Always Tomorrow - Chapter 17 - 06/30/2020
Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:01 am
“How,” Jake croaked as Camryn could see the color drain from her ex’s face and knew it was not going to be an easy discussion since she opened a package as she was packing up her office in Paris. It had been handed to her despite it being her last day, and she was physically packing up her office and finished with working stories as she planned take the summer to finish planning her wedding, and interview for the CNN job which wouldn’t start until the fall if she got it.
Then she got handed the package from the delivery person in their office. “It’s my last day Bobby, I don’t need anything…”
“Everyone else is busy, so they told me to hand this off to you and you can pass it off if it needs anything further,” Bobby said as he handed the package to Camryn, and she took it and sighed as she sat down at her desk and opened it and poured out the contents and found a UPS drive and a bunch of documents.
“What is this?” she murmured to herself and she went pale when she read the note.
“She stole your boyfriend, didn’t she?
You want payback, and to know just what she could offer Jake Guerin that you could not, take this and run with it.”
“Bobby” she called out to the passing delivery person. “Who said to give this to me?”
“I don’t know,” said Bobby as he left the office as Camryn sat down and inserted the drive, and up popped video files as she murmured to herself, “If this is about those pictures back in high school, I am not interested” she told herself but she saw something very different come on her screen, some old taped footage, and she squinted and then she saw Grace, “God”
And then another footage that looked like surveillance camera quality of fireworks, or it looked like it the day Elizabeth was located.
Then taped footage of the night that Grace got stabbed…
But the overall emphasis of the material was that Grace was not average, and Elizabeth was similar and there were two other younger teenagers in the park material that she gathered were Grace’s newfound sisters.
There was a note…
IF you want to expose her for the fraud she is, and how her family is not normal and should be exposed. Go ahead, and here is evidence the whole clan has run roughshod over the legal system and keeping their crimes away from justice. All because they have a connection in Jim Valenti.
Tell the world
“If I wasn’t on my last day and seriously pissed off someone thought they could use me against your family, we might be looking at something different but because I know you Jake, and I know your family. I wanted to warn you” Camryn murmured as she faced her ex and knew her friend didn’t deserve this.
Nicholas! Jake muttered to himself. This has all the earmarks. Just like he blackmailed my sister into being his slave in so many ways, “If he wasn’t already dead, then I would kill him, and you could report it.”
“Who?” Camryn murmured.
“The man who spearheaded the abuse my sister” Jake said. “He had something on her and used her and forced him to give him what he wanted. And this is example of it, and he was going at you to get at me and Grace.”
Camryn nodded.
“Look Camryn, about what you think you saw?” Jake asked.
“Here it is,” Camryn murmured as she handled her ex the flash drive. “I admit that it is hard to give up on a story, but I have long known your family was strange,” she laughed and Jake could only to a certain point as he waited for the other shoe to drop. “While you never were, but I saw the signs there, and then of course, I knew you were adopted.”
“Yeah,” Jake nodded.
“There were rumors around school for years about Grace. She always blended in, but there were moments when we were all younger,” Camryn asked because even though they had waited and dated in high school for those two years, she had gone back to elementary with Jake and had long known the Guerin family although she of course got close to them during the time she and Jake dated.
“Right,” Jake nodded.
“And your sister wasn’t always that subtle” Camryn admitted. “Especially when she was around your family home, away from the prying eyes and because I was dating you, well, I saw more than I probably should have at the time.”
“You never said anything,” Jake asked as sudden memories came to him of being around the family home, and how the younger generation were not as careful when they were behind closed doors. Behind closed doors, yeah my siblings didn’t know the art of being subtle He never had imagined that Camryn suspected, but now he wondered what he had opened their family to by allowing her to be in the house, and so open in their relationship.
Camryn could see Jake was tense and his mind was full of worry and she wanted to reassure him “Hey, I cared for you, and I knew your family was special. They were good to me, and so why would I rock the boat for you guys,” Camryn admitted as she he long knew the Guerin family, and it’s offshoots with Grace were something unique to their world, and yet it never really bothered her, and it made her protective for her former boyfriend and didn’t bother that Jake went on to be with Grace when she knew he had been harboring secret feelings from before their break up. It is not like I was thinking of Jake as the real thing Camryn mused. Robert was more the real thing, and that also did not work out. Now she knew what true love was with his fiance. “But Jake, if this gets out?”
“I know,” Jake murmured as he took the UPS drive from Camryn and stuck it in his computer and played it “Damn it,” he asked and then he wanted to faint when he saw the final video, of Elizabeth killing one of her captors with her green energy.
“Jake” Camryn murmured.
“I am okay,” Jake said as he wanted to throw up, as he still had nightmares about that day when they found Elizabeth and the horrors inflicted on her, and now to see that she was trying to fight back, and to see her being choked and treated like a rag doll, and taken away to even more horrors, and probably even worse than what she had already suffered to that point.
