CHAPTER 26
THE DAYS OF RECKONING
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A deal was a deal, right? Regardless of the consequence. Regardless of whose lives were put as a stake.
Unknown Number
Time's up.
She could almost feel a tinge of sympathy for him, whether it was misplaced for someone who had threatened to impoverish her off of her education or not, his circumstance remained prominent. She wondered if keeping the knowledge from him would be better for his sake, but that wasn't her duty to meet and she was far from being a benevolent person who would do something out of good conscience and set aside her needs to preserve other's well being.
Still, the murders fixated her. She found herself drawn into the case unlike any other. Other than the obvious question as to why she had placed an order for the pizza before she killed her father, there was something particularly incongruous when she read about the fact that apparently, Clementine had stabbed her victims with her right hand when she had been known to be left-handed due to the fact that she had somehow broken her dominant wrist a couple days before the incident, but there was no report of her ever going to the hospital for it, and testimony of her family attested that they didn't know that she had sustained any injury.
Also the fact that there was a person she did not kill alongside her two victims made it more curious. The information she collected online elaborated that she had stayed home that day with her youngest brother, whom even if his name was redacted from the news, Nova knew that it was Victor. He had fallen ill and she was treating him, while Georgia was picking up Nicholas and Cameron from football practice. Frank Spencer wasn't supposed to come home until eight that night, but he had arrived earlier than usual at five. As Georgia left the house, Clementine had made an order for a pizza, but then Frank appeared and she just proceeded to murder him. About thirty minutes later, Carson Lee showed up at their doorstep and she opened the door only to also kill him.
Victor's testimony didn't say that there was a moment of a chase between them; he wasn't hiding and she wasn't hunting him down. She spared him. This was even supported by the fact that he was the one who called 911 and she was there with him while he did so. Why? It could very well be explained by an onset of psychotic breakdown, but could the onset really recognize its limit? The stigma surrounding schizophrenia made it so hard for anyone not to be biased. It didn't cause people to commit murder. There had to be other factors surrounding it.
She sighed and threw her notebook on to the table. She had spent all afternoon tracing the chronology and gathered all of the details from online sources, but she knew it wouldn't lead her anywhere if she didn't speak with people who had directly worked on the case.
She picked up her coffee and cupped it on her palms. The warmth pervaded from her skin and lent her a moment of clarity.
She felt for them, but she needed to save herself first and if she had to pick a side between black and white, she would say what Cameron did to his brothers behind their back was wrong.
100k
You will want this.
There was no hint of hesitation on his reply when he asked her of her bank account and she sent him the details of the one she had in South Korea where it wasn't possible for her pimps to discover and thought that she had thwarted them.
Fifteen minutes later, she received the notification of the proceeds. She inhaled a deep breath when she pressed the button to deliver the picture, and that was it.
The rip-roaring sound of a honk blared as a car passed by the café where she had huddled in to escape the cold.
She made a gain and lives were destroyed.
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Nicholas' eyes were a mirror of murky water that just shattered right then and there.
"I brought her with me. I had to."
Regardless of how indurate he made himself out to be, neither one of them could recall the last time Nicholas was profoundly angry at Victor or Cameron. Of course, he would grow vexed with them almost every single time, but it was his care, his tough love. Even if he was always the most deferential out of them all to their parents, he had never censured Cameron for the path he carved for himself, which their parents never approved of.
Yet right now, something shifted within him as he became so still as a statue. Understanding failed him, his mind refused to acknowledge what he just heard as if he didn't speak the same language that Cameron spoke to him with.
"What?" he asked him, still grappling to make sense of the situation. His face had drained in color. "What did you say?"
Cameron didn't wait or hold back. Any delay was futile now. "Clementine. She lives with me now."
So there was nothing left to be said. Cameron knew Nicholas didn't need any technical explanation like Victor did, he only required a declaration of the main crux of the matter.
