Chapter Sixteen The Story
Julianna
I couldn’t believe it. I honestly didn’t know what to feel now. I don’t think I ever believed that this would happen.
“Julie?” Romeo said. “Please tell us what is going on.”
I nodded as a lone tear rolled down my face. “You asked me two days ago if I knew Deacon. Well, I didn’t until last week. I mean I knew of him really. Like I said, he gave a deposition at the firm. His mother knew my family when I was a child. Although I don't think Deacon is aware of that? Honestly, I can’t be sure if he knows that V is not his sister.”
“Wait, not ?” Liv asked.
I shook my head. “She can’t be. My father hired a detective that he paid for years to find any trace he could of my sister. When my father got too old to keep up with the detective’s reports, he passed the whole thing to me. I didn’t know the real truth for my whole life. In fact, he finally explained the story to me.”
“What story?” Jarret asked as he glared at me.
I didn’t know where to start, so I started with home. “I grew up in New York City. My father was a businessman and after years of hard work he did quite well. My mother was his secretary and assisted him so she was part of his success. Then because our parents worked all the time, we had a cook, a maid and a nanny. We had a happy family with wonderful Sunday dinners like any of our neighbors until one day, our nanny died. She had been run over in a crosswalk, killed by an unknown vehicle. We were all saddened by this as we were really attached to Celia. That was her name. So my parents hired another nanny.” I looked up at Jarret and added, “Her name was Olivia. But she told us to call her O for short.”
“No fucking way!” Liv whispered as she looked shocked. “You mean that Ophelia was your nanny?”
I nodded. “For a whole week, yes.”
“A week?” Dante asked.
“What happened?” Romeo urged.
“She took my sister and disappeared.” I sighed heavily.
“When did she do that?” Stephano asked.
“I was only five and my twin was five too.”
“Your twin?” Redemption asked.
“Yes, identical.” I nodded.
“But why did O take your sister?”
I shrugged. “My parents never knew why. All they knew was that one day the nanny and Valencia were both gone and we never saw them again. My mother cried over it off and on for years. Every mealtime prayer, she pleaded with God that she needed forgiveness.” I looked around at everyone in the room. “As a child, I never knew what she needed God to forgive her for. Not until I heard the truth from my dad when I was twenty. I had the measles back then and was at the doctors the day my sister went missing. My mother had been glad I had gotten sick or she might have lost me too. It was at her insistence to tell me that Valencia had died of said measles back then. My dad said it was easier to have me believe that. Instead of my sister disappearing without a trace.”
Romeo patted my hand as he asked, “So how did you know Deacon was involved with this?”
“Or that he had anything to do with your sister?” Jarret asked.
“My dad’s detective had photos he took of O. Deacon was with her in a few of them. But that was ten years ago. So when my colleagues and I were present as this FBI agent gave evidence in a case our firm is working on…I almost lost my cool in front of everyone when I recognized him. I managed to keep it together and called my own detective to hurry over and follow Deacon when he completed the depo. But Deacon left and my guy hadn’t arrived yet. So he disappeared.” I paused to look up at Stephano, then at Romeo. “When you asked me if I’d ever heard of this Deacon Walker you had in custody…” I slowly shook my head. “I didn’t know what to think. At first, I was really confused and I felt conflicted. Then you mentioned this woman V. But I couldn’t be sure if it was my sister. I never spoke up and told any of you because really…what are the odds? That you were after the same person as I was?”
Romeo took both my hands in his. “So V is your sister?”
“Valencia Celene Regatta.” I nodded and motioned my head to Jarret. “He says I look like her. She has to be my missing twin.”
“Holy cannoli!” Dante exclaimed. “Definitely a twist of fate alright. Wow.”
I squeezed Romeo’s hand with mine and gazed into his eyes. “I hope you can forgive me?”
“For what?” he asked while looking confused.
“For not telling you about this. I hate deception.”
He shrugged. “I cannot blame you for that. I believe it when you said it was a twist of fate. How could you have known?” He looked over at his father.
Stephano slowly nodded his head at me. “I believe you as well. I do not think you meant to deceive us, mia cara. I trust my gut about people and I know that you are genuine.” He looked over at Jarret. “So you need to drop the death glare, Mr. Walker.”
Jarret slowly shook his head. “Now that I’ve listened to her and looked at her, I can see that there are differences.”
I swung my gaze over to him and felt curious as I asked, “Can you tell me about these differences?” I barely remembered Valencia. It had been twenty-two years since I last saw her.
