Chapter 17: The ultimate truth

Jessica’s POV

As mysterious as the room previously felt, one would think it was a very special room until one entered the room to find out that it was just an empty room centered with a glass. Inside the glass was a letter and a notebook that looked like a diary.

I scanned the room to see if there was any other important thing look out for but there was none. “This journal belonged to my mother. this was the journal she kept months before she died and this was the letter she gave to Victor to deliver to me before she died.” David wore gloves that were beside the glass and brought it out gently. He rubbed his hands on his mother’s initials for a minute which looked like he was in a trance.

Interrupting the moment was the last thing I wanted to do but my sneezing brought him back to life. He took off the gloves and handed them to me. “When you find the answers you seek, come back and tell me what you really think about this family.” He slowly walked out of the room and as his footsteps were about to fade into the air, he added, “Nothing is to come out of this room. Leave everything the way you found the when we came in.”

I nodded and put on the gloves. As the door shut right behind me, I dug into the past trying to find out the complexities that were in this family. I opened the first page of the book and realized that it was actually a diary. The first page was cancelled as if it was irrelevant. The same thing occurred for the first three pages until the fourth page. It was about Victor.

“Victor got into a fight in school again. This is the sixth time. He can’t get expelled again. I am tired of keeping up with all this. The doctor said the darkness would only escalate but I choose to believe that my Victor can make it.”

“What I feared has happened. This time around, our money couldn’t get us anywhere. Victor was arrested today for assaulting his classmate. This has put a dent in the family image we fought so hard to uphold. What am I going to do?”

“Sometimes, I wish I never had Victor. I wish I stuck with only David. He is nothing but a raging thorn to my heart. Have I showed preference of David over Victor often?”

“I slapped David today for no reason to show Victor that I loved him too. I never hit David but when I did, my heart crumbled. Foolishly, I thought it would make Victor happy. But this hardly fazed him. I really hope David can forgive me.”

As I scrolled through the pages of this journal, I started understanding Victor a little bit. He was troubled and it wasn’t something that could be handled with an easy hand.

“The doctor suggests that I put Victor in a mental facility. I would never do that to my Victor. I don’t want to deprive him of the liberation he deserves not to talk of David who will be heartbroken if his brother wasn’t around.”

“I don’t even know how to write this out. Victor attacked his brother. I know he doesn’t fight but he paid people to do. I think I should have sent him to that facility after all.”

After reading all of the pages, I totally forgot that the day had passed as I was fixated on what I was reading. And now, it came down to the final element; the letter that David’s mother left for him.

“My dearest David, I hope this finds you well. I know you’re about to graduate from college, about to morph into the ambitious man you were always meant to become. I don’t have much time left. So, read carefully and ensure that all my needs are met to the fullest because I am counting on you to do what I was unable to do. There is no doubt that I favor you more than I favor your brother and this had driven a wedge into our family. Victor has a condition called the dark triad. I’m sure you’re familiar with that concept. This means that when he does unimaginable things, you are to call him to order and ensure that he doesn’t lose himself to the darkness. This is terrifying. Yes, I know. But that is life for you. A lot of unplanned moments for you and you have to make a lot of sacrifices. Drop everything and bring out the best version of your brother. He must not know of this condition or else, he would come out doing something drastic that he won’t be able to recover from. Let your brother know that I love him till the afterlife and I will never leave him.

But remember two things radiant sunshine of mine, sacrifice for your brother and he must never know what he is capable of.”

After digesting all these, I took my time in the room absorbing the silence trying to piece the rest of the equation together. Everything made more sense after reading the diary. David changed his dreams to ensure that his brother’s own are met in order to ensure that he met with the needs of his mother.

All families had their problems one way or the other but this is deeper than what every mundane family face. A wise person once said the problems of the affluent came ten folds. I understood every bit of that saying with what I had just realized. It felt like a movie being played in my head and the images were still fresh.

A lot of questions came to my head like how they both ended up becoming mafia and the things they both had to do to get to where they were. Everything made a lot of sense.

A letter changed the life of two brothers for the better and worse. One who had his life planned out took a swift turn in life while the other one embraced what his loved ones feared he would unfortunately turn into. I couldn’t help but feel like I needed to do something.

I closed the journal gently, like I was tucking away some part of a person’s soul.

The silence around me wasn’t just stillness anymore — it was heavy, humming with secrets, grief, and unspoken sacrifices. I sat there for a while, unmoving. Not because I didn’t want to leave, but because I wasn’t sure who I was walking out as. Everything had changed. The version of David I thought I knew — the soft, unreadable man — was layered with so much burdens and responsibilities. And Victor… he was no longer just some villain in my story. He was a wounded child left to navigate a storm without a compass.

For the first time, I didn’t know who to be angry at.

The mother who chose silence over intervention? The system that let money protect image over mental health? David, who hid all this from me? Or myself… for being so quick to judge a world I didn’t quite understand?

I looked down at the gloves on my hands. My fingers curled around them, wanting to hold onto something real, something grounding. But this wasn’t just about discovery anymore. It was a call. A plea, maybe. To be more than just some bystander. To choose a side in a war that had begun long before I ever stepped into that gallery.

I took a deep breath.

Whatever came next, I knew I couldn't pretend this room didn’t exist. That this truth hadn’t changed me. Whether David was ready for my questions or not, I would face him again. Not with judgment. But with understanding — and maybe, the strength to help him carry what has been eating him alive for years.

Because this wasn’t just his story anymore.

It was mine too now.

And I refused to l

et it end in the unspoken world of silence.