Page 48 of Keep My Secrets
“Or if you stay, you will just be an ungrateful whore who fucked my sloppy seconds for a couple dollars. I mean, the entire town already thinks I fucked him for his money. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Alana leans back in her chair with a smug smile. She thinks she won.
“And you think I care enough about what some strangers who have treated me like shit my entire life think about my relationship? That’s where you’re wrong. You may care what everyone thinks of you, but I don’t. Because of your actions, I was judged my entire life. I no longer give two fucks, especially now that I have found a place where I am loved, cared for, and actually safe.”
“You think you’re safe here?” Alana laughs. “Theo is dangerous! After our last conversation, I did more digging into Theo’s so-called “company”; it’s all a front. He is in deep with some extremely dangerous people.” How much more digging did she do? What did she find? This may no longer be a situation Aria has any control over.
“You said all this before, why would I believe you now?” Aria snaps back, doing a great job at hiding the fact that she knows exactly how much danger she is in and who I work with.
“Look!” Alana pulls a folder out of her bag, newspaper articles about a house fire near Acadia, some articles from the Acadia University newspaper claiming Gamma Theta Kappa was a cult of the rich and powerful, another claiming that they were responsible for several of the suspicious deaths in the area, and another article alleging foul play in the disappearance of a local furniture driver. “These are all connected to Acadia and the mafia they have on campus!” Aria looks through them, and her mask starts to slip. Knowing I was involved with bad things is different than seeing articles about things the people I work with have actually done. This needs to end before it starts affecting Aria.
“Alana, this is all bullshit, and you know it. I think it's time you leave.”
“So I am right! You hurt people! Aria, you're in danger!”
“Like you care. You didn’t come in here and try to convince me to leave because you believed I wasn’t safe. You came heretrying to save your reputation.” Aria throws the article clippings back down on the table. “Save the bullshit for someone who actually gives a fuck.” Aria walks over to the bookshelf in the other room before returning with a handful of paperwork.
“Theo had these drawn up. You are no longer allowed to be within 1000 feet of me, my home, or my job, and it seems right now you are in breach of that.” Aria picks up her phone and starts to dial three numbers.
“This isn’t enforceable. I was never served! I know my rights!”
“You really think with all the big, scary people Theo is in bed with at his job that we couldn't forge documentation of it being served? You really think that a man who can, let’s see—set the house of a billionaire on fire, while the man was still inside, or stage a suicide,” Aria points out the articles that Alana had accused me of being a part of, “wouldn’t forge a signature to protect the woman he loves?”
“Loves? Is that what he told you?” Aana laughs. “He said that to me, too.”
Aria leans over the table, getting into her mother’s face. “Yeah, we all make mistakes. His mistake was loving you, mine was not letting ‘the mafia’ take care of you when they offered.”
Alana’s face goes white.
“Get out. Or I will call the cops and have you arrested for violating the restraining order.”
“I will go public with all of this! Unless Aria comes home with me now!”
Aria stands next to me, “If that's what you want to do, have fun. The mafia loves attention. I will be staying here.”
She stands and begins to walk away. “I can’t believe you would choose a man over your own mother.”
“As far as I am concerned, I have no Mother. ”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Aria
The door closes, and immediately, I turn to Theo.
“Are those true?” I demand.
“Partially. Yes, he was inside his house when it was set on fire; he deserved it .”
“Why?”
“To start, there is suspicion that he killed a fellow King to take over his position on the council. He then hired a man to murder the only surviving family member of that friend so she would not be able to take her rightful seat on the council. She didn’t like that very much, so she set his house on fire.” I accept that answer. And honestly, good for her.
“And these articles?” I point to the ones from Acadia University. I remember seeing them or hearing about them, but I never took them too seriously. There was a flood of articles being released about Gamma Theta Kappa at the time, like they were poisoning the school's water, or they were aliens. This must have been lumped in with those when they released all the prank articles, so no one paid it much attention. Now that it's here, andI know what I know, that one is basically true. So what about the suspicious deaths?
“That one isn’t true.” He pauses. “That wasn’t a suicide. He was attempting to stalk and rape a girl on campus. One of the Knights stepped in, and it got messy. They staged it as a suicide to stop any questions.” Again, good for them. It seems like for every question I ask, he has a reason. He told me they don’t just murder people off the street, that they have standards. I guess hurting women is a quick way to meet those standards.
I take a deep breath.