Any moment now, Cameron steeled himself as an onslaught of hazardous prospects invaded his mind. What would he do? Even if half of his memories almost all implicated them in a conflict, he could swear Nicholas wasn't a violent person, but he was no different than himself, both too headstrong for their own good and if push came to shove, anything could manifest as a response. So what would he reach for first? Was it his neck or his half-empty glass of champagne?
His stature didn't change though, only his mouth gaping. "You are... but this is Victor's birthday... how dare you..."
"Is this some kind of a fucking sick joke?" he laid out the question in the open, a silent plea in his tone for someone to relive his distress, but it was also weighed down by a sense of doom as if he was anticipating the worst.
He studied Cameron's features; short strands of blond hair fell on his forehead and cast a shadow on his blue eyes. Nicholas sought for something that would break under the pressure, but his stance was fortified, he was serious. He turned to his youngest brother who had averted his gaze away from the both of them. His mouth was stiff and his jaw was tense. The pain that emanated from his emotion was palpable and it made Nicholas acutely aware of the disposition.
No one was laughing.
Victor gritted his teeth as he shot Cameron a look, one which he held with an unflinching shamelessness, before he switched to Nicholas. His own turbulent gaze held the haunted look on his older brother's hazel eyes. "No."
"W-what do you mean?" his stare wavered and his body leaned back slightly. Finally, fear reared its head, suffused in him like a possession, and stirred his senses. As twisted as it sounded, it eased Victor a little bit to see that there was a fright in him when it came to her. They weren't so different after all. He wasn't alone being driven by the feeling of dread. At least, he knew he wasn't weak in that department because Nicholas wasn't.
"He set her free. I saw them. I saw her." Victor almost didn't recognize his own voice.
The comprehension now covered the whole expanse of Nicholas' mind as it was no longer able to repel or reject its existence. He stared forward, all the emotions that had influenced him dissipated, leaving only voidness in his eyes.
Silence as long as an eternity stretched between them. No one bothered to disrupt the stagnancy.
Cameron gazed up ahead into the bright neon illumination and closed his eyes, the glow kept what monsters lurking behind his eyelids away. He inhaled and exhaled his breath in a cycle, until he could feel his frantic heartbeat settling down. I did it, Clementine. Now, all that's left to do is to protect you.
A deadly sound of a chair scraping against the floor jerked him up as Nicholas stood up from his seat. Without another word, he turned away, strode into the parlor like an unstoppable force of a whirlwind, and with the sound of the front door opening, he left.
Cameron watched with astoundment. All his armors tumbling down from disuse, the impending enemy never came to assail him. No, Nicholas should've yelled at him, smashed the bottle of alcohol, turned over this table, punched him, or anything... not this...
"Are you happy now?"
He snapped his head to his younger brother that remained.
"Vic—" he tried, even if he didn't know what to say.
Victor shook his head. It was only disappointment now, pure and uncontaminated. "You shouldn't be here."
Cameron wanted to protest, but the look on his face forced him to concede; he was right. The moment he decided to side with Clementine was when this place became an off-limit territory for him. That was the least he could do for them. For their mother. For this house.
He stood up. "I'm sorry, Vic."
"No, you're not." Victor couldn't hold his eye contact any longer. His gaze swept down to all the food on the table that was now gone to waste. In the middle of the assortment, lay something that had slipped out of his attention, there was a black forest cake with red cherries planted above snowy frosting adorning the circular delicacy. Two small wax candles that were molded into the shape of 2 and 5 were fixed in the middle. His breath hitched. Their parents had never allowed that and he was obsequious to it even now that he was an adult, but the cycle had been broken today, Cameron with their sister, and Nicholas with this.
"Call me when he returns and please take care of yourself," Cameron pleaded with utmost concern but Victor would no longer hear him.
"Just go away, Cam."
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"There were times of lots of laughter
and you felt you understood.
We were carefree, open, and honest,
loving, easy, kind, and true.
And I supposed you never doubted
that we were all together fine.
You never really knew my mind.
I never really knew your mind."
- Chris Cornell