Chapter Forty Alex
CHAPTER FORTY
ALEX
Sleep was the last thing on my mind last night.
After Kane dropped that bomb, I didn’t know what to do with that information. My best friend since second grade just told me that he is my half-brother. That my father—our father—cheated on my mother and all but abandoned him.
All these years, he let us know each other while lying to our faces.
The number of times Kane stayed over or spent time at my house after practice.
My mother nurtured him and his did the same the few times I’ve seen her.
But now knowing about her mental struggles, I know why Kane preferred that we always stayed at my house.
He didn’t want any of us to know, but I can’t help but feel that was my father’s doing as well. He certainly couldn’t send me to his mistress’s house. No, he needed to control the narrative, and he can only do that in a space he governs.
It’s beyond fucked up the lengths that man goes to break the people around him. Because that’s all it’s ever about for him. Certified God complex.
And while I realize that this is tough for Kane, I can’t get over the lies.
Clearly, he knew, and not once did he tell me. Why? We’re bros. Loved each other like brothers. Or at least I thought. Maybe it was never that deep for him; maybe being my brother wasn’t something he wanted. That fucking hurts.
“Good morning,” Sam’s soft voice calls out behind me, followed by the sound of the screen door sliding open.
I’ve been standing on the back deck staring into space for the last hour. My mind’s so gone, the chill in the air doesn’t even faze me.
Glancing over my shoulder, I take her in from head to toe.
Her thighs are completely exposed, but she’s wearing that infamous hoodie.
Her hair is covered in a leopard print bonnet, and her glasses are nowhere in sight.
In her hands, she carries two coffee mugs, the steam swirling in the air.
A smile tugs at my lips as I turn to face her.
Out of all the fucked-up shit that’s happened in the last few months, she’s the only good thing.
Which is a crazy concept for me. I’ve never been the relationship type.
Then she shows up and turns my entire world on its axis.
Literally, because if she would have never shown up to SKU, I would have never gotten the courage to go up against my dad, never would have believed I can be anything other than what I am right now.
We wouldn’t have broken into his office, and Kane would have taken that secret to the grave.
“Hey,” is all I say.
She holds out a mug and I take it.
“How are you?” she asks and stands beside me.
I continue to face the house while Sam looks out into the distance.
I shrug. “I’m confused. Conflicted.”
She nods and places a hand over my chest. “I get that.”
We hear voices from inside the house, both glancing back to see Kane enter the kitchen. He’s watching us through the sliding door, and for what it’s worth, it looks like he didn’t sleep a wink either.
“You should talk to him.” Sam tips her head in Kane’s direction.
I face forward again, taking a long sip of the piping hot drink. “I don’t have anything to say.”
“Alex,” she groans. “You have plenty to say. You guys have been friends forever; you have to talk this out.”
“And say what, huh? Geez, thanks for finally telling me we’re blood brothers, let’s create a new secret handshake.”
“You’re hurt.” She nods. “Understandably so but—”
“No. I’m beyond hurt. I’m pissed. He lied to me for God knows how long”—I point toward the house but keep my sights fixed on Sam—“and had it not been for me finding his name in that file, he never would have said anything.”
“It’s complicated. I seriously doubt he wanted to keep that from you.”
“I treated him like a brother, Sam. What was mine was his. Never held anything back, trust him with my life.” Now I’m pointing at myself, my finger sharp against my chest. “But he didn’t trust me.” I huff. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Talk to him. I get that this fucked your world up. But try to imagine what he’s feeling in all this.
There’s a reason he didn’t tell, and I’m sure that’s been hard for him.
He feels alone, Alex. Kept everything he’s been dealing with to himself, and the only other family he has, he’s had to lie to.
He’s a victim in this, too. The person you should be angry with is your father. ”
All I can do is stare at her. I know she’s right, this isn’t his fault, but he was supposed to trust me. We could have maneuvered this together.
