To Redemption (Whitsborough Chronicles Book 4)

by C. A. Rene

  “Rebecca would trust just about anyone, I had to keep a close watch on her with gardeners and pool boys because she could’ve been swayed to do just about anything. In some cases, Debra was the older sister despite being three years younger.

  “Jack liked to have his way and if anyone stood up to him-especially a woman-he had no problem knocking them back into place. Whether it was with the use of his fists or his harsh degrading words. Over time, I learned that I had to remain silent or die trying to change him. So, I waited until I could strike.

  “When I realized it was time, I found out that Jack was having an affair… with Constance Germaine.”

  She’s looking right at me and I stare back at her, willing her to tell me she's joking.

  “It’s true.” She nods sadly. “I’m sure they planned her husband’s death together as well. I can’t prove that though, it’s just a theory.”

  “My mother told me about my grandfather’s death and how they came to work here for you.” I tell her.

  “Sharla.” She smiles wistfully. “Just as much a daughter to me as my very own. She was as sharp as a whistle and just as rambunctious as Rebecca. She had so much attitude and would put anyone in their place.”

  “Yep.” Em nods. “That’s her.”

  I snort and kiss the side of Em’s head. Looks like she’s slowly coming out of her shock. Travis and Adri are so engrossed in the story that they haven’t moved an inch since Laurann has started. But Emmett still looks skeptical.

  “Constance and Jack were in love. As much in love as Jack could be, which isn’t much I’m afraid. He also liked to use her as a punching bag but the woman continued to love him. Gradually, I backed off and tried to become a part of the shadows in the house while they played the married couple.

  “They hid it well to our children, Constance never allowed Sharla up to the main house and Jack remained hidden most of the time, unless it was to groom our oldest daughter. I foolishly thought the man would let me go now that he had a new love interest, and I broached him with the subject.

  “You see, I wanted to leave but I wanted to take my girls with me. By this time, Rebecca was starting high school and slowly withdrawing from her father as she became a young woman. This angered him more and more each day. He berated her constantly, calling her a whore and chasing down any young man that dared to step on our land. Sometimes even brandishing a shotgun.

  “He wouldn’t hear of my leaving and he especially wouldn’t let me take Rebecca, although I could take Debra. I became enraged and he cut my throat with his hunting knife. I would’ve bled out on that floor if Constance hadn't found me and stitched me up. That’s when I knew, I would never be free of him as long as he was alive. So started my plans to kill Jack Craven.

  “It took a few years to plan and I watched as my girls grew and in Rebecca’s case, fall in love. Raphael wasn’t who I would have chosen for her but at the time, he was a lesser evil than her father, or so I thought. I will always bear the guilt of my part in their meeting.”

  “How so?” Emmett asks.

  “I knew about the business relationship between both of your grandfathers. Antonio Torres was going to help my husband fake his and Rebecca’s death so they could have a life away from me together. I couldn’t let that happen and when I gained the courage to call the man, I found out his son Raphael had taken over. In a sense, I was sheltered in my life here in Whitsborough, I didn’t have any dealings with Jack’s business associates and I was never accustomed to betrayal. So, at the time I didn’t know that this Raphael had killed his father and brothers, just to take over the Rampage.

  “He told me he preferred to be called Ray and promised he would help me kill my husband. He agreed to come to Whitsborough and help with the planning, even going as far as to orchestrate it. He came and he saw Rebecca and I can only imagine he fell in love with her as so many others had. Suddenly, our terms had changed, he would help me kill my husband only if Rebecca could go back with him to New York. I made him agree to eventually take me in as well.

  “Rebecca ran away as soon as her father found out about her rape-which nearly broke me in two-and accused her of being the town whore. Robert Greene had just started his reign of terror on Whitsborough and my daughter had been one of his first victims. I only found out about him years later and I was happy to hear he killed himself.”

  “I killed him.” Em says and Laurann smiles.

