Jenna's POV
Julia paced the room in front of Carter and I. She looked like she was going to be sick or like she would pass out.
It's been a couple weeks since she's had a seizure so there was the possibility that she was about to have a really bad one.
"Julia, relax." I said quietly as she nodded and looked up at me.
"Um. Okay, I guess I just don't know where to start." Julia said and looked at her hands. She was picking at her nails which meant she must have been really nervous.
I couldn't exactly understand what was freaking her out so much. From what we heard her talking about, it just seemed like Colby was missing.
How could she be so nervous to tell us about it?
"Remember when I ran away?" She asked and finally looked up at us. "Yeah..you ran away to be with Colby." I said as she sighed.
"What if I told you that I never actually ran away and that I was kidnapped." Julia asked as Carter looked over at me with confusion.
"Mom and dad said you ran away. They didn't even bother looking for you." Carter said as Julia nodded.
"Because dad was involved in the same uh....field...as the people who took me." Julia said, which only confused me more.
"I'm confused." Carter said as I nodded. "I am, too." I said causing Julia to sigh.
"Dad was a part of a gang. Actually, he was the leader of a gang." She said as I shook my head.
"God, you can't just let him rest, you have to make these ridiculous accusations about him?" I asked as her face shifted.
"I'm not accusing him, Jenna. He was a horrible man who did horrible things." She explained as Carter shook his head.
"Wait..you said that dad was in a gang and so were the people who took you...does that mean..." Carter said quietly as the pieces all added up.
"Colby kidnapped you." I said as she chewed her lip and looked away. "Ugh! Julia, really? You fell in love with a criminal?" I asked as she sighed.
"It's complicated, Jenna. So so so complicated." She said then started pacing.
"Wait, are we safe? He's not gonna kill us is he?" Carter asked as I shook my head.
"No. You are totally one hundred percent safe with Colby. He got out of the crime world to be with me and you guys...things just went horribly wrong." She said and looked away from us.
"So wait..were Colby and dad enemies?" Carter asked as Julia shrugged. "I guess you could say that." She said as my face fell.
"Did he kill him?" I asked as Julia gasped slightly. "Uh....no. No, he didn't." She said then turned away from us.
Weird.
"So like, is he in trouble? Did he go back to the crime world and is he gonna leave us?" Carter asked as Julia sighed.
"His best friend Sam went missing, that's why he went. Now he's missing which really isn't good." She said, her eyes watering.
"What are you gonna do?" I asked as she frowned. "I don't know." She said then wiped a tear from her cheek.
"You really want to be with someone who's dangerous like that?" I asked as she looked down.
"Jenna, I could never expect you to understand. Colby and I have been through so much and he's much more than just the danger." She said quietly.
"This is so crazy. Did you like fight other gangs with me?" Carted asked with an excitement that actually kinda pissed me off.
Julia put us and herself in danger by being with a supposed criminal. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about it.
"I guess you could say that." Julia said and picked at her nails again.
"What did dad do to you?" I asked causing her to look at me. "I'm not gonna talk about that. I've already told you too much." She said then turned away.
"You guys can't tell anyone about this. Not a single soul, do you understand me?" Julia asked with a serious tone.
"Are we in danger? Like seriously, we need to know if we are or not." I said and crossed my arms.
"I don't know, Jen. That's why I need to figure out what to do. We'll stay hunkered down in the house with the security system." She said with a sigh.
"What if someone comes in?" Carter asked as I nodded, pointing at him with agreement. "I'll take care of it." She said then crossed her arms.
"Any other questions before we never talk about this again?" Julia asked and raised her brows.
"What happens if they don't find Colby?" Carter asked with a frown.
"I'll need to go look for him." She said as I nodded. "We'll watch the other two." I said as she scrunched her brow with confusion.
"What?" I asked as she frowned. "You aren't mad about all of this?" She asked as I shrugged. "I'm mad that you fell for the most common book trope to ever exist." I said as she rolled her eyes.
"Have you seen the man, it would be impossible to NOT fall for him." Julia said causing me to fake gag. "Gross." I said then looked over at Carter.
"Please tell us all the crazy stuff you've done. Have you fought people? Killed them? What's Colby done?" Carter asked with excitement. "When you're older." Julia said then checked her phone again.
"You're not really thinking of leaving us, are you?" I asked nervously. I didn't really like the idea of her leaving us alone. I've read enough books to know that there was probably someone out to get Julia, too.
"I couldn't leave you alone but...I think they need me." Julia said quietly.
"We can handle it!" Carter said with a little too much excitement.
"I'm sure you could, but you won't. If anything I'll try to get one of the guys to come here. You'll need to be protected." Julia said with an intensity that I had never seen before.
Julia was always so timid and didn't really fight. Even when mom would hit her and call her names she would just take it. She wasn't a fighter but she was really acting like it right now.
"This is so cool." Carter mumbled as I stood up. "Anything else you're hiding from us?" I asked and blinked slowly.
"Jenna, please don't be mad about me not telling you. I wouldn't be telling you right now if you didn't eavesdrop." She said and narrowed her eyes.
"We deserved to know that! Your boyfriend is a criminal!" I yelled as she lunged forwards and covered my mouth.
"Stop yelling shit like that! The other kids are too young to know. Plus, he's not a criminal anymore so stop with that narrative." Julia growled, glaring at me.
"He was in a gang." I said and pushed her hand away from me. "And so was dad." She reminded then looked at both of us.
"I'm trusting you guys...please don't betray me or make me regret telling you." She said with a pleading tone.
"The secret is safe with us. Right, Jen?" Carter asked and looked over at me. "Right." I said then turned to leave.
"We're capable of keeping your secrets, but it still hurts that you avoided telling us for so long." I said then left the room.
I knew that she thought we were still the little kids that she grew up with, but Carter and I were 15 now.
We deserved to know about our father and we deserved to know about the man who was living in our house and caring for us.
I always knew there was something about Colby. The fact that he was so rich at such a young age and the fact we had to change our names when we moved here started to make sense.
If Colby was rich, did that mean dad was rich? If he was rich, then why did we grow up so poor.
I could understand why she hated our dad now.
"Jen." Carter said as he followed me out of the room. "Hm?" I asked and turned to face him. "Are you really mad about this?" He asked as I shrugged.
"I'm more mad she didn't tell us sooner. It's just not fair to us that she didn't tell us." I said and walked into my room.
"I mean would you tell us?" He asked as I frowned. "Maybe not." I said as he nodded. "Exactly." He said as I rolled my eyes.
Yeah, he had a point but it didn't mean that any of this was okay.
The fact that she and Colby were willing to put all of us in danger made me annoyed, but the fact our dad brought us into the world, knowing he was in a dangerous position made it worse.
It made me want to delve into research to learn more, even if there was a possibility I wouldn't find anything.