Bang!
“Myra, please listen to me,” Aiden pleaded.
“Get him out of here,” Cal barked, looking at the police.
“This is all your fault.” Aiden turned, screaming at Cal now. “Why won't you just leave her alone?”
Cal suddenly began to march toward him angrily when Greg hurried past him, “No. I'll do this,” he got to Aiden and began to punch him.
All attempts to stop him proved futile, and Aiden could not fight back with cuffed hands.
It seemed Greg was letting out all his life's frustration on the man. “You started all this,” he yelled as he punched him again.
“Get off my son!” Ms Acosta's voice echoed over the windy hill, as she pushed through the guests who now had soot on their clothes, and wild eyes from the shock of the explosion earlier.
“No.” Greg turned round and yelled at her. “You helped him get into this place.”
Greg raised his hand again to punch Aiden, whose mouth was all bloodied now, his eyes rolling backward as he groaned.
“You'll kill your brother!”
As soon as those words went into the air, everywhere became deathly quiet, and the sky went gray as even the sun took cover behind the clouds.
Myra fell to her butt on the floor, a ringing sound going off in her ear.
Greg’s hand was still traveling as it seemed the words had not registered, but then he froze up and turned around.
“What did you say?” Myra's mother was pushing through the crowd.
Cal stood frozen. Only Gilbert Dankworth was in control enough to ask his guards to lead the guests away.
“What was that mamá,” Aiden tried to struggle off the floor, his body weak, like a half-filled bag of grain with his hands still cuffed.
“How the hell is Greg, my brother? What are you saying?” he stared up after managing to get on his knees, his face bloodied, his eyes dizzy.
“Speak up.” Myra's mother yelled, and Myra watched the drama, stunned, still seated on the floor in her stained wedding dress.
She had never seen her mother speak above a low voice except that day Greg revealed he was Orson. Her mother did not have a spine.
But now, she had murder in her eyes.
Ms. Acosta was shaking her head now, tears flowing out her eyes.
She did not seem to even notice Mrs Shaw as her whole attention was on her son, who was looking at her in such deep shock.
“Tyson Shaw is your father, my baby,” Ms Acosta said.
Myra felt the ringing in her ear increase as Cal walked towards the woman. “You claimed I was his father all these years. Thirty whole years, Emma!”
Aiden struggled fully to his feet now.
“Take it back mamá.” He was shaking his head. “Did the Professor bribe you to say this?”
Ms. Acosta was weeping harder now, crouching like she could not stand up straight anymore.
“Take it back!” Aiden screamed. “I almost married Myra. I fucked Myra.”
And whatever had come loose in Myra's head that night all those years ago, started to vibrate now.
She did not know if it was shock from that explosion, or from this big reveal, but she knew once this thing in her brain dislodged, she would completely lose her sanity and may never recover it.
“What the hell are you saying?” Greg said, shaking his head in disbelief as he walked towards Ms Acosta. “You are lying.”
“She is. She is.” Aiden said feverishly, nodding, and Myra just stared.
The world had gone mad.
Greg and Aiden were agreeing on something for the first time, and Aiden was her brother.
The world had gone mad.
Aiden suddenly ran up to his mother, grabbed her shoulders and began shaking it.
“Tell the truth. Do you know the implications of what you are saying? I fucked my sister. You’re a devil! How could you watch me almost marry my sister?”
“Her mother would have killed you!” his mother screamed back in his face, through her tears.
“Savannah has never let any of Tyson’s affair children live.”
“What?” Greg said.
“Honey, honey.” Cal’s arms were around Myra’s shoulders suddenly, as he seemed to finally have recovered from his shock enough to remember her.
“You cannot be here. Please, for your mind's sake.”
Myra smiled up sadly at his amber-colored eyes.
The man was concerned about her because he knew how bad it could get. He had helped her a lot these past two years after she revealed her dissociation and hallucination to him in that email.
“You will not lie to me, will you?” She asked softly even as Aiden continued screaming at his mother, and Cal shook his head.
“Is this real? I may just be hallucinating again.” And the pain in his eyes was all the proof she needed to know that Aiden was really her brother.