  “I know.”

  30

  The more I look at her, the more I see Aunt Debby. Her eyes are the same and the way her mouth curves into a grin is identical. It makes my chest constrict with how much I miss them but I’m waiting for her to explain her part in their deaths. How could she kill her own daughter?

  “It wasn’t too long after that I was ready to put our plan in motion and Raphael sent me the men to help. By this time, Jack and I had found out Rebecca was pregnant and he disowned her for good. I had to play along with the farce because I was planning on faking my death with my husband and I needed Rebecca to believe it.

  “I didn’t know she was being held against her will. That I traded her away from one monster only to deliver her into the arms of another. It would end up being my biggest regret.”

  “Shouldn’t that be killing your daughter and her husband? They were my parents, loved me unconditionally, and gave me a home.” I tell her as the pounding in my chest intensifies.

  “Killed my daughter? Once you become a mother, you will see how that’s impossible no matter the consequences.” She drinks some water and continues, “let me finish and then you can decide whether you want me to leave and we continue our game of who can catch whom, or we join forces and seek revenge.”

  I wave her on and cuddle back into Vin’s lap.

  “Jack, Constance, and I had lunch every Friday at the country club. It was something we did to keep up appearances. I was to look like the doting wife and Constance was our black hired help. I tried to warn her and I even told her to stay home, but she thought I was just trying to move in on my own husband.

  “Jack had her so brainwashed that she actually thought he loved her. Even after everything he’d done.”

  “What did he do to her?” Vin asks, his voice sounding deadly.

  “I’ll get to that, trust me boy, everything is so tangled together and this is the first time I am unravelling it for anybody.” She looks at me and smiles, so much like Aunt Debby. “I am doing this for you because I don’t want to see anything happen to you. I made some big promises.”

  I don’t have the slightest idea what she’s talking about but all I know is I want to hear more about my family.

  I nod to her and she continues, “Raphael sent me Trent-who at the time was just a fresh addition to the Rampage at sixteen-and a few other men.”

  “Wait,” Emmett interrupts. “You know Trent?”

  “Yes, Trent and his family mean a lot to me. I survived because of him.” She looks at Emmett and smiles. “I helped his family out of Cartel and gave them jobs to help me hunt down the head of Cartel.”

  “Trent is a double agent?” He slaps his hands on the table, the betrayal is evident on his face. “Is he the one who gave Wade’s guy the knife that stabbed Ember?”

  I will give him this, he connected things a lot faster than I did and now my mind is reeling with all the possible things Trent could have done to protect Talia and betray us.

  “He very much loves you.” She says to Emmett and then looks at me. “He wasn't the one who put the knife in that cage. If I can continue, we will get through everything.”

  “Let’s hear the rest.” I say to Emmett, eager to hear more about my family.

  He nods, still looking skeptical and I don’t blame him. All of this can be intricately woven lies and we’re actually sitting at the table with our greatest enemy.

  “Thank you.” She nods and continues, “that day will always be a hard one for me. Like I said at that time I wasn’t
a murderer, honestly, I’m still not.”

  Her voice shakes a bit and I will give it to her, she’s either being real right now or my acting skills come straight from her.

  “We got in our Rolls because your grandfather loved to flash our wealth and drove the ten minutes to the country club. About five minutes in, we’re sideswiped by a large industrial van and we roll a few times into the ditch.

  “Your grandfather wasn’t much for seatbelts-deeming himself above death-but Constance and I were, thankfully. I couldn’t tell you if he survived the initial crash, but if he did he wouldn’t have survived much longer, he was pretty beaten up. Constance was alive and screaming for Jack. I remember undoing her seatbelt and begging her to get out of the vehicle with me. She refused.

  “I tried forcing her but Constance was much larger than me. We ended up struggling, me trying to get her out and she just hating me in general. I knew we didn’t have much time, that the second phase of my plan was coming and there could be no stalling. I tried to drag her but she kept trying to get to the front to Jack. You see, us lowly women were to always ride in the back, never up front with him.

