Mass Release 4 chapters
....
Monday morning
Page Mansion
Mark awoke to realize Vivian, sound asleep in his arms with her face to him and her caramel locks spread across the bed, entangled in his fingers. He smiled when he saw her sleeping peacefully like this.
Mark messed around with her hair on his fingers and when he was done, he brought her hair to his lips and kissed it. He thought about it for a while before kissing her forehead.
"Mark, let me sleep. Your breath stinks" Vivian mumbled sleepily as she turned away from him and he burst into laughter
"Mrs Page, your words hurt my feelings" he said as he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom
Some minutes later
Mark stepped out the bathroom with a towel round his waist and his hair a wet mess. To his surprise, his clothes had already been prepared for him. An aquamarine club collared shirt, black suit jacket and straight pants, with black Oxford shoes.
He looked at Vivian with a raised brow and sighed
'What a high maintenance woman' he thought as he creamed his body, combed through his hair, and got dressed. He left the first three buttons of his shirt free due to it being a hassle to wear a tie.
"Can I get a goodbye kiss?" Mark asked
"Have you ever gotten one from me?" Vivian replied as she pulled the duvet to her head when Mark got closer to the bed
"You seem to forget that all the men in my family-"
"Are you suggesting that you'd replace me with another woman?" Vivian asked as she sat up, cocked her head to the side, and glared at him "That's one way for you to die and nobody would question my actions. Not even the kids"
Mark was left speechless for a while before smiling and kissing her forehead
"That's much better" he said then kissed her lips "At least I know you'll care if such a thing happens"
"Any woman would" Vivian said "I just don't act like it because I trust you NOT to do such. The feeling would still be there" she laid back in bed and covered herself with the duvet
"Well, I'll be on my way" he said as he moved away from the bed and headed for the door
"Mark, I'm an impatient woman. Don't keep too many things from me" she said "I easily get curious and suspicious of things that catch my eye. That's a heads up"
"I see" Mark murmured before opening the door and leaving
"So annoying"
Mark didn't even eat that morning and immediately left the house in his Rolls-Royce Sweptail.
******
Maria and Helen's Duplex
"Is this really necessary?" Maria asked as Helen was straightening her curls to a certain extent before gathering it at the bottom
"What's that supposed to mean?" Helen asked "If I wasn't awake, you'd carry your everyday mess to an office for the rich. It would be embarrassing"
Maria hummed at Helen's words
"You're more classy than me...by a lot" Helen said as she finished Maria's hair in scrunched up curls "You can easily mix in with them. But that's when you dress elegantly" she started to apply lip liner and red cream lipstick on Maria's lips before using some mascara on her eyes "Care more about your style... and, there..." she moved away and allowed Maria to look in the mirror "...Don't you look gorgeous?"
Maria stared at herself in the mirror and had to blink twice to make sure it was still her. The red cream lipstick made her lips look alluring and the mascara brought out more focus on her eyes. Coupled with the style of her hair, and the design of her champagne colored sheath dress, her beauty spoke volumes.
"You're really good at this" Maria complemented
"Thank you" Helen said and Maria's phone began to buzz. She picked it up and handed it to Maria
"Hello?" Maria said as soon as she picked up the call
"I'm outside" the person on the other end of the line said
"Sorry, I'll be right out" Maria hurriedly said as she got out of the seat, put on her champagne peep-toe heels before grabbing her matching handbag and cutting the call. "Are you going to be alright by yourself?" she asked
"Not a problem" Helen replied "I'll also be heading out around ten and won't be back until two. I'm going shopping"
"You're really unbelievable"
Helen chuckled "But you love me that way" she gave Maria a hug and Maria hugged her back
"I'll text you the situation of the fashion department when I get there" Maria said as she moved away
"Yay, I have my own personal spy" Helen said as she saw Maria to the door
"If you get hungry, there are leftovers in the-"
"Hello, Maria, we're the same age. I don't need taking care of" Helen said as she waved her hand and slightly pushed Maria out the door "Go. Get out. Shoo. Shoo"
Maria smiled as she left "Bye" she shut the door behind her and approached Mark who was resting against his car and fiddling with his phone
As soon as Mark looked up, the words he was about to say, got stuck in his throat before he could say them and he almost lost the grip on his phone
"This is quite the shock to receive so early in the morning" Mark said
"The fact that I dressed up today, or the fact I agreed to wear makeup" Maria said as she stood by the passenger seat door
"Both" Mark said as they both opened the doors and got in at the same time "I've been receiving surprise after surprise today" they got comfortable in the car before shutting the doors
"What was the first surprise?" Maria asked as she put her seatbelt on
"My wife threatened me with my assassination if I crossed some lines today"
Surprised, Maria turned to look at him "What did you do?" she asked with a frown
"I threatened her with one thing the men in my family are good at doing" Mark said as he placed his phone in his pocket before putting on his seatbelt
"And what's that?"
