Thorns of Roses

Lies and Deceit

Song for this Chapter:

You are the Reason-Calum Scott and Leona Lewis

CHAPTER 36

CORINNE

When I thought that this day couldn’t be much miserable, I was wrong.

I don’t know if Miserable is the most appropriate word for this day. Maybe, I really do have a bad life after all, not just a bad day.

In the years that my existence in this world going last for more days, I slowly lose my hope that this life will get better some time.

Maybe I was meant in this s**t life, maybe I did something really bad in my past life for the almighty makes me suffer right now.

It's not just about my love that I know will never be reciprocated. This is far more sinister and deeper than that.

I have been living this life with nothing but lies, fake smiles, fake people in it and all of them were wearing a mask that I don’t know who is really down for or who isn’t.

When I got home, I was just outside the door when I could hear the loud shouting of my Father and Martha. For days, I always saw that my step mother had bruises, and I never intervened or asked what was going on. This is what it feels like living with Marcus Lewis, you don't have the right to open your mouth to ask something if he doesn't let you. You were meant to stay a puppet inside or outside of his mansion. He's the f*****g puppeteer.

For days, I didn’t saw them or heard them fighting, up until now.

I slowly made my way inside, when I see that Marcus slapped Martha so hard that made her fall into the floor in front of Carina.

My sister was just there standing, watching the scene unfolds in front of her. Her mouth gaped open as she gasped and she covered it with her hands.

Carina wasn’t immune to this side of our Father, for her our father was just strict but ever so loving. She didn’t see this kind of Marcus Lewis, that explains her shocked.

Our designated maids were just standing in the corner of the house, doesn’t want to intervene because that will cost them their jobs, and I don’t blame them.

Because my father wouldn’t just stop firing someone who even dare to defy him, he will f*****g roast someone’s family and burn their house whilst all of them is inside.

That’s the kind of monster he is.

When Carina saw me, she immediately run towards me and hugs me, that caught my father and my step mother’s attention.

I just stare at them while I held my sister tight against me.

She’s shivering in fear, crying in disbelief that something like this can happen in her picture-perfect family in her polish luxury life.

My father has his sight cast on me, Martha has this disgust and madness look on her eyes as she looks at me.

"What is it with that girl that you want her to marry the Mafia Prince? She's the one you choose to marry the successor of Cosa Nostra? And put your own child's life in the hands of a bastard of the organization? Huh?" Martha scoffed whilst her tears continued to drip causing her make up to smudge. I never saw Martha lose herself. Just now. “—or should I say, what she’s giving you or already giving you?”

She knows.

Martha knows what her husband has been doing to me and yet she’s going to used that against me. and made it looks like I enjoyed every f*****g single night of it.

I shudder, I stilled as I can feel my sister’s stare at me. “What do you mean?” She asked.

She stopped shaking, but I can feel her body stood frozen.

“Shut your trap, Martha. I am f*****g warning you.” My father seethes.

“All those years that you’re disappearing beside me every night, you’re going to her bedroom making your f*****g cold night warm, isn’t she?” Martha’s voice is full of venom.

“Dad?” Carina starts as she walks away from me. “Wh—what?”

Another slap.

But I didn’t even flinch. I just stood there, watching them.

Carina starts to vomits and she holds my arms, shaking me up. But everything is in slow motion in front of me, even if I heard some noise it was already audible, I can’t even make out what they’re saying. That’s when I feel I am crying.

I looked at my father with her bare hands on Martha’s neck, grabbing her that intend to kill her, because h’s f*****g secret is out in the open, at least in the people of this house.

Martha's face is black and blue, and still no one stopped him, no one dared to. She looked at me again with a smile on her face, but she gave me a different smile, right there I know, she was going to destroy me. "Maybe you know that you're not his real daughter, so you agreed? You're just like your mother, a f*****g mistress. Too bad, you've become a mistress with the same man. You see how cruel the two of you are to me? You're not stopping until you sucked the life out of me. Sticking with our marriage, you are like leeches to me and my husband."

“Stop it, Martha!!” My Father shouts.

“Wh—what did you say?”

Realization hits her and she smiled snidely “Oh, you didn’t know.” She laughed manically, like she just lost her mind. “That’s made it even worse for you living in the same roof with your abuser that you call Dad. f*****g karma, that’s what you and your f*****g mother deserves.”

When Marcus figured that he can’t stop his own wife even if he kills her right now, he stopped beating her, instead he just chugs down a whole bottle of scotch.

“I will say this to you once and for all. You are not his real daughter and so is your Mother, Anne. Your real mother is f*****g buried six feet under in to the face of the earth on giving birth to you.” She laughed again “Oh, and she’s Anne twin sister.”

That means, Anne is just my aunt. And not my mother.

I can’t move or can’t even speak. Carina once again shaking me up for me to get back in reality I am in right now. but I can’t.

It’s like I am inside a nightmare that I can’t find the will to wake up.

“At least, he’s not some kind of a monster abusing his own daughter, isn’t he?” There’s no humor in Martha’s voice. It’s full of blood crushing venom.

“I—I need to go.” I turn around, not knowing where should I go? I don’t know where this foot may take me? Maybe in the heart of the sea and not to be found for a thousand years.

Lies and deceit.

Two words that describes my life right now.

What is true? What is not?

What is just an act? What is pure?

Who amongst these people inside my life were true? And who aren’t?

I guess I can’t trust anyone.

Even myself anymore.

I beyond broken, I am crushed. Making sure that there’s no piece to fix.

“Corinne?” I heard Nora and Carina calls out my name, but I just can’t right now.

I don’t know if I can’t face them, or I can’t live anymore in this life.

I just wanted this to end.

I just wanted to sleep forever without pain at all.

