Ghost City

49

I pulled up to Carter's house, and Sagacity came running out as soon as I parked. She ran into my arms and worriedly asked, "What's going on, Damien?! What was that text about?"

I had texted the entire family to meet at Carter's house so that I could finally come clean. I knew they'd hate me for being dishonest, but I didn't want either one of them getting hurt. I also didn't want my mother getting hurt either. I hoped someone would understand, but I also knew better. I'd be casted out from the family after this. I'd lose everything.

"I'll tell you inside," I said as we entered the house. Everyone was worriedly sitting down in the large living room and looked up immediately once I entered the room.

"Are you okay?" Carter and Rico sincerely asked at the same time.

"Yeah," I nodded. "There's something I haven't been telling you all. I know you'll all look at me differently, but I need you to let me explain entirely." Everyone nodded their heads and waited for me to continue. "The night I was kidnapped, I actually was kidnapped. I was drugged but woke up in a cabin with absolutely no restraints on. Sitting in front the bed I slept on was my mother." A few puzzled looks immediately spread across everyone's faces. "I was confused too. I thought she died, but she didn't. She faked her death because she knew that she was still being hunted by the same person that caused my car crash incident a few years ago. She told me that it wasn't safe to return home because my real enemy was Carter. She thinks you killed my dad, sir," I continued. "Although she doesn't know what your intentions were, she knows that you own Et Reprobi and that one of the members of that society killed my father."

"Et Reprobi?" Zach frowned.

Carter explained, "Secret hit men that I have as an extension to the Mafia. Continue, Damien."

I continued to explain, "She saw his death on the hidden cameras in the house I used to live in. She was threatened to delete the footage by the assassin, but she took a picture of the tattoo on his or her hand to understand what it meant. That same picture got the detective on the case killed, along with two other officers. I didn't know all of this. The information I'm telling you now is information I've gathered over a period of time. Before getting to know Carter better, I believed my mom. I thought: who else could kill someone and hide all traces of evidence? It only made sense. I....I told my mother that I'd help her take Carter down, but not through death because I knew that he meant something important to each and everyone of you, and you all mean something important to me as well. We were gonna strip Carter of his prized possession: his company, because besides his father's ring, that's the only thing he has left of his father. I was enraged when I was told that he was the person responsible for my fathers death, and I wanted him to feel the loss of a father again, just like I had the day my mother told me what she thought she knew. Me working for his biggest competitor was part of that plan. My mother and I had spent the entire year and three months that I had been gone plotting on strategic ways to take you down, Carter. We've thought of countless backups to ensure our success. I know everyone's probably wondering why I'm saying this right now. Some of you probably wanna punch me in the face. Some of you may want to shoot me. I'm coming clean because I realized that Carter truly did change. As dangerous as he still is, he isn't the man he used to be, and I don't think he'd kill my father, Rico's brother-in-law, and then let me into his family knowing that I'd wanna avenge my father if I were to ever find out the truth. I told my mom this same reasoning, and she got upset. She said that she'd be taking things into her own hands, and that means that she'd be ditching the plan and getting prepared to do something stupid. I'm hoping you can stop her without hurting her. She's just confused, and I'm hoping that you, Carter, can spare her life and offer the explanation she and I need. You can do whatever it is you must to me after. All I ask is that we work together to find out who actually killed my pops and that you spare my mother's life."

Carter placed his hand on his gun and pulled it out, and I gulped as I watched him aim it at my head. Everyone was silent.

"I see where your loyalty lies," he said before tucking his gun away. "I know what the death of a family member, especially one as important as a father, does to a person. I'd do the same if I were you, only, I wouldn't have told anyone about my plans. I'd just get it done." Carter walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "That's what I admire about you, Damien. You remind me so much of myself- the part of me that I wish I hadn't lost to the darkness. The part of me that Sage helped me recover. You're a smart kid with a brave heart. I understand, and I'm glad you told me. I don't know about anybody else, but you're still family to me." He surprised me even more by wrapping me in a fatherly hug, and I accepted the hug with surprise written all over my face. "Get your mother on the phone."