Young Writers Society

It felt like hours beyond hours before they got back to their hotel room. Julian and Naya acted as if their tongues had been cut out. All this information was too much to register at the time. He didn't know what to think of it. Did Jace really kill someone? Did both familes even care about the where-abouts of their children? Did they really use drugs to become rich? How long have they been doing this? So everything Julian ever had grown up knowing, everything was a lie. When they reached the hotel room, Julian closed the door behind Naya and sat down in front of it. Not caring that there wasn't a chair within five feet of him. Naya sat down on the bed.

They just stared at each other for a while. It was as if it hadn't even hit them yet...

Growing up, she’d always thought of her dad as superman or something, a totally invincible, kind, generous, and loving man. She modelled herself after him and respected him because she knew how hard he’d work in life in order to get where he was today...

But after hearing Eric’s words, Naya felt as though she’d been living a lie all these years. It felt as though she suddenly found out that she was adopted or something, and that the man she’d grown up thinking was her father was actually a stranger. And not just her father, her mother, grandmother, and grandfather...they were all in it together.
She was so shocked she couldn’t even cry. Where tears should’ve already formed was just a blank expression. She hardly even realised that they were back in their hotel room. Julian was slumped down on the floor beside his door. His eyes stared into hers and she stared into his, not because she felt comforted by his presence, but because she’d finally realised how this feud had happened. All those generations of animosity and hatred her family had shown towards the Anderson’s had been because they had been responsible for the death of Naya’s uncle.

Yet one thing continued to eat at her brain, despite the magnitude of what she’d already discovered. Why did the feud end? Why did her so-called family marry her to the son of their enemy? And why did she say yes to them? Had she known back then what she knew now, she would’ve done what Danni had the courage to do years ago and walk away from the disgrace that was her family.

She would’ve walked away and never looked back...

Julian continued to stare into her eyes. He was staring into the eyes of the woman who had as much of nothing to do as he did. They were born into this. None of this should be their fault. In fact, it wasn't their fault, it was the fault of their family back in the day. Julian felt a headache coming on behind his right eye. He needed to shower and shave. He needed about a years rest from all the shock he had just gotten.

"What are we suppose to do?" Naya asked, she avoided eye contact with Julian. "Our family is a bunch of crooks."

Julian looked at her, outside was beginning to get dark. Julian got up, turned on the heater and turned on the table lamp by Naya. Her body was shaking. And Julian's cold had gotten better he could breathe out of his nose. "Well, if Jace wasn't in jail and Jenn and Jasper weren't in danger I'd say the hell with it all and book a flight to Europe."

Naya finally made eye contact with Julian. "What about Sergi and Linda?"

Julian rubbed a hand down his face. "What about them?"

She looked at him like he'd poked her too many times. "Julian, how can you say that? He's your father and she's your step-mother."

Julian looked at her. "Don't remind me."

She stood up from the bed. "How can you live like this? How can you not care about your own father?" Julian walked towards the small kitchen they had, if you could call it a kitchen at all. She followed him. "He is your father, he didn't throw you to the streets, he loves you Julian..."

Julian turned on her. The look he had on his face, made her litteraly back into a wall, and Julian was on her. Her back was pressed against the wall, he put both hands on either side of her head. He looked down on her tiny body.

"Riddle me this, if Sergi really loved me or any of his other children. Would he let Jace go to jail?" He asked, with his tone of voice he was warning her, almost daring her to answer.

"That wasn't your fathers fault. He didn't know that Jace-" Julian cut her off.

"Answer... The... Damn... Question." He said, his voice louder than hers.

"I don't know." She whispered. She was staring into his eyes. As if not afraid, but she was... If she was smart she was.

"Okay lets try again. If Sergi really loved any of us, he would have never 'left' my mother. Because, he would put us in front of his own selfish needs, right?"

"No, he wouldn't have left your mother."

Julian nodded. His body was almost pressed against hers.

"Julian, your father isn't a bad man because he wanted to be happy."

"Does it make him a bad person if he killed my mother to be with Rosalinda?" Julian asked, in a serious tone.

Naya's eyes went very very wide. She was breathing hard. "Whaaat?"

Julian looked at her. "Yeah, you didn't know that?" He asked as if he were shocked. She didn't answer the question so it willed Julian to go on. "You're not the only one with a past, Angel."

"You don't know that he killed your mother. You're just angry right now, I am too. I mean this is a lot to take in today. You can't know what your saying." She said, she breathed in...

"I know he killed her, Naya. She didn't mean a lot to him. He didn't care that she had given birth to four children. He was already in love with Linda and she was already pregnant with Jace."

Julian had the urge to kiss her, but he didn't dare at a time like this...

Naya couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing, but she knew she was treading on dangerous grounds. Julian was sharing with her for the first time, but right now his mind and emotions were in a fragile place, he was a loose cannon that could explode at any moment. If she really wanted to know more she had to be extremely careful...

“I don’t understand,” she said, looking deep into his eyes and noticing for the first time that there was pain and sadness inside them. It broke her heart seeing him like this. “If that was the case then you’re dad could’ve just filed for a divorce and be done with the whole marriage...why would he choose to risk everything and kill her instead?”

Julian shrugged, feeling tension behind his eye. He knew he shouldn't be telling her all of this. Show no emotion, feel no pain. Those now hollow words echoed through Julian's brain. "I don't know." He whispered. "Maybe she threatend to take the kids. No pure-bred heirs and Sergi could kiss it all goodbye. Jace wouldn't be considered a pure-bred, since Rosalinda was the cleaning lady."

Naya just stared into Julian's eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I don't know, it could have been a reason or maybe she told him if he left her she would expose the drug secret. I know it happened Naya."