“Think about it. Okay? You’re going to need each other.” She pats my chest then lets her touch linger along my biceps. Rising on her toes, she places a kiss to the side of my mouth and retreats back into the house.
Taking a large sip from the coffee, I turn on my heel to follow behind her.
The moment I open the patio door, their voices fill the space.
I close it behind me, set the empty mug on the counter, then enter the living room.
The three of them are sitting around the living room—Kane’s on the loveseat, Mountain is positioned on the larger sofa, and Sam settles opposite him.
“I was up all night going through the drive and found a lot of disturbing stuff,” Mountain says without looking at either of us. “It’s a lot, so I focused on your moms, given that all this started because you found that picture.”
“What does it say?” Sam questions and tucks both legs beneath her before covering herself with the blanket.
Mountain scoffs. “What doesn’t it say?” He shakes his head. “From what I can tell, your father”—he looks between Kane and me—“isn’t the only person involved. And it goes back years. Though it seems to have stopped or slowed down in 2005.”
“When Emily died?” Sam interjects.
Mountain shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“My father—our father wasn’t the only one involved in what?” I ask.
“Some very, very disgusting things. That club Sam and Gracie found out about? Turns out it was a front.”
“Front for what?” Kane asks, adjusting in his seat.
“Some sort of secret society. I mean, I guess it wasn’t so secret considering the name you found, the Aurelian Circle, is public information, but it went beyond being a social club.
At face value, it was an official school program but not an open one.
I mean they have school activities, and fundraisers, and all the usual stuff.
But membership was extremely exclusive, and invitation only.
All the male members were the elite, sons of mayors, senators, etc.
And the women varied from wealthy families and poorer families. ”
Snagging a chair from the dining room table, I drag it into the living room and flop into it.
“And they documented everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. Age, sex, degree program, background information, anything there was to know about someone, they have it.”
“Okay, so they were extremely organized,” I interject. “What does that have to do with our moms?”
Mountain pauses for a moment, dread washing over his features. It’s the kind of look you give just before saying something you’ll never be able to take back. Like it physically hurts him to bring this into the open.
“Just say it, man,” Kane blurts.
“It was some kind of sex cult, and the girls were… recruited.”
“For sex?” Sam asks, though it’s more of a reiteration than a question. “Like they were trafficked.”
“No. Not in the sense we think. But handpicked. Each male member picked a girl or multiple to recruit. Promised status, money, whatever they were looking for. And once they got in, they were claimed. Marked by the guy that recruited them.”
I feel my stomach twist.
“Like I said, they kept files on everyone, recorded meetings, calls. You name it. It seems they would get these women to agree to participate, and once a month they would go on these ‘field trips.’ On the surface, the club was off doing something related to what the school’s bylaws say, but in actuality, they were at some undisclosed location where they would drink and have sex with each other. ”
“So, they were freaked out?” I shrug.
“It gets worse. Sick. They would drug the women without consent and once they were incapacitated, they’d have their way with them. Vile and deplorable things. Rape. And the sick bastards recorded it.”
We sit up, and I feel like I’m going to vomit.
“See for yourself.” Mountain passes the computer to Sam.
Kane and I rush over to watch over Sam’s shoulder.
She takes the laptop, placing it on her lap, reluctantly pressing play on the video Mountain left on the screen.
It’s innocent at first, a bunch of college-age kids, partying and making out.
It appears they’re somewhere far from civilization, up in the mountains surrounded by trees and boulders.
The camera pans around, documenting the experience.
It feels likes one of those end-of-year videos where the kids interview their friends before they go off and join the real world.
Everyone’s laughing or dancing. No different from the parties I’ve thrown over the years.
My mother comes into view, and my nerves tingle.
She’s young here, sitting next to a girl. They’re laughing and drinking.
“That’s Emily. The girl—” Sam starts.
“The girl my mother killed,” Kane cuts her short.
Sam reaches behind her to take his hand in hers. I peer at him, wanting to offer comfort but not quite sure where to begin. So I keep watching. We all do.