  “Finally, I got a hold of her dress and yanked her back.” I watch shocked as a few tears escape and roll down her cheeks. “She fell back into the backseat with my effort and her body hit the side door. There was a piece of protruding metal and it sunk easily into the back of her neck. She was dead instantly.

  “What you won’t read in those reports given to you by McKay is that they covered that up. They didn’t think it necessary to tell the town every detail because it was gruesome. They also covered up this next part.”

  She lifts her bottle but it's empty and Adri gets up to get her another.

  “Thank you.” She smiles at her like a sweet old woman and drinks some. “Trent dragged me out of that car, even though the deal was for me to get out or I would die as well. I was just so overcome with grief at what I’d done.”

  “Why would you be so overcome with grief?” Vin asks her. “Didn’t you hate her?”

  “God no!” She shakes her head vehemently. “I’m not telling this well. Constance was my only friend in Whitsborough. Yes, she hated our situation but she knew I didn’t love my husband. She also knew he would never leave me and marry a black woman, that’s just how it was. I had to cover my own heritage and was accepted because I was white looking enough.”

  “White enough looking?” Travis echoes.

  “Yes, I am actually Spaniard. My maiden name is Talia and my family sent me here to Whitsborough to marry into a rich aristocratic family. Jack’s family knew he was a deviant just as the whole town knew and they wouldn’t find him a wife anywhere close by. But, they also wanted that wife to come with wealth and good breeding.”

  “You were a mail order bride.” Adri says and I snort.

  “Essentially,” Talia answers and fires me a look to behave.

  I squirm in Vin’s lap because that look is so much like the one my mother would use on me.

  “I was heart broken as I watched Trent and his men douse the car in gas and set it aflame. But I couldn’t give up, I had to continue.”

  “There were three bodies in that car.” I interject. “And your dental records matched one of the bodies there.”

  “Right!” She snaps and opens her mouth wide. She’s missing four molars in the back of her mouth. “These are all crowns. I had my teeth removed in a painful procedure a month before the accident. I paid the dentist a hefty sum to give me the teeth and over the span of a month I had crowns installed.

  “The third body? I didn’t know who the woman was because Trent had brought the cadaver himself, with my loose teeth in her mouth. Sounds strange right? That the police found a skull with its teeth all knocked out? They glossed right over it. Whitsborough police were so amateur and just downright lazy.

  “I then left for New York that day with Trent and a new name. I dropped the Laurann and Craven then assumed my very popular maiden name.”

  “Our mother was still alive then.” I say to her. “Did you go to her?”

  “I did.” She nods and I watch as this formidable entity I’ve been chasing for a year starts to tear up in front of me. “I essentially traded one daughter for another. Rebecca needed me more than Debra and I needed Debra to believe I was actually dead. She inherited the family fortune and married Scott, so I believe me being out of her life was for the best.

  “Rebecca was pregnant when I got to New York, huge with you twins growing in her belly. I found out that same day that she was just as much a prisoner with Raphael than she was with her father and it broke my heart. So, I had yet another nearly impossible task in front of me. I now had to escape that place with Rebecca and two newborn babies.”

  “It’s true then, our father was never really in love with our mother.” Emmett says quietly.

  “Oh no, quite the opposite. I believe he did love her but he was also deranged and his love equated to obsession. Rebecca had just found out that Raphael was not monogamous and he never would be. He had a six year old son already from a teenage pregnancy. The mother was nowhere to be found and according to Trent, she was disposed of. I’m guessing killed.

  “We also found out just what the Rampage did for a living. They recruited prostitutes, organized illegal fighting rings,” for this she looks directly at me, “and pushed drugs all over New York. Raphael was essentially setting up his own Cartel and he was looking to expand with a new organization called The Heads.”

  My heart begins to gallop in my chest at the mention of the Head Organization. I’m one of them.

