Page 79 of Vow of Revenge
“You have to stay away from Freya, or he’ll ruin all of the VC members, including me. Calvin has evidence of what we did back then. He’s protecting the girl. I guess he thinks you’re just like your father. We all assumed Ana slit Damien’s throat, Kaleb, and you saw it. He thinks you’ll be out for revenge.”
“I couldn’t remember, Sean. Until now. I fucking swear. I didn’t know who she was.”
“You were in a bad way, Kaleb. They said it was shock or fear. Don’t you remember taking my hand. I found you under the writing desk, at the other side of the room from his body. You didn’t speak for weeks. Brett was the only one who could get you to talk.”
A hazy disjointed memory of Uncle Sean ushering me into an ambulance blended with Brett teaching me how to shoot my first gun.
“The Beaumont’s need to know the truth. Calvin is going to tell Freya that your father tortured and murdered her mother, Kaleb. They already hate you and so will she.”
My forehead sank. “They’re together now. Calvin doesn’t know the truth. She’ll never believe me.”
Ihad fallen for the devil and wore the scars on my heart as a reminder.
He lured me into his world, teased me with dark desire and false hope for a future that was truly tainted with pain and misery.
My sister was dead, murdered and rotting in a gold lined casket in the dirt. No matter how strong I wanted to be, the overwhelming loss slowly ate away at my heart. I couldn’t live in the home we once shared. I could barely keep my shit together let alone have her empty room down the corridor every damn day.
My job at Glimmer was on hold, Cynthia gave me a respectful fortnights grace of fully paid leave. I was grateful for her kindness, but I was lost and didn’t know if I could ever go back. I couldn’t quite fathom where I belonged in life.
A fortnight had since slipped away. Kaleb had tried to make contact countless times, but I wasn’t strong enough to hear his voice and spit on his lies. My false bravado of hate was laced with a longing – he really had won. My heart was made of glass; his was carved from stone. The two were incompatible. Mine was already fragile and fractured and his was the weapon that smashed it to pieces.
I needed space before I could look him in the eye and crush his stone-cold heart with my bare hands.
“Oh! My darling Freya… your hair. It’s… different.” Cynthia cocked her head. “It actually suits you.” Her jovial expression slipped away, and I knew what was coming next. “Such a loss to the world. Your sister was a vision of beauty.” Cynthia had the right choice of words, but she didn’t really know how much of a loss it was to me. I’d never recover from it.
She summoned me to her city apartment, knowing I wasn’t quite prepared to return to the office just yet, let alone face the bitch from hell. I brought my laptop to run through a few articles that I wanted to write.
I sipped earl grey tea from a bone china cup, wincing as the perfumed leaves flooded my mouth. The small silver ball dipped in the teapot wasn’t quite closed and little black bits floated through the milky brew.
“Is that your husband?” I asked, lifting my eyes to the marble mantle, studying the array of framed faces.
“Yes, that’s him. He’s away on business.” She tapped her spoon on the rim of her cup after stirring in a sugar lump.
Standing, I inched closer to the roaring fire, its heat stinging my cold limbs. The man, standing beside Cynthia was probably the same age as Calvin. He stood tall, commanding authority, but it was the ring on his pinkie finger that caught my eye.
“That ring? My father has the same one.”
Cynthia swallowed. “Yes, my dear. The Vertus Circulo has a wide selection of members. My husband is a long-standing member.”
“He knows Calvin?”
The skin on her neck was puckered like a chicken, it wobbled under the weight of her head as she nodded reluctantly. “Yes. We know him.”
“Oh my goodness. Are you serious? This whole time I thought I got the job at Glimmer because I was a good writer, but it was just a favour?”
“Now, now, Freya. You are exceptional at writing. I have no doubt you will climb the ladder quickly due to your own merits and not his.”
“Bullshit. This is all just one big fat lie.” I was losing it. Fast.
“Freya. Listen here, I’m very fond of you, child. You will go places with me pushing you. Your father will always support you because he has faith in your abilities. It’s all about who you know these days.”
Fuck this! I was finished with lies and secrets.
“Thanks for your help, Cynthia. If I may, I’m verbally handing in my notice at Glimmer. I shall no longer require the position.”
“Freya! Don’t be silly child.” Cynthia rose from her baroque chair.
“I’m not a child. Not anymore. I haven’t been since the day my mother was used and abused by those bastards and then murdered by that… man.” I slammed down the cup, clinking its gold rim on the tea pot, chipping its splendour. I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘Kaleb’s father’, even though that was the reality of her tragic story.
