I looked at him for any resemblance to the girl upstairs, I couldn’t find any, then again I was suddenly so tense it was a wonder I was still standing.
“Maxwell, Rhina, you look lovely as usual.” He greeted my parents before coming to me.
“My son, what is it I can do for you? You young people are always in a hurry, what is it that couldn’t wait until I finished my round of Warcraft? I had Santino beat this time for sure.”
I almost laughed at that, I wondered how the brothers survived living together for so long since they were all so competitive with each other, then again that’s how they’d grown their family fortune over the years.
“I need to ask you a very serious question.”
He studied me when he realized the seriousness of my stance.
Before I could say a word Delia walked into the room, Vito turned, got one look at her and went sheet white.
“Tessa, how…where…..?”
He turned to look at the rest of us.
“Who’s Tessa?”
“My sister, but it can’t be, she died forty years ago, right before I met you remember Maxwell?”
Dad said he’d forgotten that when he met Vito at university he had mentioned losing a sister the year before.
He walked over to Delia but I got in his way.
“What’s going on here, who’s this girl?” He tried looking around me.
“My wife, now come sit here, I need to ask you something.”
I led him to a chair since he looked like he was about to keel over. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Delia.
“So it’s true then….” I couldn’t wrap my mind around that, Vito had raped an underage girl?
“What’s true?”
I cleared my throat, how did you ask a man you’d respected and loved your whole life if he’d raped a young girl?
“Did you ever know a Celine Fielding?”
“Fielding, Fielding, why does that name sound familiar….I never met a Celine, but the name sounds familiar, maybe someone I did business with?”
“No, this is the girl who says you raped her when she was thirteen and got her pregnant.”
“Wh…..what, are you insane?”
“Vito, just hear him out, he’s not accusing you of anything, we just need answers, this is a very delicate situation we’re dealing with here.”
Dad calmed the situation while mom held Delia on the couch rocking her back and forth, I wanted to go to her to comfort, to shield, but she needed answers now we both did.
“Boy you know me better than that, I could never do such a thing.”
“I didn’t think so, so I need you to think back eighteen nineteen years ago, if you had any strange encounters with a strange woman or girl?”
“Well……… back then I was a….ahem….a bit of a playboy if you will, so that would be hard to say, but I know for sure none of them were underage, I usually found my game around here in bars.”
We went back and forth for what seemed like hours getting nowhere. One thing was for sure, if Delia bore such a striking resemblance to his sister then she was somehow related to him, could it be one of the brothers had used his name, that didn’t make sense, why would they? They were each wealthy in their own right, all good looking men.
“And you say this…..is my daughter?”
“We think so.”
“But how, why?”
Just then my phone went off.
“Jameson……come on up.”
“I think we’re about to get some answers, but keep in mind these people lie.”
Jameson came into the room with a struggling Celine under his arm.
“Put me down, how dare you.” She screeched before he set her on her feet.
“You, I should’ve known, why am I here?” She spat venom at me with her eyes after removing the blindfold she’d been wearing.
“You remember Vito don’t you Celine?”
“Who?” She looked at him in confusion, there was also something a bit off about her, she looked….high.
“Did you drug her?” I turned to Jameson before he could leave.
“No sir, that’s how I found her, lets just say she was in a uh…….compromising position trying to get a fix.”
I dismissed him after that.
“You don’t remember Vito, how about you Vito, does she look familiar?”
He squinted at her studying every angle in her face.
“There’s something about the eyes, but no, I can’t say I’ve ever met this young lady before.”
“What’s this about Chase, who’s this man and why did you bring me here?”
“It’s about your daughter……..”
“My what? What daughter?”
“Delia……”
She howled with laughter, bent over, belly aching laughter.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your mother said……”
“Oh so Joann’s still spinning that tale is she? It’s been years since I heard that one.”
“What do you mean? I held my breath as I waited for her to speak. Please, please, please.
“She’s not mine, she’s Joann’s.”
“That’s it Joann Fielding, that’s who I met…” Vito had finally figured it out.
Chapter 13
This shit was getting confusing, I looked over to Delia and she was looking just as bewildered as I was, I didn’t appreciate the fact that Celine was laughing either, roomful of people or not, I would slap that bitch into next fucking month if I didn’t get some answers in the next five minutes.