"Mom!" I screamed at her again. "Do not show him those pictures! Do not show him that video. Do not show him ANYTHING related to her case. I told you she doesn't want anyone to know about what happened to her. You have done nothing but fail her ever since she was born. Just this once, act like a fucking mom and respect her wishes!"
I looked at the GPS map infront of me and the driver. We were another two hours away from her house. I've never even been to her house. I didn't care to know where it is.
So how the fuck did he find it? How the fuck did he find her?
"Jona", she pleaded again, "that man keeps looking at me like he can see through any lie I tell him. I pretended not to know him and he called me out on it immediately. He's her husband. He deserves to know."
"Char doesn't want him to know!" I roared at her. "I only got her to agree to go see a therapist a few months ago, mom. Do you know what happens to her everytime she tries to talk about it? She sees it, mom. To her it's like Brian is there in the room with her, beating her again and no matter what she does, she's just frozen. She can't breathe, she can't move, she can't fight. She's not ready for him or anyone to know because she still thinks it was her fault, mom and she's so ashamed that almost getting killed by her own father is a part of her story. So," I took a deep and angry breath, "I am warning you, Charlene. If you tell him anything, you will lose me too."
I waited for her response while the driver drove faster and faster and faster on the road.
She hasn't said a word, but I already know she has also succumbed to his charms.
I don't understand why I'm the only one who can't forgive this man for what he did to Char.
Nigel hardly knows him, but he's also forgotten what he put Char through. Mom has literally never met him and she already insists that he needs to know what happened to Char. Char can't talk about what happened without collapsing to the floor, but mom wants the man who abandoned her when she needed him to know all about it.
I told Char not to get back together with him. She shouldn't have gotten back together with him.
She deserves so much better. She can literally be with any man in this world. She's so beautiful, so charming, so smart, so eloquent, so graceful. She could be a model if she wanted. She's everything women dream of being and yet she chose to go back to a man who was okay with not talking to her for almost three months.
"I really am a terrible mother, aren't I?"
"Yes!" I answered frankly. "But you're the reason I was able to save her and you helped me with her case, mom. You also helped me bury what really happened to her because you understood that if we didn't do that for her, the rest of her life would have been defined by a man who almost killed her. You may not agree with her wanting to hide this, mom, but you have to respect it. She's not ready for anyone else to know."
"Okay." She whispered. "I'll stall until you get here. I won't tell him."
"Okay." I gave a sigh of relief. "Okay."
"He's really handsome." She tried to ease the tension. "The two of them will probably have kids who look like super models."
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
"Why didn't you tell me she got married?" She asked me the dreaded question. "I know you said you won't be telling me anything about her, but surely this should have been the exception?"
"Mom-"
"Can I get a picture?" She interrupted me. "Please, Jona. Just one picture of her on her wedding day. Please."
I sighed.
There's much more that I haven't told her, but that's because Char should be the one to tell her about her life; not me.
Char has done more than get married. She's pregnant and tomorrow she's supposed to go have an operation that might kill her.
I tried suggesting that she date over the years, but she refused to entertain the idea. Once it came to light that it was the Mitchells who orchestrated everything, her pity party turned into a one course leading straight to justice. She wanted nothing to do with men. She just wanted to make sure the Mitchells paid for what they did to her.
She was never supposed to get back together with him. I should have tried to talk some more sense into her.
That night, the first time she saw him after five years, all she was supposed to do was to give him a warning. She was supposed to tell him to distance himself and Greyson Corporation from anything related to the Mitchells because the world was about to come crashing down on them.
I told her she could just send him an email, but she said she owed it to him to tell him in person.
I arrived at that bar before either of them could get there because I honestly thought he would bring Lauren with him and when he did, I wanted to be there to help her get away.
He didn't look the slightest bit nervous or excited that night. He just exuded confidence and intimidation as if he knew that the second Char saw him, she would melt in his arms.
And that's what happened.
I saw a fire and light in her eyes that I hadn't seen in years when her eyes landed on him.
She hugged him and after that I could tell that she was going to change all our plans.
When he hugged her like she was merely an old acquaintance, I saw her die a little inside, but she hid it so well because that's what she does. She hides anything that will make her look weak or bad.
He looked so cold and disinterested that my heart kept aching for her. I was about to go stop the whole damn thing until Connor showed up. Lucas Greyson didn't even allow Connor to finish talking. He turned Char around, picked her up and started kissing her neck in the middle of the entire bar that was filled with the most prominent young lawyers in New York.
We were all stunned.
I knew she was already under his spell when I saw that.
She didn't care who saw them making out and neither did he.
It was like all the pain and heartache he put her through disappeared in an instant.
I decided to send mom a few pictures of her wedding day. I'll grant her this little bit of happiness.
"She's pregnant?" She started crying through the phone.
"How-"
"A mom can tell." She cried even more. "I can see she's trying to hide it, but Jona I can see the bump. Is that why he married her so quickly? Because she's pregnant?"
