"Delia is Celine's daughter."
"That can't be, she would've had to be....."
"Thirteen that's right, your precious Delia is the product of statutory rape."
There was a gasp from over my shoulder and I knew who would be there before I turned around.
I caught my wife before she hit the floor.
"Who?" I turned back to them as I clutched her to my chest.
Joann folded her arms and her lips but for once Carl Fielding had a pair, he spoke up before she could stop him.
"Vito Escalante."
"Carl..."
"Enough Joann it's out now no use hiding it from him." She didn't look too pleased by his little revelation but that was the least of my worries.
Chapter 12
I took her straight to my parents’ mansion after calling dad and begging him to come home as soon as possible.
There was no way they were going to convince me that Vito Escalante was a monster, I knew the Escalantes they were nice people, and more than that he was my fucking godfather, the only reason he hadn't been at my wedding was because he had to be out of town, a business deal that they'd had in the works before we'd set the date. His wedding gift had been a cool two million dollars; I've known this man my whole fucking life. No...fucking...way.
I had bigger problems on my hands though, how the fuck was she going to take the fact that I slept with her fucking mother? What a fucking mess. I wanted to be sick but I couldn't think about me right now, I had a pregnant wife who had lost consciousness twice in as many weeks, the stress from this shit wasn't going to be easy, and now this. I wanted to rail at something, to slam my fist into something, how many more knocks was she expected to take?
Mom was there when I got to their place, Delia had barely come around, and was groaning like she was fucking dying.I'd yell at her later for sneaking out and following me, she could've put herself in danger, as it stood she'd taken a hard shock to her system and before the day was out she would face more.
How did I feel about the fact that I'd slept with one woman and married her daughter? Not good, but fuck it, it's not like I'd set out to do it, I refuse to be held accountable for something I had no control over, Delia's the one that worried me, she was already so wounded what was this going to do to her? How was I gonna fix this cluster fuck? I had to tell my family, I didn't expect them to feel any differently about it than I did, but it had to be put out there. This was my doing not theirs, there was no shame, not for me anyway, but Delia I know would be a different story.
"Bring her inside Chase I've got your old room all set up."
I carried her up the stairs and asked mom to leave us. Before I talked to anyone, I had to settle this with her, I didn't want her dwelling on this shit and hurting herself, fuck that, they'd taken enough from her already, I'd bear the brunt of whatever came from this, but not her, she was the only innocent in this whole fucked up fiasco.
Laying her on the bed. I pulled the covers up over her, it seems like I've been doing this a lot lately.
"Talk to me baby." She was barely aware that I was there it seems, having shut herself down, that couldn't be allowed, it wasn't good for her, and it wasn't good for the baby.
"Delia, I said talk." I used my forceful tone, the one I used while dominating her, or when I wanted her to know I meant business.
"I don't understand, help me understand please......"
I took a deep breath before I began, had to tread carefully here this shit was a minefield and though I didn't believe that Vito had raped anyone something had obviously happened, why else would they use his name?
"Okay, from what your.....Joann said, it seems that Celine had you when she was very young......I'm not sure about all the details as yet but I promise you that I'll find out....."
"If she is my mom, then I....." She covered her mouth with her hands and fled the bed.
Fuck.....shit.....I followed her and brought her back when she was done. She held her body stiff and I knew this was it, this was the moment that will either make us or break us.
"I slept with you and you were going to marry my mother, what does that make me?"
"You, didn't do anything, I did......we didn't know, how can we be held responsible for what we didn't know?"
"I can't, I can't, I can't......"
"What can't you do?" There was no point in getting angry, she had a legitimate reason for feeling the way she did, it's fucked, but it's true; but I'd be double fucked if we were gonna lose each other over this, no way I was letting them fucking win. She's mine, she's gonna stay mine.
"I did a bad thing."
"Okay Delia, listen to me now, the fact that Celine might be your mom, does that change the way she treated you your whole life?"
"But I ruined hers....."
"Would you treat peanut this way, for any reason?"
She quickly covered her stomach with both hands.
"Of course not, I would never.....no."
"So there was no excuse for the way they treated you, get that through your head okay, now there's something you need to know."
How the fuck did I do this?
"The man they're accusing of being your father......is my godfather." She started again, body flinching, face losing color.
"Listen to me Delia, as soon as I'm done here I'm gonna call him, and we're gong to get to the bottom of this, he's not that type of man, he'd never molest an underage child, so either Celine lied about who fathered her child, or something else is going on here entirely."
'Do I have to see him?"
"You don't have to see anyone if you don't want to, all you need to do is rest and take care of yourself and peanut, you haven't done anything wrong, I promise you this, there's nothing for you to be ashamed or scared about."
I brushed her hair away from her face, at least she didn't flinch away from me that time.
"Do you believe me?" She nodded her head as her eyes began to close.
