Broken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Second Season

by Peak, Renna

  But I had. I had fallen in love again. I had allowed myself to be happy again. And I had allowed it with Brandon. But I kept pushing him away—I was still trying to be what my parents wanted. I was still trying to play both sides. Falling in love with him had lifted me from a place I thought I would never recover from, and I was still running. Still pushing against it. Still feeling like I didn’t deserve it. The place that still said that—that I didn’t deserve love—was smaller now. Much smaller. But no matter how tiny that place inside of me was, it was still telling me I didn’t deserve love. That I didn’t deserve Brandon. I knew what I needed to do, and it wasn’t to fall in line with my parents’ plans anymore. If they disowned me, so what? If they took away my trust funds, why would it matter? I knew that all I really needed was Brandon. I knew I needed to get past the feeling of not deserving him…

  Krystal let out another sigh. “Something died inside of him—in Brandon when Congressman Edwards killed himself. I didn’t think I’d ever see him let himself be happy again.” She turned her head slowly from side to side. “But he has. I don’t know what it is with you two—I think you’re probably going to destroy each other, but I haven’t seen him like this in a long time. Like he has something to live for. Like he actually cares whether he lives or dies.”

  I knew exactly what she meant. Because I had something to live for now, too.

  4

  The greeter at the country club recognized me when I arrived and I followed him into the dining room. My parents weren’t seated at their usual table; I was instead led to a private dining area where my mother and father were already sitting. I noticed the six place settings—I could only imagine that those extra place settings meant the Satos would be joining us for dinner.

  I knew I was going to be chewed out for being late, but I was thankful that Krystal had taken me to a hotel instead of to my parents’ Virginia estate. The possibility of staying with my parents hadn’t even been mentioned, which was unusual, but not unheard of. It was almost a relief this time. My mother had sent over a garment bag of approved dresses and tonight, I was wearing a sapphire-colored wrap-around dress. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but it was the only dress she had sent that was appropriate for dinner at the swanky country club.

  Sunday dinners at the club had been a mainstay when I was growing up. It wasn’t unusual for my family to entertain guests on Sunday nights here, either, but just knowing that the Satos were going to be eating with us tonight was making me uncomfortable. I hadn’t seen either of Daniel’s parents in over a year—and I hadn’t seen his father since the funeral. I hadn’t really thought about them since I had found out that Daniel had never died, but I did wonder if they had known that day. That day when I watched what I thought was my fiancé’s casket being lowered into the ground. That day when my mother had almost demanded that I take my own life. Remembering that day—remembering that conversation with her made me realize exactly what I needed to say to them tonight. I knew it would come across as immature, but I knew there were things that needed saying. Secrets that needed revealing.

  They had their backs to the door and didn’t see me when I arrived. I plastered my phony smile to my face and sat down across from my parents, not even giving my father a chance to stand up and greet me. My father’s face lit up when I sat down, but I didn’t say anything to him. I still wasn’t sure what I could say to him after what had happened a few nights ago.

  My mother didn’t even look at me—her eyes remained fixed on her folded hands, which rested on the edge of the table. “You’re late.”

  My face tightened, but I didn’t let my smile fall even a bit. “It’s good to see you, too, Mother. I trust your flight home was uneventful?”

  She looked up from her hands, her lips curling into a scowl. “I trust you didn’t bring any garbage with you to see me tonight?”

  “Only myself.” I turned to my father. “Good to see you, too, Dad. I hear your business ventures are going as expected.”

  His smile fell and he cleared his throat. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. But I’m glad you decided to do the right thing and come home, Jenna.” He turned and looked at Marian. “We both are.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.” I could hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice, and I knew that it would piss them off. I turned to my mother. “Did Dad tell you he met with me a few nights ago? Right after you and I met?”

  She gave me a condescending smile. “He may have mentioned it, yes.”

  I turned my gaze back to my father. “Oh, good. So she knows?”

  Her condescending smile turned into more of a sneer. “Knows what?”

  I darted my gaze between the two of them in mock surprise. “You didn’t tell her, Dad? That she’s about to become a mother again?”

  It was almost comical, watching both of their eyes widen at the same time and knowing it was for two very different reasons. I’m sure my father had no idea that I knew about Mason. He had no idea that I knew about Amanda, either. And I was fairly certain that my mother had no clue that either of them existed or that her husband had fathered yet another illegitimate child. I was pretty sure he would never make the mistake of having Marian pretend to be Mason’s mother—she was too old to be his mother, anyway—but I had to admit that it was fun watching them squirm for that moment.

  My chest tightened, and I began to feel almost guilty over what I had said. I wasn’t a child—some sulking brat who hadn’t gotten her way. But having some semblance of control was almost addicting—it wasn’t something I was used to having. Not with these two, anyway.

  My father leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and tenting his fingers together into somewhat of a pyramid. His eyes were stern and he narrowed his gaze at me. “Jenna, I realize you’re upset. I realize that this isn’t where you would choose to be right now…”

  I lifted a brow. “Do you? Do you also realize that I was there last night? When your ‘job’ was completed?”

