“My whole life was a lie…” I murmured as if in a trance. This had to be a dream, a sick and twisted dream. I was just waiting for someone to come and wake me up.
“Don’t look at it like that,” Jared pleaded. Lifting my gaze, I stared off into the distance. John wasn’t my father, but my uncle and Jared. Alzerro’s right-hand man or driver or whatever the fuck he was, was my brother.
“Did Zerro know?” I questioned. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did. He knew everything. Secrets were kept deep in his mind, behind tightly closed lips.
Shaking his head, he said, “No. He didn’t. There’s more though. Just know none of us knew anything about this. I mean, hell, I didn’t even know, Bree. Believe me when I say I’m truly sorry. I never meant for any of this to take place, and I know you have already had so much heartache this year, but know you’re not alone.”
“Alone,” I huffed out, almost wanting to laugh a hysterical laugh—not out of laughter but craziness, because honestly, I felt like I was losing my mind.
“I mean, I know you lost John and your mother, but you have me now and our dad.” The way he said all of this made it seem like I should be happy. I should have understood and to be grateful to have lost so much just to gain two people I hadn’t known at all and who I knew nothing about.
“How? How did this happen? What the fuck took place for this lie to spiral years and years out of control?” I was on the verge of losing it—hell, I already had. I just wasn’t sure I could come back from all of this if I did.
Smiling, Jared stood. Where the fuck was he going? “Tell me everything,” I cried out as he walked into the open kitchen and grabbed a bottle of something with brown contents. My guess was whiskey, but who was I kidding—I didn’t drink. Until now.
“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.