"Do you still love me?" I held my breath waiting for her answer.
She pulled my head towards her and kissed my lips. It wasn't a blazing passionate kiss but it was enough for now.
"Look at me Delia, I will take care of this, we will be fine, nobody's going anywhere, I don't care if Celine is your mother or sister, it makes no difference to us, the only one who should feel guilty about any of this, is me, I'm the one who went after you, you understand? You have nothing to feel guilty about, please don't beat yourself up about that." I said it but I knew she would, that's why I had to get all the answers.
It was sheer providence that I got a call from Jameson telling me that he'd finally found Celine..
"I'll send the plane to get you, bring her in."
I didn't wonder about how he was gonna pull that off, I don't care, if he had to hogtie the bitch so be it.
I went and found mom and dad, filling them in on what the hell was going on.
"Vito would never do such a despicable thing."
"I know dad, that's why we need him here, I need to look in his eyes when I speak to him...."
"Call him, you know your Godfather will come for you, just call."
I reached for the phone and made the call, the Escalantes lived only about twenty minutes from here, the three brothers, Vito, Santino, and Rocco were recluses, they had more money than Croesus, but for some reason never married, never had children and still lived together in their rambling old mansion.
"He's on his way, mom I'm going to need help with Delia, if this turns out to be somehow true, then I'm afraid of what it'll do to her mind.....I.....I slept with her mother......" I couldn't even finish, it was one thing to tell yourself you didn't care, that there was no doubt, but saying it out loud like this, especially to my parents, made it seem too fucking real.
"Son, the fault is not in you, you had no idea, now granted you shouldn't have been messing around with Delia while engaged to Celine, but you explained the circumstances and why you acted the way you did, you weren't ha
ving relations with both at the same time, that would've been harder for her to overcome, this might take time, but I believe Delia's a strong girl, she'll bounce back."
"I hope so cause I'm not letting her go...ever."
"It'll be fine son, remember who you're dealing with here, these people are pure evil, you saw that first hand, we all did, no matter what, there's no excuse for the way they treated her, whether she was their daughter or granddaughter, do you think your mom and I could've ever treated you or your siblings this way, for any reason?"
What he said made sense, I knew these things, but I was so worried about her fragile state of mind, all the stress of the last few months, now this.
"Look who I found." Drew came into the study followed by Vito. My godfather was about dad's age maybe a little older, which would make him late fifties early sixties, he had a full head of hair, walked with a cane because of some boyhood injury, and still had a sparkle in his eyes.
I looked at him for any resemblance to the girl upstairs, I couldn't find any, then again I was suddenly so tense it was a wonder I was still standing.
"Maxwell, Rhina, you look lovely as usual." He greeted my parents before coming to me.
"My son, what is it I can do for you? You young people are always in a hurry, what is it that couldn't wait until I finished my round of Warcraft? I had Santino beat this time for sure."
I almost laughed at that, I wondered how the brothers survived living together for so long since they were all so competitive with each other, then again that's how they'd grown their family fortune over the years.
"I need to ask you a very serious question."
He studied me when he realized the seriousness of my stance.
Before I could say a word Delia walked into the room, Vito turned, got one look at her and went sheet white.
"Tessa, how...where.....?"
He turned to look at the rest of us.
"Who's Tessa?"
"My sister, but it can't be, she died forty years ago, right before I met you remember Maxwell?"
Dad said he'd forgotten that when he met Vito at university he had mentioned losing a sister the year before.
He walked over to Delia but I got in his way.
"What's going on here, who's this girl?" He tried looking around me.
"My wife, now come sit here, I need to ask you something."
I led him to a chair since he looked like he was about to keel over. He couldn't take his eyes off of Delia.
"So it's true then...." I couldn't wrap my mind around that, Vito had raped an underage girl?
"What's true?"
I cleared my throat, how did you ask a man you'd respected and loved your whole life if he'd raped a young girl?
"Did you ever know a Celine Fielding?"
"Fielding, Fielding, why does that name sound familiar....I never met a Celine, but the name sounds familiar, maybe someone I did business with?"
"No, this is the girl who says you raped her when she was thirteen and got her pregnant."
"Wh.....what, are you insane?"
"Vito, just hear him out, he's not accusing you of anything, we just need answers, this is a very delicate situation we're dealing with here."
Dad calmed the situation while mom held Delia on the couch rocking her back and forth, I wanted to go to her to comfort, to shield, but she needed answers now we both did.
"Boy you know me better than that, I could never do such a thing."
"I didn't think so, so I need you to think back eighteen nineteen years ago, if you had any strange encounters with a strange woman or girl?"
"Well......... back then I was a....ahem....a bit of a playboy if you will, so that would be hard to say, but I know for sure none of them were underage, I usually found my game around here in bars."
