Chapter Fifty Four

Chapter 54

“But first, I’d like to get answers.”

Marcus’s voice rang through the serene atmosphere, his voice icy, causing shivers to travel down Jemima’s back.

She nodded her head, understanding what he was implying. It was only decent that they knew why they were put through so much torture.
They needed that closure.

Alan stood by the corner, silently observing the wordless conversation going on between Jemima and Marcus. He truly believed their twin telepathy was sometimes too strong.


“Jem! You have someone on the call for you!” Vanessa’s shrill voice interrupted them, causing all their attention to snap towards her as she half ran towards Jem only missing the branches by a bit.

Jemima’s brows furrowed in confusion as she walked towards a frantic Vanessa.

“Who is it?” Jemima inquired, grabbing the phone from her and placing it against her ear.
Breathless, Vanessa replied, “It’s Jay. He said he wanted to talk to you.”

Marcus and Alan’s gaze shifted towards Jemima and they’d both noticed the blush creep onto her cheeks albeit her trying to hide it.

“Hi!” Jemima exclaimed excitedly, the heated tension from earlier forgotten as she heard the low rumble of Jay’s voice.
It was at that moment, that Jemima’s heart fluttered. She had not realized how much she missed him.

Alan’s jaw clenched, his gaze hardening as he saw the elation on Jemima’s face as she spoke to Jay. Green colored his skin as his envy became prominent.

“Excuse me,” Alan muttered through gritted teeth, abruptly leaving the scene.
Jemima was too engrossed in the conversation she was having with Jay to notice anything in her surroundings.

Marcus smiled at her and cast a glance at Vanessa before excusing himself as well.
Vanessa lingered a little bit, wanting to get the full gist of the conversation Jemima and Jay were having but when the call prolonged longer than it needed to, she too became wearied and returned to the house.

Jemima and Jay spoke for a considerable amount of time, both of them oblivious to the swift passage of time. Jemima lay on the bench in the garden, twirling her hair between her thumb and her index finger while enjoying the cool breeze of the early evening.

A soft chuckle escaped from Jemima’s lips, mixing with the ripple of the pond and the rustle of the leaves, forming a discordant symphony. And just like that, all of nature bore witness to the once-sworn enemies falling in love with each other without even realizing it.


After what seemed like hours, Jemima ended the call with a huge grin plastered across her face - evidence of a fulfilled conversation.
Suddenly feeling the crisp air around her, she got up and made her way inside where she saw Marcus sitting on the sofa.

“Finally!” Marcus exclaimed as soon as his gaze landed on her, eliciting an eye roll from her.
Marcus patted the empty sofa beside him, indicating that Jemima should join him.

She obliged and they both sat in silence, enjoying the romcom till they rolled out the end credits.

“Accept it,” Marcus’s unexpected voice cut through the chill atmosphere, causing Jemima to glance at him.

“You are in love with Jay.”

Marcus stated, causing Jemima to look away. The mention of Jay’s name and love in the same sentence caused her heart to do a series of somersaults. She didn’t try to deny it, at the same time she also fought to accept it.

Not wanting to give her the chance to think too much about it, Marcus rose and said, “It’s quite late. We will question the prisoners tomorrow.”

And with that, Marcus turned to leave, leaving a stunned Jemima agape. She sighed heavily, slouching into the couch.

“Normalcy; that’s all I ask for,” Jemima whispered to no one in particular, closing her eyes and drifting off to a dreamless slumber for the first time in a long while.

*******

The morning had arrived and Jemima was a nervous wreck. Marcus had tried to calm her down and reassure her that they weren’t going to hurt their captives anymore.

He asked, “Why are you so nervous Jemima?”

“Because I’m scared!” Jemima replied, exclaiming exasperatedly. They were a few feet away from the restroom, ready to get the answers they sought.

“Why are you scared?” Marcus inquired, his voice soothing as he tried to understand her point of view.

“What if the answers we get don’t justify what they did to us? What if they tell us something cliche like we were adopted? I’m afraid I might get very angry and kill them without thinking. Then this would have all been for nothing. God, I need Alan!”

