Julia’s eyes light up at the idea. “You go. Your dad will be back soon, and he was bringing some of the boys to party. Need to keep our future clients happy. Why don't the two of you put on something pretty for them to look at?” Julia turns her back to them, missing the grimace they exchange. A tiny prick of sympathy hits me before I remember they’re responsible for me being tied to a chair. Fuck them, I hope someone fucks them with a cactus.
The two of them disappear upstairs, and Julia turns her attention back to us.
“I was livid when I found out that Carmen had given the twins to Brad. I was fucked. No blood, and no money left. No point in telling Brad about his real child now that he had adopted all the others. Why the fuck would he care about having one more mouth to feed and nose to wipe? So I was left with no choice but to do what I do best.”
I can see that Jacinta is dying to make some kind of snarky comment, but she keeps her mouth closed. I guess she did learn.
“I drifted around, not staying anywhere for long, and it wasn't until about ten years later that I remembered Count Bucataru had a brother on the East Coast, and he had a son. The son, being the count’s nephew, might have been enough of a blood match. If he happened to know the combination—I don’t know, maybe that shit was passed down through the generations— that could be my ticket. So I headed back to the East Coast, and can you imagine my surprise when I found him trying to patch in with the Silent Brothers MC? He was even fucking around with your whore of a mother. Diane always had all the luck even though she was too fucking stupid to know how to use it.”
This story is so fucking complicated, and I don’t see what I have to do with any of this. But I stay quiet and let Julia continue to tell her story.
“I avoided my sister and Harlow that time and cornered Peitre one day when he wasn't with Diane. Unfortunately, he had no clue about the vault under the house, but he was ready to jump at the chance of breaking into it. We returned to LA and broke into the vault. We had planned to approach the trust and claim the inheritance, but when we tried his blood, it didn’t work. Turns out his mother was a lying whore, and he wasn’t arealmember of the family line. So not only could we not claim the inheritance, we couldn't get into the vault.”
“Wow, how many fuck-ups are we up to now? It’s like a long life of clusterfucks, isn't it, Jaxon?”
Oh my god. Jaxon and I look at Jacinta in disbelief. It’s like she’s deliberately trying to draw my aunt’s fury. What is she doing? Some sort of self-sacrificing shit?
But this time my aunt just ignores her. “We had no other choice but to try and make it on our own. Peitre and I came back to the East Coast, I took my children back from their grandma, and he got custody of his son from his ex. For a while, we were semi-legit. Well, as legit as we could be. Peitre still had a few contacts from when he’d worked for his uncle, but they were the small fish. We managed to get by.”
“Did you two have anything to do with my mom trying to reconnect with Jacinta when we were about sixteen?” Jaxon asks my aunt, and a growl escapes her lips.
“No, that bitch had hooked up with another gang, and they just wanted access to the mansion. They wanted to steal a whole heap of shit. Like my sister, your mother was full of small, useless dreams.” She looks down at her fingernails before looking up at Jaxon. “Do you know how I know that?”
There’s an almost gleeful smile on her face when he shakes his head. “I tortured it out of her before I put a bullet in her brain. Stupid bitch had made access to the two of you that much harder, and she deserved to be punished for making my life more difficult.” Jacinta gasps, and I see Jaxon’s hands tighten on his chair handles. Julia starts to chuckle, which devolves into maniacal laughter. Jacinta has tears streaming down her face, while her brother’s jaw is tense with emotion. He keeps his face blank, not wanting to give her more ammunition.
The door at the top of the stairs bangs once more, and the sound of heels on the stairs echoes through the basement. When Cecelia gets to the bottom, gone are the casual jeans and t-shirt she had been rocking, and in their place is a slinky black cocktail dress and four-inch heels. Her long chestnut hair has been tied up in a sleek updo, and her face is made up with smoky eyes and blood red lips.
