Chapter 65 Chapter 64:
Barbara:
“What in the hell is this?” I ask my chief advisor as he hands me the envelope with the Brookes crest on it.
He stares at me, like I am an idiot or something. “It’s an invitation from your son, Devon Brookes.”
“Step-son.” I correct him harshly, why does everyone seem to make this damn mistake? I did not give birth to Devon; he’s my fucking step-son, for goodness’ sake. I snatch the invitation from his hand before pursuing him away from my office. Ever since I got the message from Anna, she wouldn’t ever seem to leave me alone. Anytime my phone rings, I get a hypertensive feeling it’s her. So now, I am acting like a deranged old woman. I don’t leave the mansion anymore, everywhere is equipped with more security equipment and I doubled the agents all around the mansion.
I can’t afford taking any chances.
When my chief advisor leaves, I pull out the invitation letter from the envelope. It’s an invitation to a ball that’s hosted by my son, step-son, I mean. It’s to announce his upcoming election for CEO of his own company; I’m sure he just wants to suck up to shareholders so he gets their votes.
He’s surely not getting mine. The phone on my table buzzes and I swear, I almost have a heart attack. Thank you very much, Anna, for turning me into this.
“What?” I almost scream, I didn’t bother checking the caller ID, since that’s none of my business, “Anna? Are you jump scaring me again?” Her calls have been getting more and more frequent, now she’s threatening me to tell the whole world that she is my daughter, she doesn’t know me. I would rather die than tell the whole world I have a daughter.
“It’s Devon.” The voice is calm and I almost want to smack myself in the face for spilling out Anna’s name just like that. “Did you just mention Anna right now?”
“No!” I hurriedly say, biting at my nails. I fucked up. Shit. “I didn’t mention Anna, I am sure you heard it wrongly.” I grind my teeth so hard, I worry it will turn into powder. “What do you want from me?”
My mood is sour as hell; I haven’t had a good sleep in ages because every time I close my eyes, all I see is Anna rushing towards me with a knife, even in my dream, my own daughter torments me. My diet plan is wobbly, I barely eat these days, my doctor says it’s not healthy for someone my age and I wanted to snap at him. If your daughter is after your life, will you sleep?
“Did you get my invitation letter?” Devon asks. “I’m sure you just did. The invitation says you can come with a plus one but you’re free to come alone. It’s been long, Barbara. You haven’t been appearing in the media these days.” I don’t like his tone, like he’s mocking me or something, which I am absolutely sure he is.
“I have been mourning my friend, Julian Ford. I am sure you heard of what happened to him.” I say, I think about Julian a lot these days, especially at the disturbing fact that he was killed by his own daughter. Everything is so messed up, but what happened to me? For fuck’s sake, I am Barbara Brookes, I am too old for this shit.
I used to be all confident, sexy and bold. How come I am acting like a teenager just because of some girl who’s after my life?
“You know what, Devon. I’ll be sure to make it tomorrow, I will see you there.” I don’t wait for him to respond, I hang up the phone and stretch my tired bones, I am done being scared. I push away the chair and walk out of my personal office towards the kitchen. I make myself coffee with the coffee machine.
“Ma’am?” One of the guards comes to me, “Catherine Ford is here to see you.” He informs me and suddenly, I am worried. Why does she want to see me? I mean, ever since her husband’s death, I have only visited her like twice so what’s up with the surprise visit.
I tell him to let her in and my head starts banging. I consider taking some drugs to ease the pain but Catherine is already in my living room, she looks paler than the last time I saw her, her eyes are all swollen. The dress she’s wearing hangs limply on her body.
I move closer to her, acting like I care. After hugging her, I say. “What’s wrong, Catherine?” I lead her to the leather chair, staring into her eyes. “I am really worried about you and Alisha. How’s Alisha holding up?”
“They used to be so close, but she’s coping.” She looks like she is on another planet. “Barbara?” She calls me.
“Yes, Cathy?” I answer with a bright smile. “What do you need? I am always here for you and your family.”
Her eyes turn cold as she skims me over, “I have a question to ask.” Her voice sounds cold and shit, I don’t like this Cathy.
“Yes?” I ask, blinking my eyes.
“Why were you fucking my husband behind my back?” Her eyes stay intently on me and I know I’m busted. Even if I try, I can’t lie my way out of this. She knows. She freaking knows.
I sigh, shifting on the chair. “Who told you?”
“Doesn’t matter, Barbara!” She snaps and I recoil back in surprise. “Imagine my shock when I found out that my husband has been fucking you. Just wow, you guys had been having an affair behind my back all these years and you didn’t even think about what it would do to my family. You’re a whore, Barbara.”
That’s it. I have had enough of this woman coming to my own house and spitting words at me. “Oh shut the fuck up, Catherine!” I can tell she’s shocked at my choice of words because her mouth parts open in surprise. “Don’t come blaming me for everything that happened in your life. He came to me willingly; I did not force him into anything.” At least that part is true. “He wanted me, Catherine, and not you. Do you know what he told me? He told me he always imagine my face whenever he was fucking you!”
That hurts her because her face starts brimming with tears. “You’re a horrible person, Barbara.”
