“What?” What are you saying, Mneso? I mean he was popular and probably that was one of the many reasons why he was attacked and he lost his love wasn’t it?”, I asked defensively.
“Calm down sis, Justin and I are just having a harmless talk. Nothing more Okay? “, Madison said. I decided to calm down and observe her moves. I felt like she was trying to get Justin angry.
“Can you get us something to drink please? Justin and I would be waiting, ” She asked me with a pretensive sweet smile on her face. I obeyed and went to get the water while both of them took their seats adjacent to each other.
I didn’t have a problem with Mneso and Justin vibing and bonding. I was at a greater advantage obviously. But I had a feeling that she was planning something sinister. ” I wonder what they’re talking about right now”, I thought as I was getting the glasses. After getting the water, I didn’t go straight back to them but stayed in the corner to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“You haven’t answered my question, Justin”, she said to him in a rather mild interrogatory tone.
“Yeah, maybe you are right”, Justin answered, “His influence was something I always feared would bring harm to him and it did. He had rivals, shady businessmen, and unfortunately my father was a victim of one of their dirty works”, he admitted.
“He deserved what he got, don’t you think?”, she asked him with a straight face.
“What are you trying to say?”, Justin asked with a puzzled face trying to figure out what Mneso was driving at.
“He was a politician, wasn’t he ? Alongside that, he was a shrewd business owner”, she said, ” so obviously he deserved it, every bit of it. I’m just saying. Not that I’ve got anything against him”, she emphasized.
Now tired of standing in the corner and hearing her annoying words, I walked in on them with a glass of water on a tray. I was pissed off by their conversation and dropped the glasses on the tabel, then I took a seat.
“He was bound to dance to the tune of his music one of these days”, she said, “In my opinion, every corrupt person deserves to die a cruel death. They deserve the same pain they inflict on the innocent. All of them do”, she explained.
“Don’t you think so too Christen?” She said as she turned to look at me.
Madison got me lost in all of her words. She was driving at something that neither I nor Justin could understand. It clearly didn’t seem like she was kidding or trying to build comical tension. Madison was dead serious about her words.
” Well, I think it’s stereotypical to think all politicians and successful businessmen are corrupt” Justin added, ” it’s the poor actually, majority of whom aren’t willing to put in the effort, who attribute their problems to the rich in order to avoid taking responsibility for their condition”, he explained.
” I wouldn’t call it a stereotype anymore when it’s been proven over and over again. It’s the simple truth and nothing more”, she said,” Well, I wouldn’t expect your support, since you are one yourself “, she added.
” And what should I expect from a man raised under a man such as your father? “, she asked him,”It might take a while but nemesis will catch up with every person. I think you should have that at the back of your mind.”, she said.
The tension in the room was rising. I could feel it in the awkward pause that followed after her words and I could see it in Justin’s eyes. He was clearly getting infuriated by Madison’s words.
Oh! How he hates listening to words against his family and Madison was doing just that. If she was looking for a way to piss Justin off, then she was right on track. Just when I was worried about what Justin’s reaction to her words would be, he broke the silence with a calm voice and with an air of superiority.
” Clearly, not everyone understands how the system works and we do not expect anyone of your class to understand.”, he said as he reclined slightly in his chair, ” Positions come with power and influence but unfortunately, a lot of people simply cannot comprehend the fact that there are responsibilities associated with such power and I guess it’s not my place to explain to them”, Justin laid back and gave Madison an effortless reply.
“Hunmm, Justin, the kids would…. “, I interrupted with the hope that the conversation would be interrupted too, but nope. She just kept going.
“Did Daddy tell you that too? Did he instill those values in you too? pathetic!”, Menso Scoffed and kissed her teeth, “You rich never see anything aside your ego and it will cost you…. “, she was saying before I interrupted.
“Disson!” I called out at once, “Check on the kids please”, I said to her. She swallowed her words with a forced smile, stood up, and left. I had no idea what had just happened but I was glad I was able to stop it before it got out of hand.
“I… I’m sorry about that . I have no idea why she said that….” I was saying when his phone rang, and he picked it up. He answered for a while and then hung up.
“I have to go ” , he said to me, “I have a meeting to attend to “, he explained as he stood up and began walking towards the door. I walked him to the door, which he opened and shut as he walked out. Then I went to my sister.
“What was that all about, D ? like what the hell?”, I asked her.
“What?” , she snapped at me.
“You know what I mean, what was that hostility all about?”, I asked again.
“Christen, do you fucking who he is? He is a Danko, a fucking Danko”, she said.
” What? I thought he was from the Noble family”, I said in confusion.
” Urrghh! They’re the same family. They use both family names interchangeably just like their nature”, she said.
” Okay and what exactly does this have to do with you being so rude to him?”, I asked.
“Oh… I forgot, you know nothing about Dad’s death” She said as she rolled her eyes and came up to me.
“What has Dad’s death got to do with this?”, I asked, now perplexed.
She kept mute, staring at me. Madison that was so eager to speak suddenly felt like keeping mute when I needed her to speak up. Now that, I couldn’t accept. She was gonna talk whether she liked it or not.
“Say something already.”, I interrogated her. She still hesitated for a while until I grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her back and forth, ” Tell me dammit!!!”, I yelled.