“Mom, Peter’s home, and he’s brought his friends.” She doesn't sound too thrilled about that, and her body is tight with tension. Julia breaks off her crazy laughing and stands up.
“Excellent, it’s all coming to a head now. It won't be long.” She rubs her hands together in a parody of every damn Disney villain out there.
She goes to leave, but I can’t let her go. I need her to finish this. “But I still don't get any of this! I don't understand what any of this has to do with me. Why did Luke kill my mother? Why did he stalk me? Please, I need to know.”
“You tell her. I have to get changed too.” My aunt waves at my cousin, who loudly sighs before taking a seat on one of the plastic chairs and elegantly crossing her legs. Julia disappears upstairs, singing quietly to herself.
“We lived with my dad’s mother until I was about thirteen. We were happy, and we had good childhoods. My dad’s family was fairly well off, but it didn’t matter to my mother that she was taking us away from a life that would’ve been better than what she and Peter could provide. Anyway, it broke something in Raquel, being torn from the life we had known and thrust into the uncertainty of our mom andstep-dad’sschemes. We went from steady, normal lives to moving from town to town, going wherever Mom or Peter could run a scam. Luke lived with us too, but there was always something off about him. I’m pretty sure he would steal our underwear, and he was always trying to catch us naked in our bedrooms or our bathroom. We ended up asking for locks on the door. For as many flaws as my mom has, she did that for us, at least.”
Cecelia reaches into the top of the dress, pulls a joint and a lighter from her cleavage, and lights it up, drawing deeply before slowly exhaling.
“The three of us spent the next five or six years listening to them rant whenever they had too much to drink or were high, scheming about how they were going to get access to you two.” She waves her joint between the twins. “That’s how I ended up working for your dad and Raquel for you, Jaxon. The documents and resumes and references were all high-end forgeries. Raquel was easily hired by HR, but I had to be interviewed by your dad, and I just knew he wasn't going to hire me, so that’s when I blackmailed him. If I had returned home without a job, Peter would have killed me—just like he did with Luke. I’d seen Peterdisciplinehis son often enough whenever he disappointed him. It was only a matter of time before things with them went too far, and Peter cared about us even less, if that was possible, considering we weren’t his children.”
“Okay, that explains you and Raquel, but how did Peter and Luke come to be working for Chuck?” Not sure why, but Jacinta’s doing a better job keeping her tone in check with Cecelia. For all the shit that woman has wrought within our family, you’d think she’d be spitting venom at her too. But no, she’s managed to pull herself together so that we can continue to get every bit of information we can.
Cecelia sighs. “Like I said, Luke was weird, and my mom’s little obsession with Harlow didn't go unnoticed.”
“Obsession?”
“If the twins didn't work out, she was going to kidnap you and ransom you to Brad. You were this back-up plan that she couldn’t get out of her head even though she had her doubts about it.”
I can’t stop the shudder that rolls over me at Cecelia’s matter-of-fact statement. She's so blasé talking about kidnapping and ransom.
“Anyway, Mom decided you needed to be watched, so she sent Luke and Peter to find a foothold in the Bostons’ household. You were in your third year at college, and she was worried you'd burn out or meet someone and disappear before you could be of use.”
Even though I’m getting my question answered, I don’t feel any better. It’s honestly making me feel even more frustrated. I had always sensed something was wrong with them, but I’d never spoken up like I should have, and… I don’t know… Maybe it would’ve made a difference.
“When Jaxon broke up with Raquel, our mom flipped. She was worried that we were never going to access the house, so she ordered them to kidnap you. Well, little did we know, Luke had become obsessed. He killed your mom, knowing that somewhere in the heap of a trailer was your birth certificate. The pain in the ass figured that you’d be safe if you found your dad yourself, so then Mom couldn’t use you against him. And it worked like a charm. Before anything could be put into place to take you, you were on your way to LA.”
“Holy fuck.” Jacinta’s exclamation sums the situation up perfectly.