  His eyes widened again, and he leaned back in the chair, folding his hands into his lap. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  I tilted my head. “Really? No idea at all?” I knew I was playing with fire. I knew that there was a chance he would eliminate me, just like he said. I just had to believe that he wouldn’t actually harm me. I was his daughter—too many people knew me. Too many people knew who I was, I couldn’t even walk into a restaurant or grocery store without being recognized. It wasn’t as though he could actually get away with banishing me. Killing me. At least, that was what I wanted to believe.

  “Jenna, we can discuss this later.” He turned to Marian before turning back to me. “This is upsetting your mother.”

  I nodded. “I’m sure my mother can go home and take one of her numbing pills if it upsets her too much…”

  I looked over at her and noticed her gaze had gone glassy. She was staring off into space, her lips pursed as though she was thinking about something important. I had a feeling that she’d needed to go off to her happy place at even the thought of having to raise another of my father’s children.

  Daniel’s mother entered our dining area at that moment. My father and I both stood upon her arrival and she walked over to me, pulling me into a warm embrace.

  “Jenna. My God, it’s been too long.” She took the seat next to mine, smiling. “How have you been?”

  I didn’t have to force a smile to my face that time. Penny Sato had been more of a mother to me in the short time Daniel and I were together than the woman who raised me nearly from birth had been in my entire life. “I’m okay.”

  She nodded, smiling at me. “It sure was a shock, though, wasn’t it? I was so angry and hurt when Hiro told me, but now that the surprise has worn off, I’m just so happy to have him back. To have you back, too.” She pulled my hand into hers, giving it a squeeze. “We’ve missed you a lot.” She looked over at my parents. “I know this was hard for everyone.”

  My father nodded, folding his hands back into h
is lap. “It was definitely a shock for us, too.”

  Lies. More lies. Daniel’s mother clearly hadn’t been privy to the secrets that her husband and my father were keeping from her. I still wasn’t sure what was at the root of those secrets, but at that moment, I was sure that she hadn’t been a part of them. It was almost a relief—knowing her tears that day at the funeral weren’t fake. Knowing that her grief had been as real as mine. But it was also difficult to understand why her own husband had kept the information about their son hidden from her. He had allowed her to live with the same false grief that my family had allowed me to live with.

  She glanced over at my mother, who was still almost catatonic from the bomb I had dropped on her only a few moments earlier. She looked back at me. “Are you still playing the piano? We’d love to have you over this week … not just to play, of course.” Her smile widened. “We—w well, I especially, I suppose—just always loved hearing you play so much.” She let out a sigh. “It’s just all so hard to believe. That we’re both getting our lives back. That we can finally welcome you into our family, Jenna.”

  Of all of the things she could have said to me, that was the one thing that I knew would hurt the most. I had hoped I wouldn’t have had to face her—Daniel’s mother. She and I had had an instant bond, almost a friendship. But seeing her after his death—after my suicide attempt—it had been too difficult. The one thing we shared—her son—had been taken from us. And I hadn’t been able to live with it or the guilt. And I hadn’t wanted her to have to take on any of my emotional baggage when I knew she had so much of her own to deal with. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose a son. I couldn’t imagine what it felt like to know that your son and husband conspired to fake your son’s death, either…

  I forced my smile back to my face and felt tears threatening to swim in my eyes. I wanted a family. I wanted the family I had never had—the one that, at one time, I had thought I would find with Daniel’s family. But I knew that I would never be part of their family. No matter how kind his mother was, I would never be able to be with Daniel. I would never allow it to happen. She obviously had no idea of the type of man her son had become, but it didn’t matter. I knew. I knew what he was capable of—what he had done to me. And it didn’t matter what my father threatened or how much anyone begged or pleaded with me. I knew I wouldn’t capitulate on this one. There was no way I would go back to him, and the sooner everyone else knew it, the better.

  I turned to her, barely able to keep the tears from sliding down my cheeks. “Penny, I don’t know if I can…”

  “You can and you will. We discussed this, Jenna.” My father’s voice boomed across the table. “There will be no tears about this. You agreed…”

  “No, you agreed. You threatened me. That’s not agreement, Dad. That’s you trying to force me to do something against my will.” My chest tightened again. My words might have sounded brave, but bravery was about the last thing I was feeling. I pulled my clammy hand from Penny’s, folding it with my other into my lap. My hands were shaking and I was pretty sure those were the last words I’d ever be able to speak.

  I saw my father’s face turn a shade of crimson that I had never seen on him before. I think if steam could have actually come from his ears, it would have at that moment.

  I had never been that girl. I had never been the girl who questioned her parents—not ever. Even when my mother gave me those pills, I didn’t question it. I had been so complacent—so obedient my entire life. And I was done being that complacent little girl. I knew I was done, and I knew I didn’t care what the consequences were anymore. Other than the threats he had made to me at dinner, there wasn’t much he could do to me. He could try to hurt Brandon, but I should have known better. Brandon was a big boy—he could take care of himself. He was so worried about taking care of me, anyway, that I knew my father had used that against him. And my father was also using it against me. It was time for me to play my hand—call his bluff. If he wanted to “eliminate” me, then so be it. There wasn’t anything for me to live for here. There was no way I was going back to Daniel, and it didn’t matter what his mother thought about it.