Just as the phone rang, and he chose to pick it up to try to get reprieve from the pain he had seen on his sister’s face.
Just what we need Max was thinking as he was meeting with Jake and Camryn who came over to show him what Camryn had revealed. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse” he murmured out loud as he got a look at the files as he was reminded of those flashes his sister and he had managed to achieve all that time ago, but to know it was being filmed. “Did that bastard have a camera on all the time?”
“In this day and age. You don’t even need a camera,” Camryn admitted as she had seen too much footage picked up by a simple phone.
“Unfortunately!”
“No kidding,” Max muttered as he was already confronted by the notion of today’s technology and what they could record as the door opened and in walked his daughter Grace and Sue who looked surprised to see Camryn.
“Grace,” Camryn murmured as she acknowledged the women.
“Camryn… You are a surprise, what are you doing here?” Grace asked as she looked at her husband who smiled as Grace looked over and saw Eva in the corner playing with some toys. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Neither was your husband,” Camryn laughed. “But I had something to share with him and it couldn’t wait?”
“Oh, what?” Grace asked.
“Nicholas dirty work…” Jake muttered as he could tell how his wife had been surprised to see Camryn and yet he did not know how they had come to be in her father’s office. “Wait, what are you doing here?”
“Sue got some intel on the computer. She’s still working on it, but we wanted to share some of what she was able to get off the laptop.” Grace murmured. “We called Maria and Michael and they should be here anytime. What is it Camryn?”
“Evidence of the family secret?” Jake murmured to the surprise of both Grace and Sue. “Camryn received a package at her job.”
“Old job?” Sue asked.
“I am unemployed, which helps us because if I had gotten the material while I was still being paid. I would have a more moral quandary in this, but I was never going to use what is on the tape. Your family means too much to me, and Jake does too so I was never going to use it to hurt you.”
“We appreciate it,” Max muttered not too many others would be as sensitive to their secret and would have blown the lid because of what it would have meant to explode their worlds as he closed the file on his computer as Camryn got up and let Sue sit down.
“I don’t get it,” Grace mumbled “How is there any footage of the you know secret?”
“Elizabeth indicated Nicholas had a lot of spies everywhere and camera’s or other methods to capture incriminating footage,” Max murmured as he ticked another reason why they might be better off revealing all to the public at large than trying to keep it a secret. “There is very little that can stay a secret these days” he muttered to himself as again he was weighing the reality of what his epiphany This what happens when your secret is not in your control, and thanked god that Camryn had come to them, and it still remained in their hands, and he knew they had gotten way too lucky.
Confronted on that front Grace went pale and knew how lucky they had been to have someone on their side. She knew she did not always trust Camryn and now she knew she had been wrong to be distrustful in those moments. “I guess it’s a giant thank you, Camryn” Grace murmured as it started to sink in. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that we exist in an age where anything can be picked up. Which is why we should be grateful at what was not caught on tape?” she muttered as she took her husband’s hand as they both gave each other support that they both needed.
“You are welcome….” Camryn sighed as she could tell how happy Jake and Grace were, and that made her happy as well. Something good has got to happen to this family “I hope you two can come to my wedding?”
“We will definitely try,” Grace murmured with a genuine smile. “More than try…”
“Obviously, it was Nicholas’s last attempt at revenge before everything went down with Elizabeth. He was hoping that Camryn would want to help his quest to bring us down” Jake murmured. “If any of the footage went public. The simplest ramification would be that they would look at us differently and that had to be his goal.”
“What’s on the laptop?” Max asked Sue.
“You have to see for yourself,” Sue murmured as she opened it up as Camryn said her good-byes and left the office.
“We got very lucky with her,” Jake murmured as he took his wife’s hand. “She knew our secrets all this time, and never told the world. She saw more than we thought she did at the time. So, yeah, we should definitely go to her wedding?”
“Yeah we should,” Grace nodded as curses were reigning down on the office as they got a close look into some of the files, and none of them liked what they saw as Max reached for his phone and texted off some notes to relevant parties, and made an additional call.
What’s on it?” Maria demanded as she and Michael walked into Max’s office not long after Max had sent his SOS as they were surprised to see Grace and Sue in the room as Sue was sitting at Max’s desk and looking at the laptop. They had talked a bit on the phone on the way over, so they were at least knowledgeable “What can you see?” she said as she nodded at Sue who stayed silent because she now knew that Colin had laid the news on his parents, and she was nervous to see them.
“Lots of files and many video files” Sue said softly. “Most of it is still encrypted and I have only managed to make it through a small portion so far…”
“What does that mean?” Michael asked as he pulled out another chair for his wife, who sat down while he paced.
“Let’s wait for Finn to get here,” Max sighed as his friends looked shocked.
