Chapter 35 Skeletons In The Closet

If I should say that the look on Joseph's face did not bring me a world of pleasure, then that would be a blatant lie. The moment Anna said daughter, his face turned blank, and the shade of white that dawned over him did not even match the color of his shirt. This man had clearly seen a ghost, or should I say someone he did not hope that he would ever see.
But there is a problem; my own father has turned an even whiter shade of all fifty shades of white. Now, if Joseph has seen a ghost, then my father just had a skeleton jump out of the closet. There is something more to this, and I am sure that we are about to find out. It seems that Cummings and Caine have a little more than explaining to do.
Though Giselle seems as calm as ever, either this woman handles pressure very well, or she has just been stunned mute for all she is doing is standing and...playing with her nails. I swear if this is another hair appointment moment, then I am insisting that Cassandra gives her one wake up smack.
With that being said, it is time for the truth to come out, and if everyone is too scared to say a word, then I shall be the one to start.
"Can someone and I guess all three of you know what, so can one of you care to explain what is going on?"
And, of course, Joseph will be the first to speak, probably to lie his ass out of it.
"You see, the thing is..."
And that is exactly where he stops. Whatever this is, it must be the lowest that any one of them can go. So then my father tries to muster a few useless words.
"You see, son, there was..."
Well, that is just as far as he goes himself. The both of them have either become mumbling fools, or they are about to shock us to death.
Then Giselle gives her own attempt; what part she plays in this is not quite clear to me unless.....Nah, I don't think that is even possible.
But my patience is now starting to wear thin, we have been standing here for about twenty minutes, and all we have got was three half sentences.
"I am not known as a man with a lot of patience, and right now, the three of you are wearing it out quite thin. So I suggest someone says a damn proper sentence, or I fucking shoot you all."
Then someone with the most sense between them all decides to speak, but if it will be the truth, well, that remains to be seen.
"Christian, I think we need to sit down for this."
"Father, what have you done?"
"It is a long story, I suggest Joseph you bring us some whiskey, and we all take a seat."
"Oh god, I already don't like the way this conversation is going."
I take my princess by the hand, and we all take a seat in the lounge. Lucky the chairs are far apart, for the slightest wrong word, then Joseph is getting a smack in the face. Of course, I would never hit my father, but I think he is strongly leaning towards it.
Much to my surprise, I watch my princess knock two shots of whiskey back. This is even more upsetting to her than it is for me. Even though she has known for a while, the moment to confront him is finally here.
I watch as these three grownups are staring back at me as if the beginning of the end has just arrived. Now my patience is up; I want answers.
"Out with it, father."
"Well, back in the day when Joseph and I were still very good friends, we used to frequent a strip club just as often as you boys."
Well, there goes my first surprise, 'Mr. I am so against strip clubs' are very familiar with them. Very interested, I let him carry on.
"Well, there was this girl...Roxy was her name...she...well, she was the most beautiful girl I ever laid my eyes on..."
And I stop him right there.
"Please don't tell me that you were already married to mom?"
"I am afraid I was."
"Please don't tell me you had something with this girl?"
"I am afraid I did."
"What the fuck, nice one, father! Fucking nice!"
I grab the bottle from his hand and take a huge gulp straight out of the bottle. He waits a few moments before he carries on.
"So we were in this relationship for quite some time. Then one day she came to me and told me that she was pregnant."
"I don't like where this is going."
I pull my princess closer to me and softly look into her chocolate brown eyes. I think she knows, and somehow she is the one that is comforting me in a way.
But I do not think this is over by a long shot, so I urge him to carry on.
"Yes, father, I am listening."
"Well, she was pregnant, and they were mine."
"What do you mean they?"
"It was twins."
"So, Anna has a sister...Wait! I have another sister. Anna is my sister?"
"Yes, Anna is your sister."
"Where is her twin?"
And fuck! why did I even have to ask? I guess there is nothing lower than my father can do now. He has just proven why he is Foster Caine. But somehow, I think there is even more to this, so instead of smacking him, I let him carry on.
"Lucy. Anna and Lucy are the twins."
