Computerized

Chapter Thirty Six: Visiting the Criminals

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Natalie looked up slowly, her humor filled eyes meeting mine. "Your mother is alive. In fact, you've met her."

I scoffed at the crazy lady sitting on the other side of the glass, rolling my eyes. "Yeah right. I'm not falling for that."

Natalie shrugged her shoulders and let out a long sigh, leaning back into her chair. I noticed the sudden change in posture. She didn't seem scared or mad like she had before. She looked like she was calm and collected, like she had the upper hand, and honestly, that worried me.

"I'm not lying to you Rebecca. I have no reason to. Your mother is alive and well. In fact she is in this building right now, but you don't have to believe me. It won't bother me a bit."

My eyes widened. "I'm not your daughter am I?" I asked.

Natalie rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "No you idiot. I'm not you mother, thank goodness."

I frowned at her rudeness but the frown quickly dropped when realization hit me. If Natalie wasn't my mother, and my mother wasn't dead, than there was only one other person that would make sense.

"Whitney," I whispered. Natalie didn't say anything she just smirked, an amused glint shining in her eyes. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and sharply nodded behind me. I realized Ty was standing behind me waiting, so I stood up abruptly and walked to him in shock.

Nothing was really registering, but I felt his arm snake around my waist and I felt him pull me into his chest. He was probably trying to figure out what had happened. I then noticed he slid his rough thumb across my cheek, wiping away tears I didn't know had been falling.

"Hey, hey. Rebecca, what's wrong?" Ty's soothing, familiar voice brought me out of my daze and I started shaking a little. His dark eyebrows furrowed together and then raised.

"Whitney is your mom?" He asked.

I was stunned for a moment because I hadn't said anything but then I remembered I didn't have to. He could read my thoughts if I let him and I wasn't exactly focused on blocking them at the moment. I raised my eyes up to meet his deep blue ones that were filled with confusion and worry. He pulled me into a bone crushing hug but I didn't mind.

When he released me from his hug he took my hand and brought me out into the waiting area where Hannah and Kyran were sitting, waiting for their turn. When they saw me worry flooded their faces and the came rushing over to us.

"What happened?" Hannah asked softly, grabbing my hand with her own.

A smile spontaneously broke out on my face. I wasn't sure if I was sad or happy at the moment. I think I was both, or maybe shock was just taking me over. Whatever it was, I felt confused and torn. On one hand, I was devastated as to why Whitney would let Matthew and I think she was dead our whole lives. But the other part of me was so happy to know my mother was alive. I wasn't alone. I belonged to someone.

"I-I have a mom. She's alive, and I h-have another brother," I managed to spit out through sobs and hiccups.

Kyran and Hannah raised their eyebrows, looking shocked. "How do you know?"

"Natalie told me and it just makes sense. She wasn't lying, I just could tell."

Kyran nodded and asked, "Who is it then?"

I was about to tell them but stopped myself. I hadn't realized that I was standing next to my physical brother and I'd been living in the same building as my mother for the last month. How could I have not known? I always thought that if I ever ran into my father I would just know. There would be this connection. But I was so wrong.

"Rebecca who?" Hannah snapped impatiently. I mumbled a sorry.

"My mom is um,well—my mom is Whitney."

For a second I thought Kyran was going to faint when he stumbled but he caught himself and squeezed his eyes shut. Hannah just stared at me, her mouth hanging open. I could have laughed at how funny she looked, but I didn't.

She was the first to regain her composure. "You mean that you and Kyran are siblings? He's your brother? You're his sister? Wait, so Bert is your stepdad? Or is he your real dad?"

I shrugged, not knowing the answers to her questions. Except for the fact that Kyran was my brother. I wasn't expecting him to crush me with a hug, but that's what Kyran did. His strong arms pinned me to him, squeezing me in a hug.

"I have a sister," Kyran mumbled after releasing me from his grip.

Hannah nodded at him. "Yeah, and a brother."

"I just don't understand why my- our mum would never tell us that." Kyran looked completely betrayed. But I couldn't blame him for that. He probably felt like his mother had just stabbed him in the back. It was funny all that talk about betrayal with Natalie, and we were the ones being lied to all these years.

Unfortunately, I didn't know what to say or how to comfort Kyran, because I was feeling the same way. I let a sigh escape me. "I don't know Ky. It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" A familiar voice asked, making all of us freeze. Apparently Whitney could feel the tension because she asked, "What? What's wrong?"

When I glanced at Kyran, I could see his jaw was clamped shut, shoulders tense and stiff. But, he turned to look his mother in the eye anyways.

"Oh nothing mom, just having a chat with my sister. You probably know her, she is your daughter," Kyran spat sarcastically. Whitney froze, her eyes widening like she was a deer in the headlights.

"Who told you that?"

"Natalie," I replied.

Whitney sighed. "Oh, you know how crazy Natalie is. I don't know why you'd believed h—"

"Don't try that Whitney. Natalie might be crazy but she was telling the truth, I know that."

Whitney looked up at me,  a look of defeat evident on her face. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, but I ignored that, focusing on what she was about to say.

"I'm sorry Kyran and Rebecca. I know I should have told you but it was all so complicated and you all had so much going on in your lives, I didn't want to add this huge thing."

"Yeah mom I'm sure you thought you were doing the right thing, but I have a sister and a brother that I've met and you said nothing. You just let me think that she was just some random girl when it turns out, we have the same parents. What did you expect us to do? Just be okay with all of this?" Kyran said, his voice raising with each word.

Whitney shook her head frantically, wiping away a few tears that had escaped from her eyes. "No of course not. I was going to tell you but things got more complicated. When all the issues with Ty came up, and then Anton and Natalie, I just couldn't find the right time."

"Whitney! You should have never let us live our lives thinking you were dead. Why did you? You kept Kyran, but Matthew and I just weren't good enough for you? Why Whitney? What happened?"

Whitney breathed out shakily, sitting down in one of the waiting chairs. "Okay, I'll start from the beginning."