The shot moves on to another group of students, our dad, Mr. Kincaid, Senator Martinez, and a few of the other prominent figures in our town. Then we see Kane’s mom, and next to her is Sam’s mother.
Sam gasps, squeezing Kane’s hand so tight he winces, but he doesn’t stop her.
Reaching over, I speed up the clip, stopping when something strange appears.
Based on the time stamp, it’s at night, but the women are unconscious and completely nude.
And the things that are being done to them, no one should ever have to see.
Sam’s shaking now and forces her eyes away before abruptly shutting the video off. “That’s horrible.”
“Fuck,” I let out. When we started this, I wasn’t expecting that.
Kane takes the laptop, determined to keep looking.
He closes that video and scrolls the folder until he finds his mother’s name.
Loads of files pull up, medical records, payments, but then he pulls up a voice note, his entire body going rigid when he hears his mother’s voice.
She’s rambling on, her words incoherent.
The only thing we can make out is one saying over and over.
“What did they give me? What did they give me?”
Another voice tries to calm her down. “La’Kia. You’re panicking, just sit down. Here have some water.”
“No. No. No,” she continues ranting. “Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.”
And then it sounds like skin hitting skin, followed by a grunt and then a scream. And then nothing. Screams break out, the sound of people running closer to the recording.
“Oh my God, what did you do?”
“What did they give me? What did they give me?”
“Kia, look at me,” a soft, pleading voice says.
Sam gasps again, her hands going to her mouth. “That’s my mom’s voice.”
“Kia, let’s have a seat,” Miranda continues.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.”
“She’s dead,” a deep baritone voice cuts through the chaos.
“Fuck. This isn’t good. How much did you give her?” another male voice asks.
“It doesn’t matter. We just need to make sure this is covered up.”
And then it just ends.
Kane tosses the computer onto the sofa and storms off toward his room, slamming the door so hard a painting falls off the wall.
Sam is crying full force now, her body rocking as she continues to cover her mouth.
I glance at Mountain, who reaches for her while signaling for me to go after my brother.
I take off at a sprint, not bothering to knock. The moment I open the door, Kane swipes his arm across his desk, knocking everything to the floor. I rush to him, wrapping my arms around him to calm him down. It’s a struggle, but I don’t let go.
“Get the fuck off me,” he barks, fighting to get free.
Still, I hold him, grounding him, letting him feel everything. After a moment, once he’s exhausted, his legs give way, but I manage to keep him upright long enough to get him to the bed.
“They did this to her.” The tears pour down his face. “Whatever they gave her, what they were doing, they’re the reason she snapped. And they covered it up, leaving her to suffer through this all alone.”
“They’ll pay. You hear me. We have all the evidence. We’ll make sure of it.” Tears prick my eyes, but somehow, I hold it together for him.
Kane looks at me and hugs me. All his pain, years of doing this alone, I can feel it. Here I am upset that he’s kept a secret when he’s had to endure so much hurt alone. Disposed of and hidden in plain sight.
“I’m sorry,” he says barely above a whisper.
“I wanted to tell you. I found out two years ago. My mother had another episode that landed her back in Wyndmoor. She’s been in and out of there my whole life, but I never really understood why.
But this time, her doctor decided she needed long-term care, which meant I was left paying the bills and for her treatment.
That’s when I found all this documentation, my birth certificate, receipts of payments from your father dating back to the moment I was born.
We only met because he put in a word to get me transferred to your school and has had a hand in making sure my education and our lives were funded.
But only if she never tells me that he is my father.
I confronted him about it and laid it all out.
He spent the last two years holding it over my head, threatening to cancel my mom’s treatment.
If I even dreamt of telling you the truth, he would take it all away. And I just—” His voice cracks.
“It’s okay. We’re good. We didn’t need his permission to be brothers. We’ve been that from the moment we met.”
My father has treated me like shit my entire life, but I can’t imagine what this has done to Kane. I don’t know how we’re going to handle this going forward, but I do know he’ll never be alone again.