We went back and forth for what seemed like hours getting nowhere. One thing was for sure, if Delia bore such a striking resemblance to his sister then she was somehow related to him, could it be one of the brothers had used his name, that didn't make sense, why would they? They were each wealthy in their own right, all good looking men.
"And you say this.....is my daughter?"
"We think so."
"But how, why?"
Just then my phone went off.
"Jameson......come on up."
"I think we're about to get some answers, but keep in mind these people lie."
Jameson came into the room with a struggling Celine under his arm.
"Put me down, how dare you." She screeched before he set her on her feet.
"You, I should've known, why am I here?" She spat venom at me with her eyes after removing the blindfold she'd been wearing.
"You remember Vito don't you Celine?"
"Who?" She looked at him in confusion, there was also something a bit off about her, she looked....high.
"Did you drug her?" I turned to Jameson before he could leave.
"No sir, that's how I found her, lets just say she was in a uh.......compromising position trying to get a fix."
I dismissed him after that.
"You don't remember Vito, how about you Vito, does she look familiar?"
He squinted at her studying every angle in her face.
"There's something about the eyes, but no, I can't say I've ever met this young lady before."
"What's this about Chase, who's this man and why did you bring me here?"
"It's about your daughter........"
"My what? What daughter?"
"Delia......"
She howled with laughter, bent over, belly aching laughter.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Your mother said......"
"Oh so Joann's still spinning that tale is she? It's been years since I heard that one."
"What do you mean? I held my breath as I waited for her to speak. Please, please, please.
"She's not mine, she's Joann's."
"That's it Joann Fielding, that's who I met..." Vito had finally figured it out.
Chapter 13
This shit was getting confusing, I looked over to Delia and she was looking just as bewildered as I was, I didn't appreciate the fact that Celine was laughing either, roomful of people or not, I would slap that bitch into next fucking month if I didn't get some answers in the next five minutes.
"What do you mean she's Joann's, why would she lie?"
"Why should I tell you anything, what's in it for me?"
"Your life, if you tell me what I want to know without anymore bullshit lies and theatrics I won't break your fucking neck and bury you out back."
She looked around the room as if seeking a defender but no one was buying.
"You wouldn't dare, Delia are you going to let him treat me like that?"
"I...."
"Not another word Delia." I kept my eyes on my prey because sure as shit I would break her neck no problem, I'd had enough of the bullshit between her and lying ass apparently slut of a mother.
"You don't talk to her, you talk to me, she doesn't exist for you anymore, your days of using her and your family fucking with her are long gone, now start talking my patience is wearing thin."
She huffed and tried to play it off, but either the high was wearing off and she needed another fix, or she realized that I wouldn't think twice about ending her pathetic life, or at the very least maiming her ass.
"Whatever, it's like he said." She flung her hand in Vito's direction. "We never met."
"Why would your father go along with such a lie if it weren't true?"
"Because he doesn't know." She smirked again and came to within an inch of getting gut punched.
"Come again, how's that possible?"
"Because he wasn't here, he was away in the army, desert something." She scrunched up her face as if giving it some thought.
"And........"
"And Joann went bar hopping and ended up with some guy that knocked her up. When she realized that there was no way to pass the thing off as my dad's
she concocted this scheme to pass it off as mine." She shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing.
"You call her a thing one more time, or say anything derogatory about her and I'll get the information another way, how far do you want to try and push me to see if I would really break your fucking pathetic neck?"
She took a step back from my advance.
"Why did you go along with it?"
"It got me my freedom, dad was a freaking nightmare, you can't do this you can't do that, but with Joann in my pocket I had my get out of jail free card."
"And your treatment of Delia?"
"Joann hates her because of the simple fact that she exist, I think the only reason she didn't get rid of it......I mean her."
She corrected herself when I made to reach for her neck.
"Go on...."
"I think by the time she found out she was pregnant it was too late to get an abortion, so she had to have her."
"How did she pass her off as yours?"
"That was easy, she took me out of school, the story was that I was too distraught by my father's deployment so I was to be homeschooled. Joann wore baggy clothes and shit, did most of her food shopping in the next town over, we pulled it off. Then when it was time to give birth we went to this midwife out in the boondocks, and voila, I became the proud mother of a bouncing baby girl."
"And Carl never suspected."
"By the time he came home she was already three months old, Joann never breast fed, she'd gotten her body back in shape, so there was no need for him to suspect anything, he was sure pissed though but Joann kept him off my back."
"Where did the story of Mr. Escalante raping you come in?"
"Oh, that was all Joann, she figured that if dad thought I was raped he wouldn't blame me, and she chose him because he's the one who knocked her up, she didn't think he would remember her since he was some type of player back then, and besides she begged dad not to pursue it, not to bring shame and scrutiny to the family. She said since they were so wealthy they would use their wealth and influence to paint me as the guilty party, that I somehow duped him."
Taking What He Wants Page 7