She turned back to the scene, staring at her mother, until her eyes fell again on the bag she was now holding stiffly.
Myra hurried up to her feet, and began to run towards her mother.
Her mother turned only at the last minute, and she flinched at the madness she must have seen in Myra's eyes.
“You witch!” Myra screamed with all her lungs, feeling like her chest was about to burst. “You pretentious witch!”
She could feel everyone’s eyes turning to her now, undoubtedly shocked that she would speak to her own mother like this.
Cal was by her side now, trying to pull her away as her mother stared at her with an open mouth, shocked.
Myra whirled around to face Cal, “She murdered Valentina.”
Cal's hands fell away from her, and she could see from the look in his eyes, he thought his poor fiancé had finally gone mad.
She looked around wildly, and would have collapsed in relief when she saw her grandfather was still among the people here, besides Cal's family and hers.
“Grandpa.” She ran towards him now, and the man was standing so stiff, his face expressionless.
But in his eyes, she saw all she needed. He would understand this and confirm she was not crazy.
“Do you remember when your OTHER daughter suddenly moved out?” and his eyes widened, obviously shocked that she would bring this up in public.
“May 5th 2000,” He said regardless, and walked close to her.
“She has been here the whole time. She was in this city.”
It was Greg who began to pull her away this time.
He was also aware of her mental issues, and probably thought she had gone mad.
She turned to him now, and stared in his eyes because if anyone would understand her, it was Greg.
“Listen to me Greg, Ms Steel is our aunty.”
“What?”
And then she gave him a quick rundown of all Atlas had told her in that lobby.
“At first, I thought the only reason a woman would care enough to kill a college student was if she was her husband's mistress. But that led me to a dead end. I did not find anyone in the whole of Ciaran who had access to a bag before pre-launch.”
“Till I realized Valentina could have been an affair child since her real father is unknown.”
Greg's eyes were already growing wide at this, and she could have kissed him. He clocked these things fast.
“I have been digging into Valentina's mother's past life, but the woman did not seem to exist till May 5th 2000. Every detail I found about her stopped there. Only one person told me she admitted that her baby was her brother-in-law's.”
Greg turned around slowly now to look at their mother, who was standing so stiffly and had gone white.
“Did you hear what Ms Acosta said, that our mother would have killed Aiden if she knew? That is probably the reason why Mrs Steels ran away from home too. I don't know how our mother found out about Valentina, but Valentina is also our sister.”
“And mom killed her.” Greg’s voice came out exhausted, his eyes still staring in disbelief.
The bag was what gave her mother away today.
Because Myra spent her time at the fashion company, she recognized the latest bags that would only be available for pre-order three months from now.
But her mother had it, and where better to wear it than at her daughter's wedding?
It had distracted her while she walked down the aisle, but she found it difficult to believe her mother would murder Valentina.
The woman was spineless and never even spoke up above a whisper, and on her best days a low voice.
But as Aiden's mother spoke, she suddenly remembered Valentina's mother's history she had been looking into.
“Nooo.” Aiden suddenly screamed, and Myra burst into tears as she turned to look at him.
The poor fool had been used.
He had probably fcked her father for favors, and he did not know the man was his father too.
“Aiden. Please.” His mother tried to hold him now, pleading, and Greg was storming towards their mother, who was backing away.
Then the sound of a gun went off as Myra's eyes fell on their surrogate, who sat quietly on one of the seats.
She looked white, deathly pale.
Myra’s eyes turned back in time to see Aiden's body falling, his head a bloodied mass as everyone screamed.
But she did not blink as she began to run towards her surrogate.
“Michelle, are you OK?” She crashed on her knees before the young woman. “Does your belly hurt?” she moved her hand to the small bump where she and Cal's baby lay.
“I'm so sorry,” the woman said. “I think the explosion scared me too much.”
“What?” Myra said, staring at the sweat beads on the woman's forehead, and suddenly she became aware of the drip, drip sound falling on the grass.
She looked down to see the blood dripping down the chair the woman was still seated on.