  “I know you are one of them.” She says, reading my very thoughts. “I heard you stopped the prostitution, child-sex trafficking, and drug distribution in Toronto. I was so proud of you for that but also worried. With doing that, a lot of attention was focused on you and this little town in Canada.

  “Your mother and I found out a lot about Raphael’s dealings. One because he would come talk to her, believing she was unable to leave, and I began seeing someone who was very close to Raphael’s finances and money laundering.

  “His name was Emmanuel Vergara and he was kind, but also corrupted. He had strong ties to government officials and politicians sat in his pocket. Your mother and I listened quietly to both men, gathering all the intel we would need. I obviously couldn’t be involved with the takedown because my new persona could so easily be blown apart. Your mother was tough though and I was able to smuggle her a burner phone I found in Emmanuel’s office. She found an agent in the FBI who worked with her for months building a case.

  “The day she gave birth to you two was an emotional one. She was instantly in love and so was I. There you two were, completely identical but with such varying personalities. Ember, you were intense from day one. You were quiet and observant, watching every single thing. Emmett, you were loud and demanding, wanting everyone’s attention.”

  “Nothing’s changed there.” Travis snickers.

  “You were both a handful and Rebecca was often so exhausted that the conversations with the agent fell to me. Your mother didn’t want him knowing about the babies and I agreed with her, trusting anyone had become hard for us. She’d given birth in that compound with doctors employed by the Rampage. They weren’t bad doctors, the opposite really. They did a great job and your mother recovered quickly. But she still wasn’t allowed to leave the compound and doctors would come to her and you two regularly for check ups.

  “Finally, with stolen documents and our testimonials, the FBI moved in on your father and he was arrested. The Rampage was turned upside down and I had to get you babies and your mother out of there. But that wasn’t proving easy. Calen had taken over in his place and the man despised anything weak, especially women.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” Emmett mutters and I watch with shock as Talia reaches for his hand and Emmett doesn’t pull away.

  “I am sorry you were left with
that man. It will always be one of the regrets I blame myself for.” She pulls her hand back and looks at me. “The night we were supposed to leave the compound, Rebecca only had Ember with her. Ember was fussy whenever she was with anyone but her mother and Emmett really couldn’t care less who he was with as long as he was fed and clean.

  “Raphael hired a nanny and the woman was kind, her name was…”

  “Cassidy or mama Cass as I knew her.” Emmett interjects.

  “Yes, Cassidy was a great nanny and she would take Emmett during the nights to help Rebecca sleep, but Ember wouldn’t leave her mother. It was the same on this particular night and there was no better time to leave. Rebecca was insistent we both go to get Emmett but I knew that would alert the guards all over the place. So, I promised her that I would get Emmett and she was to leave the way we planned.

  “She did as I asked and trusted me to get you, Emmett.” She says while looking at him sadly. “I failed, obviously. Emmanuel was looking for me that night because a few of the documents the FBI showed Raphael could only have come from me.

  “He found me, captured me, and let Calen torture me for information for three months. When I wouldn’t break, Emmanuel deemed me worthy to be by his side. I was finally released from my cell and when I went looking for you, you were long gone. Emmanuel assured me you were with the nanny but I could never see you. I tried for months to find out where you could be and I tried to get in contact with Rebecca but was unable to do any of it. Thankfully, I left some money for Rebecca before I came to New York, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I knew I had to find her and help her, especially with a newborn.

  “Every time I asked Emmanuel where any of you were, he would just say the same things, that you were fine and doing well. We eventually left the compound and I moved into Emmanuel’s estate. I found out he had a wife, a son, and another baby on the way. You could imagine my surprise since him and I were together in the carnal sense.”

  “Ew.” Emmett shudders.

  “Oh, knock it off.” She waves Emmett off. “You’re over here with a boyfriend and a girlfriend. You’re getting it a lot more than I am.”