He stared at me for a long moment and then answered, “Sure. Her hair is bright red. While yours is auburn-red and shorter than hers. She is flamboyant, I believe that would be the right word. Like she is louder than you and waves her hands around a lot when she talks. She dresses more like a model than a lawyer. Lots of lipstick and long red nails. And your voices aren't exactly the same either. Yours is kind and soft while hers is hard and bitter. She rarely smiles and is full of rage. She said she needed me to free her brother.”
“Her mother…” I slowly shook my head. “This O. She was related to you.”
“It was surprising to all of us, when her identity finally came out,” Redemption spoke up now. “At the time, she had Deacon kidnap Glory. He would trade her to us for O’s return. It had been instructions O had given to him if she were ever caught.”
I felt confused at this statement.
“She married my brother Bronson before Deacon was ever born,” Jarret chimed in. “Then she killed him and disappeared. Rylan or better known to us as Rip had been just a kid and he was at the Walker ranch at the time. She burned her own house down while…” Jarret paused and shook his head. “…my brother had been in his bed.”
“How horrible,” I whispered.
Liv took the story up as she nodded at me. “That was just the tip of her total murdering spree. The family never knew she was pregnant with Deacon at that time. She took off but the family thought she had died with her husband. She had grabbed some poor woman and placed her in that bed next to her drugged up husband. So we never knew about Deacon at all.”
I stared at Liv. “That's…I mean…” I had no words. Yes, as a lawyer, I had defended some people who had committed crimes and I was very aware of killers. But this?
“Anyway, we needed Rip to get to her,” Liv continued the horrid tale. “Because the way the tradeoff had been set up, it would have been a disaster for us. Only O knew where the exchange would happen and when it would happen. So we needed her to give us something…anything really. O adored Rip even though she had left him behind.” Liv rolled her eyes. “Or so she claimed. I mean she captured Rips’ girl Sophia and held her hostage while she had Rip play this treasure hunt game to get her back. Like is that love for a son? Putting him through all of that? I really think that was what pushed Rip over the edge.”
“Over the edge?” I asked, feeling a bit confused.
“The woman was insane and she was evil,” Jarret said. “I mean I sort of knew that when we were all young, but I never guessed she was…” He sighed. “So unhinged that she had committed so many crimes over the years. Caused people such pain. Not just the Walkers but a whole town's worth of people. But yeah, poor Rip, he bore the brunt of it all when she was exposed as a multiple murderer.”
Redemption nodded and went on, “Not just a multiple killer. She ran a slave ring, strip clubs, drug running and all sorts of illegal endeavours. My wife had witnessed O killing a few of her victims and told me that no one knew how many people she had murdered. Rip’s world had been turned upside down. The fact that the person who did all of that and tried to kill us Walkers as well as being bent on ruining our lives, had been his own mother, all along. She had murdered his father and then his uncle who had been a surrogate father to Rip. Hell, she confessed to killing Sophia's parents too. All that harm and the pain she had caused. And she had no remorse at all. She had punished the family because she was petty and wanted her sister’s man.”
“What?” I asked him.
“She killed her husband because she was in love with my other brother. Liv and Talon’s father,” Jarret explained. “Olivia had wanted him and resented the fact that her sister Bea had married him.”
“Needless to say, Rip told her how much damage she had done to him and the family,” Redemption said.
“Damn,” Dante exclaimed.
“She had this fixation with Shakespear. So even at the end, she was quoting Hamlet or some shit,” Jarret said. “That is why she called herself Ophelia.”
“All drama and no sanity.” Liv scoffed. “Basically, she was looney tunes, pure and simple.”
I stared at her, then at Redemption and finally my gaze rested on Jarret. “So…My sister is as insane as she was?” I whispered.
He stared back at me and slowly shook his head as he didn’t give me an answer.
I suppose he didn’t have to. I just heard all about the woman who raised Valencia…A female version of Hannibal Lecter.
“We will find out soon,” Stephano replied as he stared at his phone. “I see them at the gates. They are bringing her in.”
I sucked in a breath and then let it out slowly.
“She needs to be secured,” Jarret warned us. “As in tied up. She might really hurt someone.”
I stared at him then looked back over at Romeo. I admit it. I felt scared now. Afraid of what Valencia would be like. For the last seven years, I wondered where she was and what she would be like if I ever found her. Now she had been found and I dreaded it.
Romeo wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said, “We will face it together, Julie.”
I looked up and spotted Max at the doorway. I trembled as I knew what he was here for.
“Sir?” He looked over at Stephano. “Do you really want them to bring that woman in here?”
“Si, Max. We need to speak to her.”
Max nodded then bowed. He then left the doorway.
I stood from the couch and awaited a reunion that I almost knew I would regret.