyes were so damn tired it was hard to keep them open but at the same time it was hard to keep them closed since I was so uncomfortable. I punched at the flat pillow, hoping to make things better for myself. It didn’t work.

  My phone lit up on the couch across the room and I trudged over to get it before it woke Christina up. Cole was calling me so something had to have happened.

  “Yeah?” I yawned.

  “Alexander should be headed your way.” His voice grumbled over the phone. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus.

  “Alexander? Coming where to the hospital?” I kept my voice low.

  “Yeah. I just put a bullet in his shoulder.” He told me nonchalantly. I could hear movement on the other end and I frowned.

  “What? What the fuck happened? Is Cami okay?”

  “Nah, not really. She wont let me take her to the hospital but she’s bleeding. He hit her. He knows about Mason,” he breathed. “He came over here and lost his shit.”

  “He knew before he got there?” I quizzed.

  “Yeah. He knew. That’s why he came.”

  My head started pounding from trying to stop myself from tearing up the hospital room.

  “I gotta go,” I growled. I dropped my phone on the couch and went out of Christina’s room to the nurse’s station. “Excuse me what’s the quickest way to get to the ER triage rooms?”

  “Take the elevator to the lobby and go right.” A nice woman smiled at me.

  “Thank you.” I nodded and steered myself in that direction.

  By the time I got there I could hear someone talking in one of the triage rooms. “We’ll get you into the OR soon, Doctor.” I tilted my head walked towards room three. A nurse stopped me asking for ID before I walked into Alexander’s room though. I flashed her my mayor badge and she apologized profusely.

  “Don’t let anyone in this room. No matter what you hear, understand?” I told her quietly. Her brown eyes widened and she nodded slowly.

  “Yes, Mayor Scott.”

  I walked into his room and he was laying on the bed groaning from pain with his eyes closed.

  “I’ll bet anything in this fucking world that you would have never put your hands on Camilla if I were there tonight.” I leaned against the door frame and watched as Alexander’s eyes flew open in shock.

  “Manny,” he gasped. “Manny.” His voice hardened as he glared at me, clutching his shoulder. “You motherfucker!”

  “Oh, wow. Ouch.” I laughed and walked over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder firmly causing him to let out a string of curse words.

  “How did you find out about Mason, Alexander? I was planning to tell you but Cole said you knew already.” I pressed harder on his shoulder and he let out a grunt through his gritted teeth. “He said you hit Camilla.” I bent down so that I was in his face. “You hit her? You really fucking hit her out of all people? You could have came to me and hit me but you chose to hit Camilla?” I patted his shoulder and paced the floor. “You hit the mother of my child?”

  “Fuck you, Manny! You had no right to do what you did!”

  “I was trying to help you out little brother.” I smiled. “I know I made a mistake now. Just like you made a big mistake by hitting Camilla.”

  “I never meant to hit her.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “All of this shit happened because of you! You have no right to come in here being threatening. Just like Cole had no right to shoot me. Fucking asshole.”

  “Oh he had every right to shoot you if you put your hands on Camilla. You should be happy he just hit you in the shoulder. He’s an excellent shot. He could have hit you in the head.” I calmed the frenzy that rushed around inside of me and sat on the chair next to Alexander’s bed. “Mason is my son. I knew it the moment she told me she was pregnant.” I stared off into the distance. “She was so happy with you though. You’d gotten into her head and subsequently my head making us think we weren’t right for each other.”

  “You’re not. Even with all of this shit Camilla is still better off with me than you,” he spat. I laughed at his anger and leaned back in the chair.

  “You think that after this she is going to want anything to do with you?” I laughed louder that time and rubbed my tired face. “You hit her, Alexander. I don’t give a fuck if it was in the moment of rage. What makes you any better than Malcolm? Maybe that’s why you’re with Anais. Is that it little brother? You’re with Anais because she lets you be who you really are? A woman beater?”

  “I’m not like Malcolm! I’m not a woman beater. This all happened because you had to control things like you always do. Even Camilla’s happiness.”

  “I see my mistake now.” I told him with a nod. “I should have just let it be known that Mason was mine from the start. For that, I deeply apologize. It still won’t stop me from ruining you for putting your hands on Camilla. For storming into my goddamn house looking for her. She had nothing to do with any of this.” I paused and glared at him with boiling hatred that churned from my core.

  “Her number one concern when I finally told her…was you. She cried over you, even after you broke her fucking heart. She cried over how deeply this shit would hurt you. She went on and on about your feelings.” Alexander looked crushed. He leaned his head back against the bed and let tears fall freely down his face.

  “Doctor Epps, it’s time to get prepped for extraction.” Another doctor was standing in the doorway and I stood, towering over him. “Oh, ah…Mayor Scott.” He stammered.

  “I said not to disturb this room.” I growled in a low voice. He nodded and backed out quickly, closing the glass door with a quiet click.

  “I need to talk to Camilla.” Alexander sighed and groaned in pain.

  “You’ll never talk to her again if I have my way. She’s mine now.” Outside the triage room door I could hear muffled voices. Familiar voices.

  “I don’t give a flying fuck…I said open the motherfucking door. I mean I can always shoot the fucking glass but that would cause a mess…and I’m not cleaning that shit up. Yall are.” I stood and snatched the door open revealing Cole and a bloody faced Camilla.

  “It’s fine. They’re family.” I muttered ushering them in and closing the door once more. “What the hell, Cole?” I frowned.

  “I’m sleepy. I don’t feel like talking anymore. I’m shooting motherfuckers from this point
on if I don’t get some rest.” He leaned his tall frame against the wall; gun in hand. Clearly he wasn’t joking. Crazy ass.

  I looked at Camilla and felt the need to shoot Alexander my damn self. He’d opened up a gash on her face that could have easily needed stitches. I could see where it had bled and left dried remnants on her smooth skin. She didn’t even want to look at me or anyone else for that matter. She kept her eyes trained on the floor as she chewed nervously on her lip.

  My heart ached for her.

  No, this shit wasn’t ideal. Yes, everyone could have handled it better but seeing Camilla broken down like that made me hurt. I turned to Alexander, livid.

  “Do you see what the fuck you did to her face? Do you see what you did to her?”

  Alexander looked at Camilla with sorrow in his eyes, “Camilla, baby…I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight. I still love you, I…”

  I wasn’t like Camilla when I got angry, I didn’t black out. I was the opposite. I became hyper aware of everything. I was aware of the pattern of Camilla’s breathing. I was aware of Cole’s pistol in his hand, his index finger resting casually on the trigger. I was aware of Alexander’s pleading with Camilla and all the physical and emotional pain he was in. I was aware of the instruments in the room and the people outside of the room.

  Everything blared out at me.

  I couldn’t stand to hear my brother’s voice telling Camilla how sorry he was and how he loved her. I did nothing to pull myself back from the edge of insanity. I promised Camilla I’d let Alexander have his moment of pain but not at her expense.

  I couldn’t stand there and let him whine and plead after he’d hit her.

  I launched my fist into his face, slicing into his jaw with a thwack. Everything sped up after that. Camilla threw herself at me, begging me to stop; Cole’s gun aimed at Alexander but there was no need for that. He had slumped over in the chair, eyes closed.

  “At least somebody in here is getting some goddamn sleep.” Cole tucked his gun away and groaned.