I wanted to feel numb and unbothered all the time.

That night, I went through my Mother or should I say my aunt’s hospital room.

She’s sleeping soundly.

I don’t want to build some anger inside me against her because she did her very best to raise someone else’s child. I wasn’t even hers but she took me in like her life depends on the way I live my life.

But I am just a human being, I can’t help but asked question, there’s so many opportunities for her to tell me the truth. For her to tell me that I wasn’t hers instead of giving me life but that life is full of macabre events and lies.

I just stood there, on her hospital room’s door, too far for her not to wake up and see me crying and in distress in the middle of the night.

They had hurt me, but I can’t afford to give that pain back to her. Just because I had loved her like my own mother for years.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I see that I didn’t even get the chance to change from comfortable clothes but on my school uniform.

I am soaking wet, at least there’s something consistent when I needed it; The rain. I lobe walking in the rain, so no one can even see that I am crying.

Marcus Lewis’ name flashed on my phone screen along with a text message “We need to talk.”

Yeah, I guess we need to.

Because of all the people here, he was the only one who can tell me the whole story. Because every story plot point directly on him.

So, I said yes. He wanted me to meet at the ocean docks, near the Cosa Nostra’s business facility.

There’s a black SUV waiting in the side of the dark road just before we entered the Cosa Nostra’s building. Marcus roll down his window and I let myself inside his car not even caring that I am soaking wet and might wet his leather chair of his car.

“Anne is the one I am in relationship with right before Martha.” He starts and I let him. “I loved her, we are the couple of our town back in the day. But when I grew up, I grew become so ambitious and I wanted money and power that Anne can’t give me.” He sighed. “She was only a daughter of our town mechanics, and she didn’t even study in college. She was just waiting for me to marry her and build our own family because that’s what I promised her. She’s just there on that simple little town in Pennsylvania waiting tables at some local diner.” He massages his temples. “But as I said, I am ambitious, that’s why I did my very best to study political science in college. Anne helped me to get to that school by her taking more jobs one at a time.”

This time, my head snaps at his. “You used her.”

“I loved her, and she loved me. But I got too greedy and that’s when I met Martha on college, and she has everything that Anne couldn’t give me that time. Her father is a businessman and sees something in me. I used that ticket to get out of that shithole of that town.”

“You left her.”

He nods “I did. And I didn’t regret that.” He sighed, not that I am expecting him to. “I married Martha, but every night I think of Anne. That is when I decide to meet up with her. She’s still in love with me and didn’t even dare to get marry herself because in her own words, she’s been waiting for me. that’s when the affair starts. I just know that your Mother Annie is pregnant with you because someone r***d her, she didn’t even know your father.” I don’t know if that makes me feel better. Knowing that the life of my Mother and my aunt is just as miserable as I am.

“When your mother died, Anne took you. Martha figured out about the affair and threaten to divorced me, as she was also pregnant with Carina. But you see, if she divorced me, all my hard work and my sacrifices will be vanished, because I wanted to rule this country. I left Anne once again, and after fourteen years, I heard about her again, I am now much powerful that time and I don’t need Martha’s father wings to lift me up, because I already have my own.”

I sob “You abused me.” My voice is broken.

“Because you just f*****g looked like her when she was so young like you.”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that I believed you are my own father and every night when you are crawling in my bed, my stomach twist and I can’t even look at myself in the mirror because of what you did to me!” I shout at him. And it feels so good. “You’re making me sick.”

He nods “I know, and I know your anger will drove you to some rush decisions that may affect my hard work.” I can’t even process what he’s saying, but I looked at him as he rolls a black bandana on his fist and have a f*****g gun on his car, ready to point at me.

I know this Bandana so hard, the same one I saw the night Gian’s dead body in the same dock we are in.

Flashbacks rolled inside my mind as I heard once again Blaze’s investigator “A Black SUV.”

The same one I am riding right now.

He is the one who killed Gian.

He is the one who’s pretending to be Blaze to get his way on a young woman to sleep with.

And Gian is the easy target, because she’s f*****g blind.

Oh f**k. Oh f**k.

Instinct drove me to the next move I did, I lunged at him and open the car door and run for my life as I heard gunshots at me. he’s going to f*****g kill me.

I reached the dark side of the docks and tried my very best to hide. My breath is like a burning fire inside my lungs. This is what fighting for my life feels like.

He’s nearby, and he knows I am too. “You see, I can’t help but took advantage of that little innocent Gian Montgomery, what I didn’t expect is that she was a f*****g big gullible for her to believe that the great Blaze Mayhem will look at her way.” He chuckles. “You thought your little boyfriend, Diesel is innocent.”

Please no, please don’t let him be involved in this. I don’t think I can take another sinister secret revolving on my world.

“When I f*****g damn near kill you that night, he didn’t stop until he figures out who did that pretty little scars of yours. He figured out it was me, but I bargain him power. For all you know it was Blaze who did it, and I used that to bargain him power when we helped each other bring Blaze Mayhem down. And that f*****g lover boy said yes so easily.” He chuckles. “Thre’s no one you can run to now, Baby girl.”

Blaze.

Blaze.

Yes, he can help me at least.

I closed my eyes and sob while I cover my mouth as I heard his footsteps getting closer and closer.

If you should trust someone, trust me above of all the people.

Blaze words kept ringing inside my head. Yes, I will trust him, he can help me.

Footsteps of so many people I heard on the background and I heard Marcus mutter “f**k. This isn’t the end Corinne. Talk one word and I will f*****g end Anne.” He runs as far away as possible.

I didn’t get out to where I am hiding, I fished my phone out and try to calls Blaze number but he wasn’t answering.

Who would have thought, that in this dark nights and unexpected time, I would need the angry god more than I needed someone else.