Chapter 21 #3
“I wanted to give you all a gift,” Paula continued, turning to them all.
Maureen, Heathcliff, and Kim all looked surprised and excited, and Kim beamed her smile even brighter. She and Maureen exchanged giddy looks.
“What’s the gift for?” Maureen asked, curious with wonder.
I’m finally receiving the family I’ve been fighting for, she thought to herself and took another sip of the crisp bubbly drink.
“It’s really for Kayden and all he has been through the last few years. Especially the last month.” Paula picked up the remote and pointed it at the TV.
It flickered onto a white screen.
“It’s a presentation!” Kim exclaimed.
“Oh no, not family photos,” Maureen replied, smiling in anticipation.
“Not quite,” Paula replied and hit play.
She sat down on the couch next to Taylor as the screen began to count down.
Three. Two. One. And there it was. Maureen, Kim, and Lana.
Her blackmail of Lana and everything it entailed.
As the video played, everyone became uncomfortable.
The smile on Maureen’s face was wiped away in an instant, and Heathcliff couldn’t stop clearing his throat.
Kim’s face was already beet red, and it looked like she might pass out from embarrassment.
Kayden turned to his mother, her face crimson.
Every syllable and awful word she spoke to Lana was blasting back out at her, like shards from a mirror explosion.
Paula had edited the video so that there was no mistaking what was said and to whom.
Kim was looking around the room, her face already full of tears, unsure of what to do. When the video clips ended, Maureen was frozen, staring at the screen, the vein in her forehead prominent. Kayden stood in front of them all.
“Kayden—” Maureen started, and he put his hand up, stopping her.
“Mother, I don’t want to hear another word from you.” He said calmly.
Maureen nodded and started crying. This was it, foiled by her own children. Kayden reached over to Paula, and she handed him a stack of papers.
“An injunction for your claim on Capshaw Realty and your use of adding the entity as a part of blackmail.”
He dropped it in her lap. Her head was still, but her eyes looked down at the package. Kayden reached for Taylor, and he handed him another stack of papers.
“A summons for court for the defamation of character on Lana, as well as faking Rachel’s death!” His voice grew louder in the last part.
Maureen looked up at him, still in perpetual horror.
She didn’t know what to say or do. For the first time, she couldn’t argue or talk herself out of the things she’d done.
It was presented to her full frontal, and she didn’t like what she saw at all.
Finally, Kayden grabbed a newspaper off the mantle and threw it at Kim.
“A retraction of the engagement and the follow-up story about the illicit way you went about chasing a man who didn’t want you. This will be published in tomorrow’s Page Six!”
Kim couldn’t believe her eyes. There was a picture of her crying with the caption “Desperate and NOT a housewife.” Kim stood up, shaking uncontrollably, and Kayden smiled.
“And as far as the file, you had on me where you planned to blackmail me and my mother? It’s gone.”
Kim looked at Maureen and flinched.
“What is he talking about?” Maureen demanded.
“Before Lana left, she told her she would put Kayden away if she ever came back. She kept a file on him with private emails between you and the judges who looked the other way in some of his cases,” Paula explained.
Maureen’s mouth stood open. It was brilliant and something she would have done herself.
“I’m sorry,” Kim squeezed out.
Kayden approached her now.
“And that little backdoor program you used to hack my Instagram? Yeah, I had Frankie from M.I.T. reverse-engineer it to wipe the hard drive. Now, for the very last time, would you please get out of my life?” he said to her in a cool, calm voice.
Heathcliff stood from the couch now, angrily.
“What does any of this have to do with me?” he barked, and Taylor stood.
“You knew exactly what was happening the entire time, and as a law enforcement officer, you know that makes you an accessory,” Taylor said proudly to the officer who’d been a pain in his own ass when he lived in Hamby.
He slowly sat back down, and now Maureen stood.
“What do you want from me?” she asked in a whisper.
Looking into her son’s face, barely able to stand before him.
“I want you to cease and desist when it comes to my life from here on out. And I want you to apologize to Lana,” he deadpanned.
Maureen looked around the room.
“I did all this to protect you, Kayden!” She yelled now, getting angry.
