Painful Love
**Kael**
After my mother's revelations, Ryan and I had a conversation and concluded that the only people who could help us better understand that story were Patrick's daughters.
As much as I disliked Rachel, I wanted even more distance from Sarah, as the disappointment I felt toward her was deep. Discovering that she had knowledge of something so terrible about her mother and never shared it with anyone, pretending to be a good and lovable person when, in fact, she was as malicious as her sister, was a hard blow.
Ryan seemed to think the same way I did, as we never considered reaching out to Sarah.
"I believe that if Rachel told Mary about this lead that helped her find Maira, she must know much more," Ryan suggested.
"Besides the fact that she's easily 'buyable,'" I agreed with his line of thought. "With the right amount, we can have all the information at our disposal. No unpleasant surprises."
He stared at me with a disgusted expression, which I shared as well, both of us upset by the sheer wickedness of those people who had separated my siblings from me, preventing my mother from raising her children. It now even seemed understandable that my mother had fallen into a depressive state after discovering she had been separated from her children for twenty-five years! To think that the sisters knew about the extremely cruel act their mother had committed and were complicit in it made my blood boil once again.
"Considering that everyone involved in this sordid situation is already dead, I don't see any other option but to track down that woman," I said, enraged.
"I'm heading to my apartment," Ryan announced, walking towards the exit of my office. "I'll ask Arlete to book the next flight for me."
I was relieved that my assistant volunteered to handle this personally because I didn't think it was a good idea to try to speak with Rachel over the phone. You never know how she might react, and as much as I hated to admit it, we needed her at this moment.
I resumed my duties as the CEO of Anglo-X and left Ryan in charge of resolving that matter, as well as providing all the information I had about the investigation. Perhaps he could find the whereabouts of my other brother, and my mother could finally find peace with her children.
I was determined not to think about Sarah anymore and to remove her from my mind once and for all. My mother may have been happy to see Rachel and for her to have shared that her twin sons were alive, as well as the facts that helped her find at least one of them, but she had made it very clear that Patrick's daughters were not her favorite people in the world, which was understandable.
If Sarah were as good as everyone believed, she wouldn't have gone along with such wickedness. The right thing would have been to seek out my mother and tell her what she knew about her siblings. Maybe Ryan's theory was correct, and considering the great fortune that her mother Guilhermina had when she married Patrick Mitchell, they just didn't like the idea of sharing the inheritance that she and Rachel believed their father would leave behind.
I thought that way too, and it led me to decide on a permanent estrangement from her because, upon closer examination of everything that had happened between us, Rachel wasn't the one on the yacht to exchange her virginity for money.
Was Sarah as naive as she wanted everyone to believe, or was she just a more skilled actress than her sister? The best course of action was to erase her from my life and do the same with Rachel as soon as I could extract every last detail from her about the twins' theft and their subsequent adoption.
And when Ryan returned from London with Rachel in tow, I was forced to face that ambitious and selfish girl again, willing to do anything for money.
"I was sure you wouldn't be able to stay away from me for long, dear," Rachel said, clearly making light of the situation.
"I need you to tell us everything you know about the theft of my siblings," I said, looking at her with genuine disgust. "In every detail."
"My memory isn't all that great..." she played hard to get.
"You promised to help us, Rachel!" Ryan said, appearing to get very irritated with her attitude.
"Oh, but I need some incentive for my memory, my love," she said sarcastically.
"Name your price," I said through gritted teeth.
"Hmm..." She seemed thoughtful as if she had no idea what amount she would demand to help us, but I was certain the sum was already well defined in her mind, and she was just creating suspense.
"Two million is a good start," she suggested, putting the tip of her nail in her mouth, in a clear attempt to be sexy.
"Bitch!" I muttered the insult.
"If you're going to insult me, I'd rather leave," she threatened, but I knew it was just a bluff.
"Two million to start?" Ryan persisted, seeming much more patient than me. "Does that mean you'll continue to demand more and more money while holding onto important information?"
"It's take it or leave it," she didn't bother to deny.
"They're your siblings, Rachel!" Ryan protested, standing up. "Don't you want to meet them?"
"No," she simply denied.
Initially, we hadn't revealed the discovery of Maira's whereabouts, as our goal was to unravel the entire story and clarify Patrick's possible involvement in the events. My mother was determined to find her children and get all the details, as doubt was gradually eating away at her.
I understood her feelings perfectly, but unlike her, I chose to remain in uncertainty, as certainty could sometimes be more painful, as it had been with Sarah. I didn't want to allow her to have so much power over me, but the reality was that she did, and I needed to accept it and try to forget everything we had experienced and what I felt for her.
"I'll make the transfer to your account," I agreed to the blackmail. "I'll call the investigators."
We had summoned the investigation team to be in my office, and Arlete had already informed me that they were waiting in the waiting room. I asked her to let them in.
Rachel recounted some facts, basically what we already knew, but also clarified some points that we had no idea about.
"So your mother paid these people to take the children away, only demanding that they go in opposite directions," the investigator summarized.
"Yes," she confirmed. "She suggested Texas and Florida. But later she found out that one of the twins was very close to us, right here in Washington."
"How did she find out?" Ryan asked, looking anxious.
"The husband of the woman who adopted one of the babies started blackmailing my mother," she recounted. "In the end, they were living in Olympia."
Olympia was the capital of the state of Washington and was less than a hundred kilometers away, which was quite close indeed.
"Who were these people who took the babies? Criminals?" I asked, interested.
I needed to know, after all, I am a very wealthy man, and if I was going to be living with my unknown siblings, knowing who raised them was very important.
"I'm sure they weren't criminals!" Ryan countered my question, appearing upset.
"We can't be sure, Ryan," I tried to be sensible. "I can't risk getting involved with people of that caliber."
"According to Mom, the babies were given to humble but kind-hearted people," Rachel finally spoke up. "Which I find utterly foolish, and I told her so. If she was going to give the babies away, she should have done it to people with better financial means. Now you're going to look for them, and all signs point to them being two paupers with nothing to their name."
"You're shallow and petty, Rachel," Ryan said, surprising me. "Is there no room for feelings in your heart?"
"It's pointless to have a heart full of feelings and not be able to enjoy the good things in life, you idiot."
"I don't like you at all."
"And I'm not at all concerned about that. Feelings only cause suffering and pain, nothing more."
"Stop it!" I had to intervene. "The investigators need to do their job, and with you two arguing, we won't get anywhere."
Despite not liking Rachel at all, she was right in one aspect, as feelings did indeed only cause pain, and the best example of that was my mother and Patrick, who were never truly happy together, having gone through various hardships to be together and even paying a high price for it.
And that's why Sarah now belonged to the past, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't even want to hear her name again.
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