"I don't know, mom." I answered honestly. "What I do know is that dozens of women throw themselves at Lucas Greyson on a daily basis. I've seen it. The most beautiful women are always trying to get his attention, and I think even though he's been loyal to Char so far, it won't last. A man who looks like him, talks like him and who has as much power, money and influence as him, will have a wandering eye. One day, instead of leaving Char to fend for herself for nearly three months, it will be three years and then thirty years. And Char will keep holding onto the perfect image she has in her head of him. She'll still want to be with him even after that."
"Jona, aren't you being a little pessimistic?" She asked and I almost threw the phone out of the window. "If he was able to find me, then-"
"But why didn't he do all this investigating five years ago, mom?" I screamed at her again. "You, Char and Nigel are all conveniently forgetting that for two and a half months, Char was in hospital while this man's new girlfriend posted pictures and videos of them everyday. He was smiling and laughing in all those videos and pictures. Char waited for him to take one of his jets and MAYBE come see her for just a few minutes, but all he did was send a few texts each day and call her. That's not the kind of man she should be having a baby with! How's she going to explain it to her kid when he disappears like that again one day and let's his new pretty, blonde secretary post pictures of them travelling the world?"
"Jona-" She tried to speak again, but I wouldn't have it. Char refuses to listen to anything that's even remotely negative about him, even if it's true. She's obsessed with him and can't see beyond how much she loves him.
If I can't say all these things to her then I guess I'll say them to mom.
Someone other than me needs to see beyond the facade that this man has used to blind my sister. He isn't reliable. He's a jerk and he doesn't deserve her.
"He didn't even apologise." I stopped her before she could go on. "Mom, he let her rot in a hospital for two and a half months. He could have easily gotten an investigator or anyone to find out why his girlfriend wasn't answering his phone calls if he wasn't in the mood to come all the way down to her university. Instead, Char was the one who apologised for dumping him even though je deserved it! He moved on with Lauren while my sister was fighting for her life and only when he was bored with her did her decide to come see Char. You, Char and Nigel all like forgetting all of this; especially Char!"
I didn't wait for her to respond.
I'm done with this conversation. I'm done wasting time talking about that man.
Char is going to survive that surgery. That's what I need to focus on.
In a few months she will give birth to the most beautiful baby and when Lucas Greyson finds another defenseless damsel in distress to occupy his attention, I will be there to take care of her like I did back then.
I'll protect her and her baby while he calls and sends messages. He'll probably try to get her back once he gets bored with whoever was entertaining him. He'll know that if she just sees him, she'll do whatever he wants, but I'll make sure he never sees her again. I'll find a way to break whatever hold he has over her.
I looked up from my phone.The car was practically flying at this point.
I still have no idea what I am going to say to him once I get there. All I know is I have to get him away from there. I have to find a way to distract him. Maybe I can throw another helpless woman infront of him and he'll stop looking into things that have absolutely nothing to do with him.
"Hey Nigel", I decided to text him, "change of plans. I won't be arriving in New York today. Something urgent came up. I'll book a flight and make sure I'm back by tomorrow. I'm really sorry. I know we had dinner plans for tonight"
"What's the urgent thing that came up?" He texted back.
My fingers hovered over my phone.
If I tell him what's going on, he'll call me and then I'll have to talk about something that I no longer have the strength to talk about.
I can't do that right now.
"I'll tell you all about it as soon as I'm back." I texted him. "I'm kind of in the middle of it right now."
***
It was supposed to take us two hours to get to mom's house, but my driver got us to this little middle class neighbourhood in a little over an hour.
The house he stopped infront of is small, but not too small. It looks like a house mom and dad would have enjoyed living in. It looks like a home that responsible parents live in.
Three black SUV's were already parked in front of the house. Which means he's still here; him and his security detail.
I knocked on the door a couple of times before a woman I haven't seen in five years opened the door.
I almost hugged her. She looked so much like the mom who raised me. But I stopped myself before I did such a stupid thing.
Char definitely got her hair. Mom's hair is dark brown, but Char's is light brown. Other than that, they have the same long and thick wavy hair.
Mom is shorter than Char, but they both look like models.
And of course, her eyes. Char and I both have mom's honey-gold eyes.
She wore blue jeans and a long sleeve light pink shirt. She really did look like a mom. Granted, she's fifty years old, but she still looks like she's in her thirties.
Her eyes were soaked in tears and I knew the second I saw those eyes that she told him. She fucking told him.
"You told him." I felt my entire body go numb.
She nodded and gulped.
"I didn't have a choice!" She cried while I barged inside her house uninvited.
My entire body felt cold.
How can one person keep failing so miserably at being a mom?
My legs led me through the unfamiliar house until I found myself in a sitting room with him on a couch looking at the case I've built for her on a flat screen TV.