She narrowed her eyes. "How would you know for a fact?"

He closed his eyes. "Gut feeling. Mens intuition." he said, kinda poking at her jokingly. He had bad humor at a time like this.

Julian tried to make jokes but Naya saw passed it.

“What about her family? They must’ve got involved, was there a funeral, how did your dad get away with it-”

Naya stopped abruptly feeling Julian’s body begin to tense. She was asking way too many questions.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’m just trying to understand...”

Julian swallowed and then looked down.

Julian shook his head. "Mom, as far as I knew didn't have any family she landed what she thought was a great husband. She had a big house and she had four wonderful children, things were going great for her. I just don't understand what made Sergi so damn unhappy." He picked up his palms from the wall, and eased off her.

Once Julian backed off her Naya felt like she could finally breathe. Her back hurt from being plastered to the wall so hard and for so long but she said nothing. For some reason, a thought started pricking the back of her mind.

No wonder Jace always seemed so hung up on being the ‘ideal’ son. Naya remembered how he’d stay up the whole night working over-time for the family business and putting in extra efforts whenever he could. Naya never understood his behaviour. She’d brought it down to work-obsession back then, but now, after hearing what Julian had to say, she realised that he did all that because he was – for a lack of a better word – the bastard child of Sergi Anderson, born to a cleaner. He probably felt under pressure because of his origins to prove himself to his father in order to impress him.

She silently watched Julian perched himself on the edge of his bed. “What the hell are we gonna do?” he sighed. “How the hell are we gonna get ourselves outta this mess our families got us in?”

Julian only watched as Naya walked cautiously to the edge of the bed, she stayed away from Julian at least two feet.

"Anything else you want to tell me? Anything at all?" she asked.

He looked up. "Not right now, no." He wanted out. Of this entire mess. How could it have dragged out for so long. They both seemed stuck. It wasn't a good position to be in either...

Naya understood that Julian had shared all that he could with her. To be honest, she was surprised he’d said as much as he had done in the first place.

A little on the exhausted side, Naya got into bed and faced Julian. “Can I ask you something?” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Julian looked at her and gave a half-nod.

“Why did you marry me?”

It was a random outburst. Truly, Naya didn’t know where the question had come from but it did.

Julian looked slightly taken aback.

“I know your dad told you to,” Naya explained. “But, you could’ve easily said no and skipped town. Sergi wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. But you chose to go through it...”

She watched Julian’s reaction carefully.

“Why?”

Julian wanted to tell her it was none of her business, but it was. He no longer wanted to keep all these secrets. He didn't want her to be kept in the dark about all of it. Some of it he wasn't ready to revel. Some of it, needed to come out. Better him say it than someone else.

"I didn't marry you because I wanted to. You know that." He said, in a normal voice. He watched her expression, he saw her features turn to hurt, but she nodded. "I owed your father a favor."

Naya turned her head. "My father? Wha-" She stopped and nodded. "Okay... Go on."

Julian stood up and looked down at her. "I owe your father my very life. He uh... He rescued me, I guess you could say." He stopped, and noticed that she watched his every movement. "I was only thirteen when my mother was beaten to death..." It was hard for him to talk about. "Sergi didn't notice I was watching the entire thing. He firgured since Jasper hadn't seen anything, that he wouldn't kill Jasper. He had one more son, in case anything happened to me. He was going to kill me... But my sister got in the way."

"Jennifer?" Naya asked, a little shocked.

Julian shook his head, his black curls were unruly. "Jessica. I had another sister named Jessica."

"Had?" Naya asked.

Julian looked up at Naya and nodded.

“Oh my g-” Naya couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “He...?” she suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

Everyone had skeletons in their closet but this was bordering on disturbing. She just stared up at him stupidly not knowing what to do or say

Finally she managed to find her voice again. “And how was my dad involved in all of this? I thought our families weren’t speaking to each other until recently?”

Julian only looked at her. Kinda of looking at her strangely. Did she really care? Did it actually matter to her?

"I don't know! I really don't know. You dad just happened to be saving my life. I don't know why he was at the manor, and at the time I didn't care. Your father rented me a place to stay. I guess me and him kind of bonded the way a father and son should have. Your father told me I owed him. Not in such harsh words but he said he would ask something of me one day. As far as I was concerned I did owe him. Then bam, he asked me to marry one of his daughters." Julian said. "I don't know why your father wanted me to marry you, so don't ask."

"Julian I'm so sorr-"

Julian brought a hand up. "Don't. It's over and it's done with. I can't change anything."

Naya swallowed before turning her body away from Julian, facing the cold dull wall. She focused on some of the peeling wallpaper and found herself trying to work out all the missing pieces of this puzzle that was now her life. Jace being involved in a murder case, her family being involved in drug-trafficking, why her father got her married to Julian?

A normal person would’ve gone become insane just contemplating all this. But Naya had practically entered the world with problems surrounding her. Being born into a blue-blood rich family it was something that you’d expect. She always knew her parents had a lot going on that they kept hidden...she too had a wardrobe full of secrets...but never had Naya imagined that it would all lead her here, in a dingy hotel room with a man who didn’t love her, on the run from kidnappers who were out for revenge...

She wondered – if she ever managed to get out of this – whether her life would ever be the same again.

Julian got up, having nothing else to say and walked into the bathroom. He needed a shower. When he pulled off his shirt he saw the necklace that had hung around his neck since he was thirteen. The initals J.M.A. carved into a piece of stone. He turned on the water and that was that.

While in the shower Julian wanted to think about a life far from this one. He realized in mid-thought there was no point to it, because there was no such thing for him. Finding this out about his father and his ancestors didn't exactly surprise him. Everyone was in it for the money in the long run. Not that they were going to die with it. He wondered if they knew that.