63.

Xander

 

Everybody had gathered at our house. Everybody, I mean, Damien, Charles, Chantel, and X. We were waiting for X’s team to tell us that they had captured Aiden and he was in the set location. Emotions were running high, but we were all keeping our cool.




Nikki and Chantel were currently occupied by their gossip, and the guys and I were gathered in the kitchen with the burner phone set in the middle of the table.




“You are seriously considering murder?”




X nods, “Yeah. If we let him live, who knows what he’ll do to us? To anyone.”




I felt guilty. I wanted to know more about him and why my father kept him a secret. There had to have been a reason.




“X is right,”




“Guys come on. What about hearing his side of the story? He is your brother; don’t you want to give him a chance?”




Charles shakes his head, “Baby, you’re so sweet, but no.”




“Damien, we understand where you are coming from, but do you want to continue living knowing that he is alive and could ruin in us all.”




“That man has nothing on us. He’s the one who got convicted. Why not hand him over to the cops?” Damien reasons.




Damien was right, but I didn’t want to take that chance with my family. He had to be dealt with, one way or the other.

“Let’s just get him to the location, and we’ll figure out the rest,” I say and walk out of the kitchen and to the backyard.




I take out my phone and call my mother.




“Mom?”




‘Xander, how are you?’

 

“I’m good, mom. How are you?”




‘I’m good son. What can I help you with?’

 

“I need to ask you something. I need you to be completely honest with me, okay?”




‘Of course, honey, ask away,’

 

“Did you know that dad had another child? A son before me?”




She remains quiet.




“Mom?”




She sighs, ‘Yes.’

 

My stomach drops to the floor, and I want to scream. She knew, and she didn’t bother to tell me. She knew that Aiden was my brother, and she let him do all those things to me.




“How long have you known? Do you know who he is?”




‘I’ve known since the day he was born, but I’m not sure who he is or where he is. I do know who his mother was.’

 

“Who was she?”

‘Her name was Victoria. She was your father’s first PA after he had decided to be a housewife. I found out about the affair after she came to our house with a pregnancy scan. Your father accepted responsibility for the child, but he fired her immediately and had her sent somewhere far away. I’m guessing far away was here in South Africa.’

 

“When you got here, did you try to look for her?”




‘No, I wanted nothing to do with your father or any of his girlfriends. I wanted to move on with my life.’

 

“We found her son. It’s Aiden,”




My mother gasped and I could tell it was genuine.




‘How? When?’

 

“We found out today when we did a background check on him through the Pentagon. Those people don’t lie, but the name of his mother was concealed, I guess for her protection.”




‘Your father supported Victoria, paid for everything for that boy. I don’t know if he continued after I left.’

 

I sigh, “I don’t know what to do, mom. I’m caught between sending him to jail or dealing with him myself.”




‘Xander, if there is one thing, I can tell you is don’t handle things the way your father would have. The world has shown you grace for the things you’ve done. You were a victim of your father’s abuse. Show him grace, he’s probably hurting just the way you were. You had the chance to grow up with your dad, and he never did, try, and put yourself in his shoes for a minute.’

 

“I hear you, mom,”

‘Whatever you do, just know that you’ll have to live with that for the rest of your life. Think about your child, Xander. You had to pay for the sins of your father. Don’t repeat that.’

 

“Thank you, mom. I’m glad I called you,”




‘I’m glad you called me baby. I’m always here for you.’

 

“I love you, mom,”




‘I love you too, baby boy.’

 

I hang up the phone and let out a sigh. Tears swell up in my eyes. The guilt was kicking in, the fact that I was going to kill my blood.




“Baby?”




I blink away my tears and turn around.




“Hey, baby,”




Nikki stands in front of me, and she looks up at me, “Are you okay?”




I shake my head, “I don’t want to kill him.”




She pulls me into her arms, and I lay my head on her shoulder.




“What are we going to do?”




“We need to hand him over to the police. He needs help. I need to speak to him.”




I lift my head. Nikki looks relieved. I know she also didn’t like the idea of murder. It wasn’t fair.

“Spoke to mom. She knew Aiden’s mom; she was my dad’s PA.”




Nikki shakes her head, “Your dad is something else.”




“I know. What do we tell the other? They are ready to bury him alive,”




She chuckles, “I’ll handle it.”




I kiss her cheek, “We’ll handle it.”




We walk into the house, and everyone looks at us.




“Change of plan, guys. We are handing Aiden over to the police,” I say.




Damien sighs, “Thank you.”




“Why?” Charles asks.




“Charles, if we kill, we’ll spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders and living in guilt. I don’t want my child to suffer for my sins like I am,”




Charles sighs, “Fuck. For the first time, I agree with you.”




X nods, “I’m glad you came to your senses.”




We all look at X confusedly.




“Aiden is already in my men’s custody. They are just waiting for my call. I was giving you guys a chance to see the light,” he explains. “You’re good folk, and I was waiting for your anger to subside.”




Charles laughs, “God, I can’t believe we almost murdered that moron. He would have won.”




“Exactly, all his allegations were going to be proven right, and you were going to go to jail.”




“He dodged a bullet,” Chantel laughs, “So what now?”




“Now, we hand him over to the authorities,” X says, “He’ll be back in jail serving the rest of his sentence.”




Everyone is relieved, it was over.