“I own that shit.” Call me horrible, call me cold, but that’s who I am and if she doesn’t like it, she can fuck off. “Your husband was a piece of shit really. You fell in love with the wrong man, Cathy.”
“No, I didn’t.” She’s nodding her head like she disagrees with my own point. “He was very good until you came along. You are just very horrible. You even married the husband of your best-friend, you are a bitch.”
“This is my house.” I glare at her. “Leave at once.”
She stands up from the chair, a tear slipping down her cheek. “You’re going to regret this, I’ll make sure of it.” she clams her knuckles into a fist. I just roll my eyes at her. “Do you feel happy now? After destroying my whole family, do you know how much this would hurt Alisha if she finds out that her own father was a cheat.”
“Do yourself a favour and don’t mention anything to her. Take this secret to the grave because Julian is dead and if you ever try to tell anybody about this, I will make sure you pay him a visit in hell.” I whisper in her ear, making her shudder. “Now do me a favour and get out of my house. Surely you don’t want the guards dragging you out.”
Catherine looks like a broken mess. “You will pay for everything you have done.” She suckles in a deep breath before turning and walking away.
Fuck her.
My phone vibrates loudly and I curse under my breath, almost slamming it in the wall. I pick it up with nothing but a scowl on my face.
“Who is this?” I ask, breathing heavily in anger.
“Glad to hear your voice too, Barbara.” Even in my dream, I will recognize the voice that seems to be haunting me every time now.
“Anna?” My voice is already shaking, how does my own daughter’s voice have this kind of effect on me? Is this how our relationship is supposed to be? This isn’t the mother-daughter relationship that’s portrayed on television. This type of relationship that we share is quite toxic. “What do you want from me?”
“I have told you what I want.” She sighs, almost impatiently. “How did you like my present? You seem to have broken poor Catherine’s heart, she’s nothing but a fragile woman who trusted you and her husband, but she shouldn’t have.”
“That was you?” I ask.
“Yup.” I hear the moving of papers and I wonder what’s going through the background. “It wasn’t hard really; I just tipped her off and told her everything.”
“Everything?” I ask, my heart suddenly pumping faster than normal.
“Of course I didn’t tell her you’re my mother. I am not that dumb.” She chuckles and even the sound of her chuckle is so fucking dark. “Anyways, this is what I want. You better listen up. At the party hosted tomorrow by Devon, everything is going to be live so I want you to announce to everyone that I am your daughter.”
“You are crazy.” I spit out angrily. “How did you even get an invitation there? You aren’t known as an elite.”
“My boyfriend, Theo, got invited. You have probably heard of him, his name is Theo Duncan. Anyways, he is inviting me as his plus one tomorrow. Don’t you think it’s time to live together as a family? I want those family dinners, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas breakfast.”
This girl is deranged if she thinks I want any of that.
“I am not doing any of that.” I say.
“Alright then. Let me inform you, Barb. I will be there tomorrow and if you don’t do as I say, you will die tomorrow and so will everyone attending that ball.” The line goes dead immediately.
“Okay...don’t panic, Barbara.” I tell myself, calming myself down with breathing exercises. How can I not panic when I have no idea of the insane idea my daughter is planning?
First of all, I need to knock myself down with probably a valium or two then sleep through this banging headache and then when I wake up, I’m going to need a plan.
\--
Wanda:
Liam and I are watching the sunset from the balcony of my house however, Liam seems distracted.
“What’s wrong?” I poke him gently in the shoulder, he looks at me with withdrawn eyes and I sigh. “It’s like you aren’t even here.”
“I know that,” he says, staring down at his shoes. “And I am sorry; it’s just that with everything that’s happening. I just don’t know what to feel, I really want justice for my mother.”
“We are going to get justice for your mother.” I pull him closer, taking him into my arms. “Everything ends tomorrow at the party.”
“I have a sickening feeling about the party.” He says, his voice coming out weak. “Like something bad is going to happen.”
“Nothing bad will happen.” I tell him. “Nicole, Emma, Nicholas, Ethan, Leto, Xavier, Arya and Devon are all going to be there, we’re all in this together, okay?”
“Okay.” He weakly says, coming out from my embrace. “You always make me feel safe.”
“Of course, I’ll always catch you if you fall.” I smile at my own words, if someone had told me months ago that I would be talking with a well, billionaire. I wouldn’t have quite believed but here I am, falling in love with one. Liam is just everything at once, he’s kind and smart and fucking handsome, and let’s not forget he’s a bloody brilliant writer.
“I am going to head to bed,” he tells me, hands sneaking around my waist.
“Kiss me.” I say and he does exactly that, he presses me to the railing, kissing me gently yet rough at the same time. My insides flutter as I stare at his handsome face. Yes, he’s my person, I am sure of it.
After we kiss, he presses a kiss to my forehead. “Goodnight, angel.” He heads into the bedroom. I will probably join him later so we can cuddle in bed. I wander off to Clara and I hope she’s doing well, we are still trying our best to get her out of there, nobody knows that she is in prison, not even her own family. She wants to keep this as secretive as possible because she doesn’t want to worry them.
Everything will be okay, I assure myself, before going inside the bedroom to join Liam.