Page 87 of Hers To Keep
My mother has the audacity to roll her eyes as she pours herself another drink. “Oh please, I simply gave her the means to do what she already was planning on doing. It’s not my fault she?—”
BANG!
A loud gunshot echoes in the room interrupting my mother’s confession as Wesley shoots her, the impact of the bullet throwing her back against the bar. Glass liquor bottles fall and shatter with the force of her hit.
A stain of deep red blood appears over her abdomen, bleeding through the white of her gown as she lies back in agony, clutching her wound in one hand, holding on to the edge of the bar counter with the other. My heart threatens to jump out of my chest as I stare bewildered at what just happened.
Wesley walks over and stands above her, his hand not holding the gun running anxiously through his hair as he watches her gasp for air in front of him, shriveling in agony.
From beside me I feel Ace’s hand upon my thigh tighten, his wrists bloody and cut, the rope that was binding them torn at his feet.
“Well that escalated quickly,” Marchesi mocks, a deep, sardonic laughter escaping him.
“You should have never betrayed me, Lilith. I warned you what would happen if you ever did.” Wesley turns away from her and apart of me aches to run to her, to kneel before her and stop the bleeding gushing out of her. But the better part of me, the sane part, realizes this is exactly what she deserves. She preyed on the weak-minded, kindhearted Gianna Marchesi. She deserves to burn in hell for everything she’s done.
“Sorry you had to find out this way, Servite,” Marchesi says sarcastically.
“Fuck you,” Wesley sneers, coming back to face him. The two of them stand face to face once again, their guns pointed at each other’s heads, both breathing erratically as they scowl in despair. “You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
“Why yes, Wesley, and might I say I had the best help,” Marchesi says, looking behind Wesley, his gaze meeting mine.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Wesley asks, angry and confused as he turns and glares at me while Marchesi continues to speak.
“Well, you see, I had our dear little Scarlett here working for me. She’s such a talented actress, actually. I know that’s one thing, if not the only thing, she inherited from her mother.” Marchesi steps closer to me, taking advantage of Wesley’s distracted state, but Ace quickly stands up blocking him before he can reach out to grab me.
Ace grips my arms, holding me safely against him as he speaks, his heart pumping loudly against my ear resting on his bare back.
“What do you have on her?” he asks Marchesi. “I never for one second believed her half ass excuses for leaving me, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what you could have told her to make her agree to your bullshit plan of making her work for Wesley.”
“God, this day just keeps getting better. I’ll never tire of telling this story,” Marchesi says, and I know exactly what he’s about to say next.
No, this can’t happen.
“Marchesi, please don’t,” I plead, but it’s useless.
He smiles widely as he looks to Ace, who stands shirtless,bloody, and beaten before him. “You see, Ace, there’s a little family tale I’m sure you haven’t ever been told, and it goes a little something like this. Warren Servite is not your biological father.”
I feel Ace’s body stiffen against me as he stands frozen glaring at Marchesi. He shakes his head. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he asks, as I move my hands and wrap them around his waist careful not to hurt him.
“The truth son, Warren can’t be your father because he is sterile, incapable of having children, of producing an heir for the Servite throne. However your grandfather, the bastard he was, couldn’t have someone who was not of the original Servite bloodline taking over his empire, therefore tainting the bloodline, so he took matters into his own hands.” I feel Ace’s body shake vigorously as his hands fist at his sides when he realizes where this story is leading. “So he went and ordered his younger son Wesley to conceive a child with Warren’s wife Willa.”
There it is. The ultimate truth coming straight from this crueler devil’s lips. The truth bomb I did everything in my power to avoid from being revealed. The one thing I’m afraid Ace won’t be able to come back from.
“You, Wallace, and your twin sister Wynter, are in reality Wesley Servite’s children. Children, Warren was forced to raise as his own,” Marchesi adds, as if it weren’t already fucking obvious.
Ace turns to face me, then looks back between Wesley and Marchesi, and the agonizing pain in his eyes I feel deep in my soul. “Is this true?” he asks, looking toward Wesley, his tone of voice weak and full of disbelief. There is not a semblance of remorse or emotion in Wesley’s eyes as he turns away from Ace annoyed by what’s unfolding before him.
“Scarlett and I made a deal,” Marchesi says, Ace’s attention moving back to him. “She’d work for Wesley and get me the ledger, and I’d ensure the secret of your parentage never came out.” Marchesi’s glare connects with mine, a devilish smirk appearing across his lips. “Oops, I guess my part of the deal is off.”
“Where is the ledger?” Ace asks, everyone’s eyes instantly shifting to my mother who lies on the floor, still alive, blood endlessly oozing out of her, her body twisting in agony. Wesley rushes over to grab the ledger from beside her, but suddenly another gunshot rings.
BANG!
I turn toward Ace, his hands embracing me in a hug, my head burying itself into his chest at the sound of the gunshot.
“Fuck!” Wesley yells, falling to his knees before my mother. “You fucking shot me!” He shouts back, crying out in agony. I look up and find that it was Marchesi who shot Wesley in the leg.
“Oh, that’s the least of your worries. I’d let you bleed out here, maybe even shoot you between your eyes,” Marchesi says, as he reaches down, yanking the ledger from my mother. “But I’d much rather watch you crumble as I destroy your precious empire.”