What Charlene did was worse that telling him. She showed him.
He was looking at all the pictures I took of her, starting with the pictures I took of her in her dorm room all the way to last picture I took when she was discharged from the hospital.
He was looking at the videos and and listening to the recordings I took of the police officers who refused to investigate, the doctors and nurses who refused to change her medical reports and state what actually happened to her and her vice chancellor who said he couldn't investigate what happened to her.
He was watching all of it and from the looks of it, he was almost done.
I ran to her TV and searched for the USB.
When I found it, I yanked it out and the TV screen went blank.
. . .
He stayed silent and was still staring at the TV even after I removed the flash drive.
The room fell quiet and after a few minutes, I decided to leave.
I turned to leave the room, but stopped when he suddenly spoke.
"How did you find out it was the Mitchells who did that to her?" He asked in a coarse voice.
I looked at him and then at mom who was still crying.
"I asked you how?" He growled at us.
"Brian's sister told me." Mom answered. "She's the black sheep of their family. She's the one who warned me that Brian was coming to the States and that he might want to hurt Charlotte. That's all she told me. She hung up the phone before I could ask her any questions and when I tried to call her back, an automated voice kept saying the number I was trying to call doesn't exist. It took us six months after that call to find out the truth."
He finally turned his head and looked at me.
I've seen this man angry plenty of times, but there's always control and restraint in his anger. It's never explosive. It's calm and takes down its target with precision.
It's remarkable to watch, but I imagine it's terrifying if that anger is directed at you.
This is the first time that that calm anger is directed at me and I can say with no uncertainty that it truly is terrifying.
"What happened after six months?" He asked while looking at me.
"Brian's sister tracked me down again." Mom started yapping again. "I told her we were able to save Charlotte's life, but he still got to her. Charlotte was a shadow of her former self at that point. She had dropped out of school, she was drinking, passing out in bars. Jona even had to quit his job because taking care of her was a twenty four hour job. When Brian's sister heard this, I think she felt guilty. She sent me a recording. It was a conversation between Brian and Lawrence Mitchell. In that recording, they were congratulating one another on what they did to her. Lawrence boasted about how he and his entire family all knew that the only way to truly take Charlotte down was to get Brian involved because at the end of the day "she's just a scared little girl who wants her parents to love her."
His face contorted in pain and anger and he shook his head as his eyes started glistening more and more with liquid.
"I'm going to kill them." He spoke to himself. "Her father, Lauren, every single person whose surname is Mitchell ... I'm going to kill them."
"Char snapped out of it when she heard that recording." Mom continued awkwardly. "We spent months trying to get her to want to live again, but that recording was the only thing that made her realise she was throwing her life away and that she still had something to fight for."
He finally stood up from the couch and started walking towards me.
He wasn't crying, but his eyes were so red that I think he might as well be crying.
"Is that why Charlie punched Lauren?" He asked me when he reached me. "Was Lauren taunting her about what she and her family did to her, knowing very well that Charlie wouldn't tell me about it?"
I shook my head. "You allowed Lauren to see Char at her most vulnerable." I reminded him. "Lauren saw both you and Charlotte naked. She saw Char's scars; scars that Char still struggles to accept that she has. Lauren told Char that the reason Char didn't prance around the house half naked like her, was because of those scars. She said she saw you two making love and noticed how you avoided kissing those scars. So Char punched her."
He covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head.
His hands were trembling and even I had to admit that the man looked like he was in physical pain, but I still needed to speak my peace.
"Char was well aware of what Lauren and her family did to her," I added, "but she still felt bad about punching her because she can't bear living with the thought of hurting someone you love. And you love Lauren, so even after everything Lauren did to Char, Char hated that she hurt her. She was even willing to leave Lauren and her family alone because you told her you love her."
He nodded, looked down at the USB in my hand and took it.
"This is mine now." He said calmly. "And just so there's no confusion, I want everything related to what happened to her sent to me. I want to know everything because everyone who turned her away, everyone who played a part in THIS is going to die."
"We already took care of the small fish." I sighed. "It's been five fucking years. You think she only started getting revenge now? No! Char doesn't need you to protect herself, Lucas. She learned the hard way not to EVER need you ever again."
He was glaring at me, still with that calm anger of his.
"Hello." Mom suddenly fumbled with her phone and held it to her ear.
Her eyes grew wide, her mouth fell open in shock and terror and she started shaking after just a few seconds of answering her phone.
"Mom?" I tried to reach my hand out to her, but she didn't take my it. Instead, she put her phone on loud speaker.
"Charlene!" A female voice screamed down the other line. "Brian is coming back for her. Some Mitchell girl named Lauren called him, Charlene. It's the same one who called him back then. I have a recording of it this time. He's coming to finish her off. He -"
Lucas didn't wait to hear the rest of the message.
He ran to the door and I followed behind him.
He opened the door and before either of us could say a word, we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun.