"Theo, please stop! That's your brother...how could you do this to him?" I screeched at him.
I watched Castle's head getting immersed underwater and his body submerged into the dark water.
"Nooooooo...."
My brother-in-law had just drowned my husband in front of my eyes.
I pushed past Theo and stepped over the yacht railing. I was a sobbing mess, ready to jump into the lake to save him. "Castle!"
"Millie, wait!" Theo called out.
"I need to go."
I started jumping off when Theo grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the yacht.
"Stay here." He said before going over the ledge and diving into the lake.
A few minutes later, Theo pulled Castle out. By then I'd called the Captain for help.
"What in the heavens happened here?" He asked.
Before I could answer, Theo beat me to it. "He fell out of the yacht."
I had a sudden urge to throw Theo into the lake and drown him the same way he'd done to Castle.
He put Castle on the floor. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be unresponsive. My heart was in my throat, my chest tightening as I feared for his life.
If Castle died, I'd have to take responsibility.
I'd be alone and I would have to kill the family myself.
Theo was pumping his chest relentlessly, trying to get Theo to puke the water. If Theo had wanted him dead, then why would he try to revive Castle? It didn't make sense.
Theo opened Castle's mouth and conducted CPR, but he remained unresponsive. A feeling of dread settled over me. I didn't even know that I'd started crying uncontrollably.
He'd removed as much water as he could from his system, but Castle wasn't waking up.
"You told me everything would be fine! Drowning him was never an option! How could you do this without letting me know about it first?"
"I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't agree."
"How dare you? That's my husband!" I shrieked, "If something happens to him, Theo, I'm going to toss you into the lake and I don't care that I'll be charged for the murder."
"Shut up and let me think!" He snapped.
He brought Castle's head in my lap and brushed the wet hair away from his face. "Wake up, please wake up, baby."
Theo picked up his hand and I could see he was on the verge of tears. "I can't find his pulse."
"Try the CPR again. Better yet, let me try."
I tried giving CPR, but nothing was working. Tears blurred my vision as another soul-shattering sob erupted from within me. Theo sat with his back against his yacht, horror plastered over his face.
"I'm calling 911." He said.
I was crying ugly, and my sounds were muffled because I buried my face in Castle's wet shirt front.
Suddenly, there was movement.
It almost felt like a miracle.
Castle coughed out the lake water and sat up. Hacking, he pointed his finger accusingly at Theo, "You tried to kill me!"
The silence in the yacht was deafening.
Who was this?
The Castle with amnesia or the Castle who remembers the past?
I wasn't the only one who was confused. Theo looked scared and curious on equal measures.
Had it worked?
Ronald brought a towel that he used to dry Castle's hair.
"I'm very sorry." Theo said, "I was desperate for you to remember everything, so I tried to recreate the day of the boating accident. I swear I wasn't planning to kill you."
Castle didn't look convinced. "Millie, I want to go back to the mansion."
He called me Millie.
Theo noticed it too.
It hadn't worked.
"I'm so glad you're okay," I said, helping him out of his wet shirt. He changed into some dry clothes that were available in the master bedroom upstairs.
"Were you in on this, too? Drowning me?" He asked me, his brown eyes shining with betrayal. It hurt to see that he would think I was capable of doing this to him.
"Of course not."
"I told you I didn't want to be on the boat, but you insisted, and I trusted you." He said, "You had this planned with Theodore!"
"I swear, I didn't know what he was about to do. Castle...baby..." I started touching his head when he slapped my hand away.
"I don't want you anywhere near my sight. Leave me alone."
"Alright," I said, deciding to give him some space. He would talk to me again tomorrow morning.
Truthfully, if the roles were reversed and if my husband had tried to drown me with my sister, I'd be pissed too, so I couldn't blame him.
I went back outside, where Theo had changed into a pair of clean clothes. He looked at me regretfully before staring out into the dark.
"I owe you an apology." He whispered. "I really thought it would work and I don't know why I assumed that if we recreated that day, he would remember. I thought if he drowned again...
"Again? You mean he drowned before?"
Theo nodded. "We thought he was dead. No one could find his body, so a few days later we were having a funeral for Castle. Arrangements were made, people had gathered, mostly distant relatives who never called him when he was alive. The reverend gave his speech and then Devin went to the podium to give his eulogy. He'd made it to the middle part of it. I remember sitting in the front row, feeling numb to everything, wishing I could run away, and then the door bursts open..." He continued, "He was standing right there, dressed in some old borrowed clothes. There were shrieks and confused mummers as everyone saw Castle walking into his own funeral. It felt like a ghost, to be honest."