“Ezra was behind father’s death, Okay?!”, she yelled at me sobbing, ” Are you happy now? He kiilled our father. That bastard killed dad. He is the reason for everything. He ruined our family and you, you, you have children for his son”, she said in an accusatory tone.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now”, I asked, ” now you’re using dad as your excuse? have some respect’, I said to her.
“Argh!!!”, she yelled out and angrily stamped her hands on the dining table.
I was dumbfounded. None of what Madison said to me added up. Ezra, Justin, my family, nothing made sense to me. I felt like I was walking all alone in a forest filled with leafy torns. I tried not to make sense of what she was trying to point out to me even if I could easily make myself understand.
“Wait…what are you trying to say ?”, I asked.
“You want the truth right? well here it is.”, she said as she wiped her tears, “Ezra Danko and father were business partners. They were working on a contract and Ezra wanted him to extort money from the contract illegally. Father refused and threatened to expose him if he does. That night when Dad came home, he told Mom everything and the same night he was murdered in cold blood. “, she explained in a sombre voice. She stared at me with teary eyes.
“Everything was taken away from us and Ezra was behind it”, she said, “Justin is Ezra’s son. He is a Danko. He is from the family that took everything away from us. We lost everything, I lost you. Mom lost herself all because of the fucking Dankos and that’s the same family you got married into.”, she explained. I could see the bitterness in her eyes.
“All my life, I waited to ruin their life”, she said as her eyes stared into nothing, ” I waited for a day to come face to face with him. I waited to ruin his life. I wanted him to die by my hands just as my father died. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that. He died by the hands of another. I made a promise to Mother to avenge Father’s death and I will not stop till I ruin the Dankos for good”, she swore.
“I will ruin their lives just like Ezra ruined ours.”, she said, “I will make them plead for mercy at my feet. If they have children, I will make them suffer the same fate I had to. The same fate we had to . Christen, I will make Justin pay for his father’s mistakes.”, she said to me with unwavering determination in her voice. “I’m sorry this is going to hurt you, but I will do this regardless of what and how you feel.”, she said.
I died listening to the truth. The truth she spoke rang through my ears. My lips were too heavy to speak. I was in turmoil, a huge diilemma. My heart and my mind fought against each other to accept the truth.
“No, it can’t be true.”, I thought. Justin, the father of my children was the son of my father’s murderer.
“No! That’s impossible”, I retorted.
“It’s the truth, Christen. “, she said, “Aiden and Amelia’s father is Ezra’s son. I will make sure he pays for what we went through. I will make sure he pays for the sins of his father. “, she said with assurance.
“I don’t care what I’m going to do but Justin and his entire family will pay for the pain we went through, for the pain our mother went through. “, Madison spoke with gritted teeth. She was blinded by revenge and pain.
No matter how hard I tried to deny it, I couldn’t deny the fact that she was right and in pain.
I had no words to utter, I was in shock by the truth I had found out. My father’s body lying dead on the floor in our living room with a bullet hole in his forehead flashed through my mind. His last words before the attack “I love you my princess “echoed in my ears, with a resonating hue.
I lost my balance and started to drift back, breathing unrhythmically, my eyes blinking at everyone and then till I hit the wall and leaned against it.
Justin’s face flashed through my mind. Our wedding night, my children, our love, everything. My chest became tightened by how many emotions I held unto. My trembling hands found their way over my mouth.
“Please…. Ju…Justin is.. Justin is th…. “, I stuttered.
“Christen, I know it’s not your fault, you didn’t know about Justin and I’m sorry it had to play out this way.”, she said to me as she patted me on the shoulder.
“He doesn’t love you, he never will. “, she said to me, “People like Justin only think about themselves. If he loves you then why did he leave in the first place? “, she asked.
At that point, I realized how much hate Madison harbored against the Dankos, against Justin. She was too blinded by her revenge that she was willing to pull me to her side as a weapon against Justin too.
“Don’t you want to avenge father’s death? Don’t you want to help Father get Justice?”, she asked incitingly with a flare in her eyes, “Remember what they took away from us. We lost everything just because of his father and their greed.”, she reminded me.
“But…Justin doesn’t know anything about this. Justin is nothing like his father.”, I said.
“That’s what you think. He is everything like his father.”, she said, “Didn’t you see it during our argument? Don’t you see it now?”, she asked.
“Justin will do even worse if we let him. He is going to suffer for the sins of his father. For that, I need you, I need your support. I have been waiting for this my whole life, the day I can finally bring them to book.”, she said, “For mom. Don’t be selfish again Christen. Think not only of yourself “, she said to me.
Mneso tried to gaslight me into joining forces with her against Justin. How could I? How could I betray Justin this way?
Yes, his father was the reason behind my father’s death but he knew nothing about it. Just as I knew nothing about it.
I was stuck. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stuck between doing the right thing which was helping Madison to avenge my father’s death and doing what I thought was the right thing, Staying true and leaving Justin out of it all.
I didn’t know what to do. So indecisive and confused. Consumed by my thoughts and emotions, I fell to the ground.
“Do what is right. If you ever felt sorry for leaving us those years ago, if you ever loved Father, then do what Is right.”, she said, “Take my hand, Christen. Join me in this fight for Father.”, she urged as we looked each other in the eye in that moment of tension.