Confidential Agreements (Under Major Editing)

Everyone Has Baggage.

Janet's P. O. V

"You knew him?" I ask aunt and he looks down before looking up at me, tears in her eyes, before nodding.

"Harry was in jail because of me, Janet," my aunt says and the information hits me like a truck. She gulps before sitting on the nearby emergency bed and continuing. I just stand there, still, waiting for impact.

"I knew Steven's parents. His mother was my friend. Harry was an acquaintance. I still remember that day when it all happened," aunt says softly, staring into space, her voice heavy. I can see tears in her eyes and I take a deep breath, stilling my heart.

"That day, in the morning only, Steven's Parents, Kevin and Stella Rome had met me in the mall. I was there shopping for you when they came in to shop for Steven. They looked so happy. That morning, we had met after a few years. Stella was the chirpy kind, so she stood there, blocking the aisle and told me everything I had missed on," aunt says, chuckling at the memory.

" She told me how Kevin had started this business with Harry and how they had managed to built this big factory in very little time and how their kids were close and how they were having the time of their life," she says and starts staring into space.

"I told her all about us and I gave her my card because it had all the ways she could contact me to catch up. She wrote 'friend' on and made a joke about how she could now intimidate people with her 'lawyer friend'. I hoped that she would never need it, for her own good. It was almost like I had jinxed it myself because that very night, her mother in law, Kevin's mother called me, asking me for help. Harry had shot three people that day at the factory before the police could reach for help. Luckily they had saved Steven," aunt tells me, her voice becoming softer and full of remorse with every word.

Kiara had walked in halfway and was a little lost and shocked with the conversation. Her cheeks looked flushed and she was closely followed by an equally flushed Jason.

Well if my face would not have been wet with tears and my body wouldn't have been numb with shock, I would have hugged her.

"But why?" I managed to say with great difficulty.

"Harry found out that his wife was cheating on him with various men and that she had tried it with Kevin as well and Kevin had kept quiet about it. What made things worse was that very day, based of my investigation, Kevin had found out that Harry was using their goods to smuggle illegal things. Both of them saw red and Harry made it into a reality. Stella and Gabriella, Harry's daughter, they both died protecting Steven, who was the sole witness to his father's murder," my aunt says and I lose footing, covering my mouth to keep in the sobs.

I stumble back and hold the table for support but I don't think it's strong enough to hold the tornadoes of grief within me.

Steven.

Just how much did he have to see when he should have been busy playing in sand and making lego castles.

My skin feels dry with all tears running down my face. I take deep breath, shaking my head.

"Oh my god, that's why Harry wants to kill Steven?" I ask and aunt nods. Kiara seemed to have joint the dots and her mouth is half open, her eyes wide.

Guilt is written in bold letters, all across her face. So bright, even the blind would spot it.

The door opens and a guilty Andrew walks in, fiddling with his t-shirt. Following closely is Delna who looks like saw a ghost.