He smiled at the memory. "Best fucking day of my life. The irony of it, though. Until he walked into the funeral home, I wished I'd died with him."
"How did he survive?"
"Castle was a Gold medalist swimmer in school. He could hold his breath underwater for a long time and he'd won national competitions so when he drowned that day, he survived somehow. I'm guessing it has to do with his swimmer instincts. He told us he woke up in a fisherman's boat surrounded by strangers who looked worried about him. He said he remembered nothing else."
"I'm beyond pissed, Theo. He could have died just now. You pushed him too hard."
"His memories are suppressed. We needed to do something to bring him back."
"That's enough. I won't tolerate this again and I won't let you jeopardize Castle's life. I don't care if he gets his memories back or not. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Theo nodded. "I understand. It was a mistake."
Ronald sailed the yacht back to the mansion. Castle gave us the silent treatment the entire way, and he refused to look at me. Theo had told me everything, but he hadn't mentioned exactly how Castle had drowned that day when his parents died.
Did he slip? Was he pushed deliberately? By whom?
Devin was lounging in the guests receiving area, talking to someone. He was dressed in a black shirt, over slack pants, and sat in the velvet chair looking like a king of some country ready to give orders to his army and cause destruction. Knowing the contents of the journal, and Devin's history, I couldn't imagine that a man yielding so much power could have been a poor little malnourished kid.
I almost felt bad for him.
Devin looked at us when we walked in. There was another man seated beside him whom I recognized as Anthony Marshall from the head office. As far as what I knew, he was the company's legal attorney.
Anthony stood up and gave me a polite nod. "Mrs. Montgomery."
"How was the day out?" Devin asked.
Before I could answer, Theo said, "A fucking blockbuster."
"Language, Theo, how many times have I told you that F-bombs and other verbal abuses will not be tolerated in this house?"
"And how many times have I fucking said that I don't give two shits about your stupid house rules?" The rebellion that Theo was, he continued talking mockingly, "I'm going to fucking abuse as much as I fucking want." He marched into the room and grabbed a bunch of cupcakes from the tower of assortments on the three-tier glass pastry stand. "Excuse me, Anthony, pardon my intrusion."
"Don't look so surprised, Tony, this is a usual occurrence in our household. Theodore is yet to cross puberty. He gets moody sometimes. It's completely normal."
Anthony looked like he wanted to flee from this house.
"What's this meeting about?" Theo asked.
"It's none of your concern. Go to your room, Theodore." Devin said, waving his hand dismissively, the way you would shoo a fly.
Theo glared before walking out of the room. He made his way towards the grand staircase. Castle had left for bed early because he'd rather sleep than talk to me.
"I'll have to see that Castle doesn't sleep before his medication." I made up an excuse to get out of there. "It's nice to see you, Anthony."
I started walking out when Devin called out to me, "Wait, Millie! We need you here. Castle's medications can wait."
Dayana walked into the room at the same moment.
I looked between the three of them. "What do you need me for?"
It's not like they asked me to make any important decisions about the company, even though I was appointed the company's co-chairperson. The title was in name only.
Devin pointed towards the couch. Having no other choice, I sat down.
Anthony handed me a few papers and a pen.
I took the papers and pen in my lap and gave each of them a questioning look. "What's this?"
Dayana maintained the same icy exterior that was hard to decipher. She was very similar to her cold-hearted brother.
She smiled in fake candor. "It's nothing for you to worry about. Sign the papers."
I leafed through the pages, scanning the contents of the documents. As each letter, each sentence starting sinking in, my blood boiled like a volcano.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
They looked at me like I was the crazy one.
"Just sign the goddamn papers, Millicent. We haven't got all night."
"These papers are a testament that I have somehow laundered money from Montgomery Enterprises and used the company assets for personal gain. What kind of sick game is this? You know as well as I do that, I do not have such authority!"
"You and I know it, but the people in the company don't." Devin pointed out.
Dayana was busy inspecting her new manicure.
"You're framing me for something that I did not do!" I said and then turned to Anthony, "Why are you letting this happen?"
"I work for Mr. Montgomery, ma'am. I have his orders."
"And he's four million dollars richer." Devin smiled, "Now, I'm busy man, sign the papers, Millie."
"I won't," I said, standing up and walking towards the exit.
Dayana jumped up and locked the door before grabbing me and forcing me into a chair.
I struggled to be free, but the siblings were towering over me. Devin placed the papers and the pen on the table.
His emerald eyes leveled with mine. "I'll give you two choices. Sign the papers or die."
"I choose death," I said, looking him straight in the eye.
* * *
If you enjoyed reading, please Like and Comment :)