Chapter 104: Chapter 104
"Charlotte, dear. Do you mind if I explained my side of things? I don't want you to keep going through life thinking that I purposely abandoned you and your brother. I would never do that." Mr. James asked.
"There's no point. Carol will be back soon." Charlotte replied tensely. All she wanted was for this to be all over and by all over, that meant that she should have dealt with Jessica too. Only then would she be happy and then she could disappear without anyone suspecting her of anything, after which she would reappear when it was time to claim her inheritance. Once she claimed it, she would ride off into the sunset to enjoy her newfound wealth and no one would be the wiser. She smiled happily to herself, just able to visualize the pleasing scenario, especially the ending part.
Mr. James watched her quietly. There was something wrong with this lady. It was as clear as day. She did not look very stable. In the short time that he had interacted with her, he could see it clearly, although her brother had mentioned something like that before, saying that he was scared for her and that she seemed to be batshit crazy. Mr. James could see that he was right now. In the short time that they had talked, even before Carol left, he saw her get this sort of weird, not really there look, which was creepy, granted, but not nearly as creepy as the smile that she had on her face now. It was disturbingly similar to the smile of the mentally deranged. Maybe he was better off not trying to convince her that he had had no choice in what had happened to her and her brother, in that they had had to live with their mother. She would clearly not understand.
"Alright. How are you doing generally though?"
"How the fuck do you think I'm doing, you asshole? My mother is dead and that's because of you."
"I really wish that you will stop swearing and yelling. You can talk normally and I'll still hear and understand what you're saying, you know. Also, your mother is not dead because of me. She's dead because of the choices that she made. Why would you say that she's dead because of me?"
"You goddamn liar! She died of heartbreak ... because you broke her heart all those years ago."
"Is that what you think?"
"It is what I know."
"Okay. Here's the thing. I'm willing to tell you everything you need to know, right from the very beginning, if you're willing to listen, that is. I'll send Carol on another fool's errand so as to delay her coming back."
"Whatever floats your boat," Charlotte replied, not caring one way or the other, but a little interested in hearing whatever bull crap he had to say. As far as she was concerned, it was too late for anything, but if he wanted to unburden himself, that was his business.
"Okay. So I met your mother at a point in my life when I was at my lowest. My brother, his wife, and their little boy, who was like my very own child, had just died a gruesome death, and I was left with a newborn who was battling for his life. It was..."
"Of course. Everyone is family to you except for your own real family." Charlotte spat in disgust, her hands itching to choke him to death.
"That's not true. Anyway, at that time, I was as broke as a church rat and did not have any means of saving the poor child's life. Hospital bills were mounting up, there were the funeral expenses and all that. I was fast becoming depressed."
"I know all these. Maybe you should skip to the good part."
"Anyway," Mr. James continued, ignoring her. "I fucked up real bad, and would like to blame it on the depression, but the fact remains that I fucked up. Your mom and I had a one night stand, but before then, she assured me that she was on the pill, but to be on the safe side, she gave me a condom to use, which was why when she showed up sometime later, claiming that she was pregnant and that it was mine, I didn't believe a word she said. This was just after Sebastian was discharged from the hospital and I was working three jobs at once, not because I wanted to, but because there was no choice."
"You're a bloody liar. That was not what my mother told me, and if you think I'm going to listen to you sit here and tell lies about her, you're mistaken."
"As I said earlier, I have proof of everything I'm telling you, including letters and other things. They're all with your brother, who is going to show them to you when you're ready."
"You've met and brainwashed him then?"
"I've met him, yes. Brainwashed him, no. I can see I'm only wasting my trying to convince and you're not interested in what I have to say."
"Go on. I'm listening." Charlotte said. Maybe if she humored him, he would tell her exactly where the will was.
"Naturally, I did not believe her one bit, and I was desperate to keep the fact that I had cheated from my wife, so I warned her to stay away from me. I believed that she was crazy, and soon after that, I moved away from that city and did not hear from her again, which was just as well as far as I was concerned. Seven years later, she showed up out of the blues and began to harass me, showing up at my factories and offices and seeking an audience with me by every means possible. This time, she was using drugs heavily and was desperate for a fix. She began to blackmail me, saying she would go to my wife and tell her everything. Since I was a hundred percent sure that I wasn't the one who got her pregnant, I asked for a paternity test, which shockingly, proved I was the father. I was devastated, as any man would be. I finally had it all... a happy family and a booming business and now my happy family was going to crumble. The major problem was how I was going to inform my wife of this. I knew it was going to hurt her more than anything else, considering that we could not have children.
Your mother told me that I did not have to worry about it and that she was not going to let my wife know about it, provided that I gave her half of my net worth. She was going to disappear and would never bother me again. I did that without the knowledge of my wife until three years later when your mother came back. What she used 500 million dollars to do in those days is beyond me. That money was to be your inheritance, you and your brother. She said she needed more money ... half of my net worth again, or she was going to tell my wife. I offered to buy a house for all of you, pay child support, and come see you and your brother once in a while, but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with your mother. Your mother said that it was either I divorced my wife and we all loved as a happy family or she will take you both away forever. I told her she was crazy and that I would never divorce my wife. This got her angry and she somehow found a way to inform my wife about it. That almost caused the end of our marriage. My wife could not believe that I had been lying to her for all these years and the shock of it was enough to land her in the hospital. We got through it and she made me promise not to keep any more secrets from her. She asked your mother to let you kids live with us and that she would take care of you both as though you were hers, but your mother said she will rather die than do that."
"Wait... your... your wife knows about us?" Charlotte asked, hardly able to credit what she was hearing.
"She does. To cut the long story short, your mother took you both out of the country, but I sent her a hundred thousand dollars every month as child support up until you were both eighteen. I don't know what she used the money to do, but I didn't care, so long as I fulfilled my duties. I also paid your brother's way through med school and if you had wanted to do something meaningful, I would gladly have supported you too if you let me. I did not pursue custody of you both because I realized that things like that stressed my wife out a lot. Maybe I should have, or maybe I shouldn't have, I don't know. All I know is that I didn't want to go without telling my side of the story." He finished, exhaling. It felt like a big burden had been lifted off his chest, and it did not matter to him one bit that Charlotte was looking at him with disdain, apparently not buying anything he had said or caring, but he had said his piece and that was that. The next words that came out of her mouth chilled him to the marrow.