"I am going to dismiss the fact that you are a goddamn asshole and ask you why Anna is not living with us?"
"Well, Roxy did not want to keep both children, so she dropped Lucy on my doorstep one night."
"And let me guess, you were pissed. And even a far better guess is that is why you hate exotic dancers."
"I don't hate them."
"Bullshit, you do!"
But that is not the biggest question here, there is something somewhat more confusing tome, and it is my princess that asks her father.
"Daddy, why does Anna think you are her father?"
"Baby girl, I was part of Foster's crew back then, and I said that I should take the fall. The last thing we needed was for everyone to know that he had a child with another woman."
Wait the fuck! I do not think I heard him right. Did he just say part of my father's crew?
"Backtrack ten steps there. Joseph was part of your crew?"
"Yes, son. I told him, in exchange for taking the fall, I will let him branch out on his own."
"And then the big fall out came, and I guess that is why Joseph stopped going to see Anna?"
"Yes. We never thought things were ever going to come out."
"Well, that is kind of the problem with a secret; it will come back and bite you in the ass."
Well, there is one thing that still bothers me about this. Where does my mom and Giselle fit into this?
"Does mom know, of course, dumb question? But where does Giselle fit into this?"
And this time, it is Giselle that answers.
"It was my friend."
"Holy shit! You were an exotic dancer?"
"Yes."
"You people are twenty ways fucked up. Here you give me and Cassandra shit, but you are actually swimming in it."
I glance over to my princess; what was tears just a few moments ago has just turned out in nothing but laughter. Here we thought that Joseph was going to fall flat on his face, but instead, it was Foster Caine, my very own father. One that has just told me that the girl next to Cassandra is my sister. This leads us to one final question.
"Did you know of this, Anna?"
...Cassandra POV...
What a damn circus. I thought that I use to be the leading act of the day, but these three, well, they definitely take the cake. How could I have been so blind to see the resemblance between Christian and Anna? Hey, it is not every day that your sister is actually related to your boyfriend instead.
And Christian has a good point. Did Anna actually know about it? Well, she better give me a straight answer, or she is getting it straight in the face.
"So Anna, which one is it. Did you know or not?"
I watch as she only hesitates for several moments before she confirms what Christian and I were thinking.
"My mom told me just before she died."
"You told me your mother is still alive?"
"She died a few months ago from an overdose."
"Ah, so you came looking for money from Joseph?"
She does not even have to answer; I know the truth. I never did trust her in the beginning; I don't know why I have let her strung me along this far.
Then Christian that has been sitting quietly and thinking while I was speaking raises his voice above everyone to hear.
"So this is what is going to happen. Joseph, this turf was never yours, so I am taking it back. My princess will sit by my side, and I want no interference from your dad."
Then, of course, both of them try to jump in and stop him, but he only waives them off to be quiet.
"Anna, I suggest you go back to where you came from; I do not take kindly to being blackmailed. As for Lucy, you stay away from her. I understand you are my sister, but family doesn't treat each other the way the bunch of you did. You are going to have to earn mine and especially Cassandra's trust again."
With that, Christian looks over to me again and waits for me to nod if I agree with him. After making his point clear, he raises from his seat and takes me by my hand to let me stand up from mine. Without even saying goodbye, we head out the front door, and after several moments of silence as we sit in the car, he leans in closer and plants his soft lips against mine.
I can feel his body is trembling. I love how strong and confident he can be in front of everyone, but with me, he can just breakdown and let go. What he did in there was beyond amazing, I admire him, and every moment I am with him, I consider myself lucky.
And right there and then in the driveway that I know I will not be seeing for a while, he claims my mouth and kisses me with so much power and passion. I can feel what I mean to him between the elegant dance of lips rubbing softly against each other. Unable to control myself anymore, I press through the seams of his lips and entwine him in a deeper kiss. And when he softly growls from deep within, I know that he is mine, and I shall be his for as long as he wants me to be.
And when we finally break apart, he looks me in the eyes with the most serious eyes I have ever seen.
"I love you. Never forget that. Now let me go show you your surprise."