107. Leo

Night.

Mae and I had spent the day with the kids. I toured her around the place. She had asked about Rhea and I explained how she had to take back one of the kids to their parents since it was now safe to do so.

I just tucked one of the kids to sleep and saw her standing and staring at a fishbowl, in thought.

"Do you want to slam my head into the bowl?" I asked her, trying to get what she was thinking about.

"Your head wouldn't fit in it," she turned to me and sighed."I'm going home, back to Nina. She must be worried. I don't even have a phone for her to reach me and know where the fuck I am."

She started to walk away so I followed."Is that what you were thinking about?" I knew it couldn't be, yet I asked. She had to have been thinking of something deeper.

"You know it's crazy how much you and Lade know about me and I didn't even know what my father was till you told me." She finally voiced her thoughts.

"It's not your fault." She had to know it wasn't.

"Do you know who you are?" She asked and though I knew what she could be asking about, I decided to act like I didn't.

"What?"

"Lade mentioned that you're Daniel Yrotes' child. Did you know that?"

"..." I sighed.

"You did?"

"I did."

"So he... My adopted father, Daniel Yrote, had a child of his own, why did he adopt me?"

"..." Fuck. Wrong timing. I knew the answer to her question but I wasn't planning to answer her now. She seemed to have been thinking about it already. She might not be ready to accept the answer she was asking for.

"And why did he let you serve him like the other servants when you were his son?"

"..."

"Tell me if you know, Leo, don't just keep quiet?"

"It's all long and complicated..."

"It's why you're so obsessed with him, isn't it? Daniel Yrote is your father. Why don't you have his last name? Do you know that too?"

"I don't have his last name because my mother didn't let it happen. She ran away while she was still pregnant with me. Gave birth to me in a different place and gave me my grandparent's surname." I found myself telling her.

"Daniel Yrote was a fucked up man, okay. He raped my mother and then she ran away from him but he found her and brought her back, and then decided to punish her by having me serve him. And you..." I paused with a sigh for what I was about to tell her."He killed your biological parents without knowing they had you. Maybe he felt guilty and decided to raise you as his. Or maybe he kept you as a prize for killing your parents."

"..." I looked at her and she was staring back, not saying anything and almost making me regret telling her what I just did.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath and bit my lips after.

"Or maybe..." Her voice was sober."Maybe he was just trying to protect the only person that had his blood. Maybe he was trying to protect you by not giving you his last name. Maybe he knew people would come after you if they knew you were his son."

"..." I was the one standing quietly now and listening.

"Think of it," she shrugged with a faint chuckle."He planned his shit well. He knew they wouldn't come after you because they didn't know you were his son, and they wouldn't come after me because I'm adopted and not his child."

"You think Daniel Yrote would care that much?" I could laugh at what she was saying.

"It seems so," she was serious.

"My mother was the one who caused his death." I thought I should mention to her why her beautiful fairytale childhood got fucked up.

"Did she poison him? If she did, he deserved it. For raping her..." She voiced her thoughts.

"Well, she didn't cook for him. She couldn't have. Her job was to take care of you after he brought you back with him. She helped Lade's father gain access to the Yrote estate. They went right into his office, caught him at the most unexpected time of the morning, and shot him in the head."

"I remember," I heard her mutter, tears in her eyes."So that's what that is. I still get that image in my head."

"What image?" I probed.

"I dream of it sometimes. I walk into an office and a man is lying on the floor, his blood-stained face makes me lose sight of his facial features. It's from that day, isn't it?" She sniffed and tilted her head backward to stop the tears in her eyes.

"You should have let me kill Lade myself. That shit traumatized me my whole life." She sighed."I'm going home." She wiped her eyes with her palm and started towards the lift that brought us down.

"I'll drop you off," I joined her in the lift before the doors closed.

It was silent during our ride back till my phone rang and disrupted the silence. I looked and saw that it was Pete so I picked it.

"Pete," I said after picking up.

"Sir, something went wrong." I halted the car immediately when he said that. He was with Rhea on a mission. Something couldn't be going wrong.

"Tell me..."

"Where are we going?" Mae asked when I turned the car around. I didn't answer. I couldn't. Not with the level of adrenaline rushing through me as I sped up the car.

I got to where Pete and Rhea were in a few minutes and stopped the car."I'm sorry we're here, I'll explain soon, just stay in the car." I told Mae before rushing out of the car and meeting Pete where he stood outside the building. Rhea was with him.

"Where is he?" I asked neither of them in particular.

"Inside. He said he'd do it again if we didn't get you to be here. I'm sorry, sir." Pete spoke before Rhea could.