“You did this to control me! You wanted to teach me a lesson, and you did. I learned from the best how to be sneaky, conniving, and manipulative. Doesn’t feel so good, does it? Game over, mom!” He yelled.
She trembled, wiping the tears from her face. Looking at Heathcliff, then her daughter.
“And what of the lawsuits?” She asked.
“I won’t file them as long as I’m able to continue to take over Capshaw Realty, Kim stays out of my life, and my soon-to-be wife and I are allowed to live in peace.”
Lana heard the keyword “peace” and started walking down the stairs.
Her heart was beating way too fast, but the moment of reckoning was upon them.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs and passed the counter, she grabbed the last flute of champagne and joined them all.
Maureen and Heathcliff’s faces were ashen while Kim was seething on the couch.
“No!” She shrieked and lunged for Lana, but Kayden grabbed her around the waist and began struggling with her as she flailed uncontrollably.
“Stop it!” Paula screamed, “You’re crazy!”
Maureen’s mouth fell open as she witnessed Kim claw and fight in her son’s arms. Kim was not mentally well, and she was certain she contributed to some of that as well.
Kayden continued to struggle with her as Lana raised her glass to her.
Kim wailed uncontrollably as Kayden wrestled her down the foyer towards the front door.
He opened the door and led her outside, where he released her, and she collapsed on the lawn in the snow.
“What is wrong with you?” He asked, in shock, about her reaction.
Kim stayed in the snow, blubbering and crying, and he actually felt bad for her in that moment. He kneeled on the snow and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
“Kimberly, you have got to get yourself together. You have to find a life of your own and find your own happiness. I’ve already got mine and she’s inside.”
Kim looked at him, her face wet and eyes red. She nodded her head and began to wipe her face. Kayden took his handkerchief from his coat and handed it to her.
“I know,” she managed to get out as she wiped her face with the small cloth.
“You’re smart and beautiful, and the right man for you will come along,” he stated, then stood and helped her out of the snow.
Kayden walked her back inside as she began to compose herself.
Lana looked over at them as they came back in, and Kim looked like she’d aged thirty years.
She was not well in the head, Lana thought as the troubled girl sat back down in the living room covered in snow.
Maureen, her face tear-stained, turned to Lana.
“I’m sorry. I truly am,” she said to her.
“I’ll believe it when you start earning your way back into my life again, mother,” Kayden replied.
Paula stood and looked at Maureen.
“I’m sorry it had to be like this, but it was the only way to get your attention.” Maureen nodded her head because she knew it was true.
It was very much something she would have done with a person like herself.
“I understand,” she said.
“I love you, Mom, but you have to make some serious life changes.” Paula walked over to her and hugged Maureen.
Feeling her child squeeze her the way she did reduced Maureen to weeping sobs.
“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, collapsing in her daughter’s arms.
Everyone was shocked to see that reaction from her.
Lana was sure there would be some confrontation from her, but instead, Maureen listened.
After all, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
Paula and Maureen cried on each other for a while, and Kayden slipped his arm around Lana.
He was teary-eyed, and Lana nodded her head to him to go to his mother.
He leaned down and kissed her, then walked over to the last two Capshaws on the planet.
Kim watched from the couch in disbelief.
Maureen gave up that easily, she asked herself.
After everything she was coached on and promised, they all got to forgive each other and ride into the sunset without her?
! Kim stood from the couch and walked towards the foyer, defeated.
No one noticed except for Lana, and she slowly followed her to the door.
Kim had lost her shoes in the struggle and was now carrying them in one hand.
She stood outside in the snow on the lawn and looked up at the sky.
How am I gonna face my friends tomorrow?
she asked herself as she trudged through the snow.
She was so numb emotionally that she didn’t even feel the cold on her feet.
Kim started walking down the hill in the road towards the town center. Lana wanted to say something, but didn’t want to risk another outburst, so she didn’t. She closed the door and walked back into the living room.
“Excuse me, guys, but I think someone should seriously check on Kim.”
They stopped and turned to face her, then looked around the room.
“Where is she?” Maureen asked.
“She just started walking down the road barefoot; someone should give her a ride.”
Heathcliff stood up, and Maureen walked over to him.
“Let’s go,” she said, then turned back to Kayden and Paula and smiled weakly.