Perversion

34

The room fell silent as Xana's mind raced. Surely, her father had done his worst, and now she was confronted with the possibility of him being a killer.

Everything was happening too fast to stop it. "Why would you say that?" she asked the familiar woman.

She had learned that no matter how uncomfortable and painful some information was, it was better not to jump to conclusions and to get the entire story first.

"I'm Veronica. Emilia was my half-sister," the woman spoke, and it didn't take long for Xana to understand whom she referred to: Sasha and Sara's mother.

"But...," Xana was confused. "I never met her family."

"We met once when you were pretty young," Xana had only a vague memory of the woman's face and couldn't tell if she was lying.

"She said she had no family."

"It's complicated."

"Uncomplicate it for me," she insisted. If they were accusing her father of such a heinous crime, then she had a right to know everything.

"She was my father's secret second family. At first, I hated her, but she had a way of drawing you in until you couldn't get enough of her," the woman paused, a small smile on her lips as if reminiscing. Then slowly, the smile started to fade. "I was against her marrying him. She was so young, barely knew him, and somehow he convinced her to cut me off."

Xana found it hard to reconcile the image others had of her father with the one of who held her and spoke life to her.

"Is that why you bought our house?" Rue asked.

The woman turned to Rue. "No, I am sick and hoped to be near my only surviving relatives. It wasn't until a week ago that I came across damning evidence."

"And since he is still under investigation, she can't speak about it," Jim interjected.

"What do we do for now?" Rue asked.

"You let the police do their work, as he will be brought in for questioning tomorrow," Jim said.

Xana leaned on her hands, and tears started to flow. "Oh dear," the woman held her, and she sobbed for a while.

Rue drove to her mother's house. She had called her frantic, and she had to end her breakfast earlier. Xana had said she would go to her boyfriend and be around him while Tony drove her.

Her mother met her outside as soon as the car's engine died. Rue had not had a chance to see the new house. She heard of the party she threw to be welcomed into the suburban wives circle.

"Come see what you did," she said as soon as she saw Rue.

"What?" Rue was confused.

Her mother noticed Tony, stared at him, then at Rue.

"You do know how to pick them," she spat, walking back inside the house.

It confused Rue even more. She was the one who called her, only to give her a cold welcome. When she got inside the house, her eyes immediately landed on Zoey. She was unrecognizable, seated on a sofa.

Rue rushed to her sister. "Oh my God. What happened?" she asked, seeing the bruises on her body.

"You did. I stood up for you, and this is what Joe did to me," she cried.

"Why?"

"He saw the photos and videos of you and Xana's father. He started insulting you and my family. I tried to defend you, and the next thing he said was that I would be a bad mother to Ally and end up like us," Zoey sobbed. "That got me angry, and I threw a pillow at him, and then he started to punch me."

Rue's anger grew tenfold. "Where is Ally?" she looked around for her niece.

"The King's family threw me out and kept her," Zoey sobbed harder.

"Are you happy now?" her mother barked at her.

"Why would I be?"

"You opened your damn legs to your friend's father and brought shame to us,"

Rue bit back her reply. Shame was what her family would be described as.

"You shouldn't talk to your daughter like that," Tony came to her defense.

Her mother laughed and shook her head. "You trained him well, such a good lap dog," she mocked Tony.

Rue turned to her sister, ignoring her mother's words. "Come on, let's go get Ally and make a police statement."

"Eli said he will handle it," Zoey said.

"What?" She knew how her brother handled things. "That's a bad idea," she added.

"The Kings have money, and they will buy their way through justice," Zoey spoke.

Rue knew that Zoey was right, but she knew that this time she was ready to fight back with what she had. She might have been hopeless then, but not now.

"Not this time," she assured her sister.