BENEATH ALL THE LIES

The Trap

I was frozen in my spot, between the gun in Deena's hand and the door, I couldn't even make myself to turn the knob and get out of there. I couldn't believe Deena would actually pull a gun on me. She was the one who was very excited to have me living with her at her house after the police informed her that I was her missing daughter. But now she was the one threatening to shoot me.

"What do you want, Deena?" I sure hoped my voice didn't reveal how scared I was.

She laughed, and all I could feel hearing her laugh was disgust. That was exactly what I felt as I stood there in front of her.

"What I want? I want my daughter back. But no one can give her back to me. And you. I wanted you to be my daughter, to fill her place in this house, in my heart. But i guess you won't do that too."

She was damn right, I wouldn't do that. I needed to think of a way to deviate her focus from me and let her guard down. Then I remembered, I was dialling Andrew just a moment before Deena came in. I never hung up, hopefully Andrew has already picked up my call and listening to all of what was happening. I couldn't risk checking my phone in case Deena found out what I was doing.

"I wanna help you, Deena. I know you're devastated, sad and frustrated about your daughter. But you're putting innocent woman in jail for something she didn't do." I tried to talk to her and made her see some sense.

"What did you say? You wanna help me? You're just just like your mother, Juliette. You know what she told me before she died? She told me to let her help me."

Juliette. She kept repeating that name and said that she was my mother. I was truly and utterly confused. One minute, I believed Zasha was my mother, then the police told me Deena was mother and she told me Juliette was my mother. I hoped someone would just tell me what the fuck was happening.

"Deena, why do you keep telling me that Juliette was my mother? Even Zasha said the same. Who is Juliette?"

She laughed her eerie laugh again. I hated it when she laughed like that. When the gun still pointing at me, she looked at me, smiled and said, "I almost couldn't believe that Zasha didn't tell you about Juliette. Especially when she paraded around telling everyone that Juliette was her sister. I guess she wanted something she never had back then. That's why I told you that she's a bitch."

I had had enough of this stupid riddle. I needed to know what happened and who Juliette was. I don't care if she shot me but I needed her to talk to me and tell me everything.

"Please, tell me who Juliette is. Tell me about my mother." I begged her.

"I guess there's no harm in telling you now. Juliette was my sister but we never grew up together. At the age of four, I was adopted from the orphanage where we were sent to after our parents died in an accident. I was lucky that a wealthy family adopted me, but I couldn't say the same for Juliette. She grew up in foster care where she met Zasha and they bonded, really well. And you're the result of the affair between Juliette and my husband's twin brother. So technically, we're still related, you're my niece, Cassey. "

Deena's explanation shook me through my core. How was that possible? How did Zasha never even mentioned about this before? Growing up, I never knew my real parents, Zasha always fed me the wrong story. She made me believe the lies she told me. Alas, I never even knew how my real mother looked like. I felt myself numb from the shock. My legs slowly gave up on me and I just sat down.

"Surprised?" Deena asked while smirking at me, "that was nothing. Wait until I tell you, what Zasha did while your mother was on her last breath. She was hiding in a closet. That's what she did."

No. No. No. NO. Zasha couldn't have done that. She would have helped if she could. Zasha wasn't a coward. There was something else missing in her story. I knew there was. She wasn't telling the truth. Just as I was about to get up, the door opened behind me and pushed me forward, made land on my face on marble floor. I could see Deena was surprised by the unannounced guest, and she pointed her gun towards the door.