Jemima breathed out in a rush, angrily wiping off the beads of perspiration that had formed on her forehead.

“Alan has gone to the hospital with Vanessa to check on Jon but first I need you to relax. Breathe in, breathe out!” Marcus calmed her down, reassuring her that all was well.

“You’re not going to sporadically kill them Jem and I know this because you have self-control. You second-guessing your motives is enough self-control,” Marcus praised, squeezing her shoulders gently, yet firmly.

Jemima pursed her lips in a thin line, silently appreciating the reassuring words of Marcus. With her mind set, and a determined resolve, she went into the red room with Marcus following closely behind her.

The sight of Marcus and Jemima had the captives scampering away in fright. They looked pitiful with their naked form on display.

“Please Jemmy,” Damien croaked, his voice coarse. His lips were dry and his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his socket. Jemima had ordered that they be given no food and water- that was a week ago.

They were slowly rotting away and had no energy in them to put up with a fight.

“Bring it!” Jemima called out and a tray of assorted food rolled into the room.
On Marcus’s orders, the food was served to the captors while Marcus and Jemima sat and watched them ravish the food in the twinkle of an eye.

Once they were done, Jemima cleared her throat, causing their head to snap towards her.

“I’m sure you must be wondering why we are being so nice and generous towards you today,” Jemima began, eyeing them cautiously as she kept a reasonable distance between her and them.

“Look at us, Mom and Dad! Godfather and SK, in the same room and you are at our mercy! You chewed us and spat us out. You wanted to ruin us and make us useless so no one would look at us twice but here we are, the center of attention of the whole fucking world!”

Jemima stated, her voice dangerously calm despite the raging storm that brewed within her.

Marcus continued from where Jemima stopped, “You have taken so much from us, and today, we have come to ask you of one thing and one thing only.”

Marcus locked his gaze with theirs, individually holding their gaze for more than three seconds to emphasize the severity of his words.

“And let me make myself very clear, if you lie, you die! I have nothing to fucking lose!” Marcus warned, his eyes becoming steely as he took slow but menacing steps towards them, ensuring to keep a safe distance between himself and them, before kneeling to their eye level.

“Anything!” Diane voiced out hurriedly with hopeful eyes, eager to please both Marcus and Jemima. She was exhausted from all the torture she went through and wanted to end it all.

“Why did you do what you did?” Marcus asked, locking his gaze on Damien. Damien’s blood ran cold and his gaze met Jemima’s. Her eyes were cold and she watched from a distance, not caring what Marcus decided to do with them.

“D… D… D…”

“Answers the fucking question!” Jemima yelled, frustrated at Damien for stammering out the response.

“Did what?” Damien asked but he immediately swallowed his words as Marcus slapped him hard across the face, causing blood to spill out from his mouth. Damien spat out, making two of his teeth fall out.

“Don’t fucking play games with me Damien Valerian and don’t make me repeat myself! I’ll ask you one more time and you better fucking answer me!” Marcus warned, the vein in his neck pulsating as anger radiated off of him.

Ava wailed in the corner, her fear palpable as she stared at the almost lifeless body of the mama she had called father.

At this point Jemima was getting aggravated so she stood up and pulled out her dagger. She walked slowly but purposefully towards Diane and held her by the throat, placing the dagger in a very sensitive spot.

“Why did you fucking rape Jemima? Why did you drown me? Why did you separate us? Why did you torment and torture us?” Marcus asked a series of questions, his eyes bloodshot with anger as he held Damien by the neck.

“Please just tell them!” Ava begged, obviously tired of the torture she had to endure and watch.

“Start talking or say goodbye to your fucking voice,” Jemima threatened, placing the dagger deftly against again a corner in Diane’s neck that was not enough to kill her but enough to make her go dumb forever!

Jemima could not understand why it was so based for them to give them the answers that they sought.

“Start talking!” Marcus exclaimed, driving a knife into Damien’s knee.

“Fine!” Diane screamed, tears racing down her face as she watched Damien writhe in pain.

“You both are a product of incest!”