Chapter Seven
Charli led Britneyto an unoccupied room and gave her set of PJ’s to sleep in and bid her goodnight.
Britney changed and laid down on the bed.A tear rolled down her face as she stared at the ceiling in the dark room.She never even bothered brushing it away as she closed her eyes and felt the letdown feeling consume her.She fell asleep but it was an uneasy kind of sleep as more memories came forth.
She tossed and turned but nothing brought her out of her sleep.Finally, just as dawn broke the eastern sky she settled down and fell into a deep sleep REM.
The next morning...
Charli was busy doing dishes when Luna walked in.She looked at Charli and said, “I see we have visitors and the guys are discussing plans to protect the farm. Deuce told me a little bit of it.But what is going on?”
Charli looked over her shoulder at her and sighed heavily.“We got some visitors late last night.That’s true enough.My cousin Mario arrived and he brought a woman with him.He came to tell me that his father, my uncle, wants me to join them in Italy for some kind of festival to join two tribes of my people.I’m supposed to marry some guy I don’t even know or have no feelings for in the main ceremony.”She shook her head.“We also found out that instead of taking me with them fifteen years ago they left another uncle in charge of protecting me, whom I have never met by the way.Yet, he’s been getting money from Mario’s dad to give to me but instead of doing that he kept the considerable sum for himself and the guys think he used that money to build his own compound and has been selling the weapons on the black market.They believe he is one of your dad’s missing partners and they think he’s coming here to make sure I don’t say anything.”
Luna slid down into a chair at the table and opened her mouth in shock.It took her a moment to take everything in and finally she shook her head.“Damn, Deuce didn’t tell me all of that.He said it was a long story and he would tell me later.So, I can guess at the answer but what did Ace have to say about you leaving to marry someone else?”
Charli let out a sudden laugh.“He stared at Mario with death in his eyes.I thought Mario might pass out.Don’t get me wrong, he was the only family member that ever treated me decently.That ever acted like I existed anyway.But he knows I won’t be doing any of that.I got on the phone to Italy and told my uncle, I wasn’t leaving my husband and my son to marry someone else nor would I be accompanying him anywhere.”She paused and smiled.“Let’s just say I get my stubbornness from my Italian side and he did not listen to a word I said.So my uncle is on his way here with their Council to talk me into honoring their customs.”
“That is just insane.”Luna shook her head.“What excuse are they using to try to get you to bend over backwards like that?”
Charli crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.“It appears that before my father was killed...he was their leader and my uncle took over his position because I was only five when he died.I was fourteen when the entire family left the States to rejoin the rest of the family in Italy but they made the mistake of leaving me behind here with Ben.He and my grandma raised me.They had no idea I had this family destiny.But it is just too bad, because my destiny is here with Ace and my son.They didn’t even know Ben was dead or that I was already married.Someone should have checked on me since I am all grown up now.So now, they just expected me to fall into with their plans?I told them all to go to hell.”
Luna sat there and thought for a moment.“I’ve heard of family drama but that is freakin’ wild, Charli.”She shook her head and asked, “And the woman?Deuce said that a woman came too.What about her?”
Charli walked over to the table and sat down on a chair as she slowly shook her head.“This poor girl.I mean I feel so bad for her.She says her name is Britney but she doesn’t even know that for sure.She said she woke up in a hospital in Chicago and she couldn’t remember anything from her past.The doctors told her she had given birth but she couldn’t even remember the fact that she had been pregnant.The only thing she can remember was that Braaken Ridge was a familiar name to her.She was working in a diner where Mario stopped to eat.They struck up a conversation and she asked if she could go with him.”
Luna’s eyes widened.“Wow...So she came here because of the name of the town?”
Charli shrugged then leaned back in her chair.“Apparently.She believes she might be from this area, but she isn’t sure about that either.She woke up in Chicago after a three week coma.She’d lost a lot of blood from a slash across her belly.She doesn’t know how she got there and she told the doctors she didn’t remember being pregnant.Nor did she know where the baby was.They were very suspicious of her story so they kept her a few days longer as the police kept questioning her.When they finally conceded that she was most likely telling the truth, they let her go.But that poor girl had no memory.They released her into an unknown world.She was all by herself too.It must have been scary as fuck.”Charli got up and went over to the coffee pot to pour two cups of fresh coffee.
“Did she remember anything at all?”Luna asked.
Charli came back, put one cup of coffee in front of Luna and kept the other one for herself.“She told me this story about when she was trapped in this house with her sister, they were raised in fear and kept hidden, she said.When she was eighteen, they shipped her off to some man.He became her captor.She was...”Charli sighed and couldn’t seem to describe the details.“...treated very badly by this man.Like he took advantage of her and he was very cruel.She then got pregnant by him.”
Luna stared at her then she set her coffee mug down.“T-that is horrible.My sister was taken from me at eighteen, you know?She rebelled a little but really, she never meant to make dad so angry.I missed her so much and I always felt guilty about her getting into trouble over me really.””
“That whole story is so horrible...”Charli shook her head.
“She died after she disappeared.She was my twin, not identical, only paternal.She also had a child from the story I was told.But after Collette disappeared, my dad made it very clear to me that the only way he thought about us was as assets to his business ventures.He used Collette to bind another man to his empire and that was just wrong.She never wanted to go and leave me behind but he forced her to.And she didn’t even know this other man but our father didn’t care.The man wanted a place at my father’s table and that’s how he chose to get there.He’d married Collette off to a total stranger.When I found out her supposed asshole husband had let her die after she gave birth, I about lost it.I hoped one day to find the child and I did finally.”
“Annabelle,” Charli spoke softly.