"Being stylish bastards" Mark said with a chuckle "They have illegitimate children with only God knows who and hope their wives accept such a thing" he smiled and then winked at her "Thank God me and my children are the only normal ones in such a bastard family" he started the engine
'Doesn't that mean your father did the same thing? How are you fine with that?' Maria wondered with her mouth agape but then a thought came to mind and she couldn't help asking "Then, are you legitimate or..."
"My father was the third son of my grandfather's first wife. I'm completely legitimate" Mark said as he drove away from the building before increasing his speed when he left the neighborhood
******
Back at the Page Mansion
Vivian continuously tossed and turned on her bed as her brows furrowed and she couldn't take it anymore. She got out of bed and grabbed her phone before putting on her robe and slippers.
"I thought I could do it. I thought I could wait for him to tell me himself...but, as a woman and as an agent, I'm gonna have to trust my guts on this one" she murmured as she headed out of the room 'Those three, their relationship is odd. The way Mark treats them is odd. Why is it that the kids and I think they look alike?' as she thought this, she found herself already standing in front of Mark's study
She held the hand and pulled it down before pushing it. To her surprise, the door was unlocked and as she fully opened it, she realized how nothing seemed to be out of place.
'This...is suspicious' she thought before walking in and carefully shutting the door 'Whenever Mark finishes work, this place is always a disaster. That's why I told him to do his work in the garden, on Saturday' she thought 'Sure enough, when Mark usually finishes reading any case files, he leaves them on the table or littered around on the floor. He's a serious yet childish man'
She continued to scan the room and noticed it was just like she thought. Not only was the place orderly, but all the files were so arranged, she couldn't believe that this was Mark's study. After all, Mark only arranged his study at the ending of each month and it was still the 17th of the month of July.
'He's up to something' she thought then she remembered those two case files from before. The ones Mark said he had to keep a secret from her, and walked behind the desk before sitting on the chair and tilting her head slightly. She noticed the desk compartment and tried to pull it open.
Just then, she saw the keyhole turn into a camera and heard as cybernetic voice ring out
[Optical Recognition, required]
"Damn it" Vivian let out before glancing at her phone 'This is a sign that I should wait for him to get back' she then looked at the desk compartment "I can't keep waiting when the truth is right in front of me" she said before grabbing her phone and searching through her gallery until she found a stupid picture of Mark. It was one where he opened his eyes widely and left his tongue hanging out from his mouth.
Vivian giggled after seeing the photo "Such a child" she said before facing the picture at the keyhole. It turned into a camera and soon after, the cybernetic voice was heard
[Optical Recognition Confirmed]
The desk compartment opened up and Vivian reached in before pulling the only two folders that were there.
"Finally" she sighed as she set them on the table before opening the first file
[Name: Maria McKinley]
[Age: 24]
[DOB: 12/06/1999]
[Blood type: O]
[Biological Mother/ Mother: Ira Bright (deceased), Adoptive Father: Brayden McKinley (deceased), Biological Father: Jaycee Page]
She shut the file immediately after and cleaned her eyes before looking at the two folders. They both had 'CONFIDENTIAL' written boldly in white while the whole folder was black with a white emblem of an eagle carrying the words 'SIA'.
'Does that mean...' she opened the first folder and read through the first words she saw. It was followed by a few pictures of Maria from young to her current appearance.
Vivian flipped to the next page and that was where all the information she needed to know, started to pour in
[The info on this person is incomplete due to my own personal reasons. I only gained interest in her after she turned eleven but I was already too late]
[On the 15th of July 2011, the McKinley household was burnt down to cinders. Three people were found dead. A woman who was later found to be Ira McKinley, a man by the name Brayden McKinley and their twelve year old daughter, Maria McKinley]
[On the 17th of December 2015, a girl bearing the same appearance and name as the supposedly deceased Maria McKinley, appeared in front of the burnt down McKinley household. She had the morality of Brayden McKinley and the kindness along with the beauty of Ira. She was a well bred lady]
[On the 18th of September 2016, she registered at a highschool along with the supposedly deceased Helen Ashley, under the guidance of a woman named Sharon Isaac. Both were valedictorians and excelled in their studies while working odd-jobs]
[In order to confirm that they were the same people as the deceased, I held a HIV and AIDS program at the school on the 9th of July 2019. Blood was collected from both girls and tested with my own in a DNA test. As their biological father, the results came back positive]
[Case file written and handled by Jaycee Page]
She shut the file and rested her head on one hand
'Maria and Helen, are his illegitimate sisters' she thought as she glanced at the second file 'It's most likely about Helen' she carried both files and placed them back in the desk compartment then shut it
"How am I going to face those two again?" she mumbled "Especially now I know that we're related. This is probably why Mark didn't tell me" she got out of the chair, took her phone, and left the study