  I turned to her again, trying to ignore the look of rage that had come to my father’s face. “Where is Daniel? We should all have this conversation. Tonight. Before the press conference tomorrow.”

  My father’s voice was low, almost a growl. “There will be no further discussion of the matter, Jenna. You’re here. You’re going through with what we discussed…”

  The poor woman sitting next to me looked as though she was caught in the crossfire of an all-out war. And I suppose in many ways, she was. I hadn’t intended for her to get caught up in it, but I knew that tonight was the only time I would have my father and Daniel in the same room before I would be expected to stand on some stage with him. And I knew I had to make sure it didn’t happen.

  Her gaze darted between my father and me, finally resting on me. “I’m not sure where he is. They said they would meet me here. Daniel and his father…”

  I nodded, turning my gaze to my mother, who was still staring across the room. “Mother? Are you okay?”

  She didn’t speak. I knew she must have taken one of her anti-anxiety pills and was now going to be gone—zoned out for the next eight hours or so.

  My father answered for her. “She had to take a pill before you even got here, Jenna. Just being around you makes her too anxious…”

  I closed my eyes for a moment. The fear I had been feeling only a moment before was melting into anger—the rage that had been bubbling inside of me for months. I caused her too much anxiety? Was he serious? I let out a long, shaky breath. “I think, perhaps, Dad…” I had to pause for a moment, trying to keep my voice from becoming too shrill. “Perhaps I am not the cause of the anxiety…”

  He lifted a brow and took a sip from the drink in front of him. He set the glass back down on the table and folded his hands back into his lap. “Perhaps, Jenna, you are forgetting about the little episode you had after Daniel’s funeral. Perhaps, your mother has not been the same since then…”

  I felt like I could have lifted the table with one hand and thrown it across the room. My hands were shaking—I could feel how hot my cheeks were burning, and maybe my father could see that steam might have been coming from my ears if it was possible. She hadn’t been the same since my “episode?” Had she really never admitted to him the part that she had played in that?

  I let out a long breath through my clenched teeth. “I suppose Marian neglected to mention who gave me the pills that night…”

  He snorted. “You stole them from her medicine cabinet. That was all she needed to tell me…”

  “Stole them.” I nodded, my voice dripping again with sarcasm. “That’s what she told you? She didn’t tell you how she gave me a bottle that morning? How I took one before I went to the funeral? How when I got home that night, she almost beat me over the head with the knowledge that I was supposed to take the whole bottle?” I paused to catch my breath for only a moment. “And she didn’t tell you how she gave me a second bottle when I got home because I had embarrassed you both so badly? How she told me taking six or seven would make it hard for anyone to get me to breathe? Or maybe she only left out the part where she told me that I had forty-seven chances—forty-seven of her pills to do the right thing. To do what she wanted to do to me since you dropped me in her lap and forced her to be a mother. Because, guess what, Dad … that’s all on you.”

  His eyes widened, the look of rage suddenly gone from his face and replaced with something else. Regret.

  My heart was racing, but I knew I needed to finish telling him everything about that night. Because it was clear that he really didn’t know. “I took those pills because your wife—the woman who raised me—told me to. Because I was so grief-stricken about my fiancé—my fiancé who wasn’t even dead—that I felt like I didn’t want to live. And she didn’t come to me that night to tell me that things would
get better. She came to me that night to give me more of her pills. To tell me to do it right. To tell me to be a Davis and not do things half-assed. And if that maid hadn’t stayed late that night … if someone hadn’t been cleaning out in the hallway when I almost died… We wouldn’t be having this conversation right now because I would be dead.”

  The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. He had had no idea that Marian had put me up to anything. And by the glazed look in Marian’s eyes, I could see she hadn’t only taken one of her “numbing” pills. She’d taken at least two—probably more. I wasn’t the cause of her problems. I had always known it on some level—she had always made me believe that I was, but I knew that it wasn’t me that she really needed to numb herself against. It was him. It was my father.

  5

  I almost felt bad that Daniel’s mother had had to witness the confrontation I’d had with my father that night. She had been through enough of her own difficulties—she certainly didn’t need to have to live through mine. I could only imagine how difficult the past few weeks had been for her—finding out that her only child was still alive. I was lucky, and I knew that. I’d had a while to deal with the shock. It was hard to believe that her husband would need to keep that secret from her, but I didn’t really want to know why. All of that—everything about Daniel and his banishment, fake death … all of it was something I didn’t need or want to deal with.

  I was sure that someday all of the facts would come flying at me when I least expected them—least wanted to know about them. But that night, all I wanted to do was to get some sleep. Not having slept in two nights was wearing on me. I didn’t usually sleep well, anyway … well, unless Brandon was with me. I still didn’t understand how or why I was able to sleep if he was just there, but it worked better than any sleeping pill ever had for me.