“Why Finn, where is Isabel?” Maria muttered as she surveyed the room and saw her eldest son, his wife, and Sue.
“Business for the store,” Max said. “She’s away for the day” he sighed. “I’ll fill her in when she gets home tonight. “Unfortunately for us, and for him. Finn is in this this whether you like it or not,” he sighed again and knew he would have to drop some unpleasant information on his friends.
“Why would Finn matter to Nicholas’s schemes?” Maria asked looking up at her friend.
“It’s clear Nicholas was stock piling information on Finn, following him and conducting surveillance over the last few years.” Max revealed to the silent shock of the room.
“Why?” Michael asked as he stopped pacing and looked around the room and knowing faces and knew he was missing something important “Finn was only a small part of Elizabeth’s life that ended because of the kidnapping…”
“Nicholas like any villain would want any information they can gather. But in this case. It was the simple case that it appears Finn had meant a lot more to Elizabeth than anyone even knew,” Max sighed as he knew he was going to be revealing quite the bombshell. “Apparently, they still saw each other on occasion after the kidnapping, and once Elizabeth was home and recovering, and Nicholas had to have known and it made him nervous and therefore he was making Finn one of the targets”
“I don’t get it, why?” Maria said shocked that her daughter and Finn might still be seeing each other despite the breakup. I should not be surprised because sometimes a boy can get under your skin. Michael did mine despite our numerous breakups.
Grace nodded as she turned her father with a knowing face. “You might as well tell them…”
“Tell us what?” Michael asked.
“It turns out Finn is Emily and Drew’s biological father,” Max admitted to the shock of the room. “And before you ask, Elizabeth lied to Finn about Emily back in those days, and she disappeared before the pregnancy with Drew would have become known even to herself” he said softly as his friends looked at their friend with foreign expressions like they were completely shocked, and it hadn’t even crossed their minds.
“Elizabeth hasn’t explained her thinking to me, but I put two and two together yesterday when I saw Elizabeth and Finn have a moment and then when I saw the kids, I guessed it. It’s more prevalent in Drew these days…” Grace murmured.
“Mom and Dad, the name Andrew is also Finn’s father’s” Jake murmured to the office, and Maria felt like fainting if she was not already sitting down. “So, the thinking is that Elizabeth had a rather good feeling that with Drew that it was Finn, and really given the timing. He would likely be the only candidate.”
“Guys, I know how this must rock you, and to just blurt it out like this, I am sorry.” Max mumbled because this was one more disabling moment in a whole trilogy of them…
“Finn…” Maria asked.
“Yes,” Max nodded. “Apparently, they would hook up and they couldn’t totally quit each other from spending time together, but he apparently broke it off for a final time right before she disappeared at 18 because of her drug use.”
“Jeez, I guess that is the best alternative,” Maria allowed as she was forced to reckoned with the past while Michael remained silent. “Whose is Mick’s?”
“Elizabeth told me it’s some bodyguard of Nicholas,” Max sighed as she revealed and kept some of the facts to himself because knew his friends would want to know it “He’s dead…”
“Oh god,” Maria whispered.
“She claims it was a car accident,” Max nodded. “Innocent of any Nicholas involvement or so she believes. Anyways part of what Sue has been able to unencrypt so far involves Finn…”
“What about me?” Finn asked as he walked into the office as he had heard his name in the air and looked around the office. He had gone home after visiting Jake’s place, and had just about to head to library to focus on studying when he received the call from Max to come to his office. He immediately worried it was about Elizabeth, and now to come in and see the crowd, he had to wonder what it was all about…
“Finn,” Michael sighed. “It has been a long time…”
“Yeah,” Finn nodded. “If this is about Elizabeth and me,” he asked as he caught the stare from both of his ex’s parents. “All I wanted to do was help your daughter, and that goes for now, because I cared a lot for your daughter, and she has always been a part of my heart.”
“Really?” Michael asked.
“Max?” Jake asked as he tried to get his parents off the spell of interrogating the guy over his involvement with his sister as he knew he had done enough of that although he didn’t fault for wanting answers when they had been in the dark about just how involved Finn was with their daughter.
“We have been able to gain access to some of the files, and while there are hundreds. It is apparent from the intel we’re able to gather so far that you Finn are in numerous files as well as video files, and I thought you should be apprise of what is going on, so that you could be better prepared” Max muttered as Finn looked up and Michael focused on something other than wanting answers from his eldest daughter’s ex-boyfriend.
“Me?” Finn asked. “Isn’t the laptop that bastards. Why would he have anything about me?”
“There are some video files,” Max allowed as Maria winced at images coming to her mind as she tried to drive them out of her head. “They are of private nature, and I won’t show them to the whole office but as Elizabeth’s attorney, I needed to view them, but I figured you should know…”
“What to do you mean video…” Finn asked.
“Of an intimate nature,” Max allowed, and Finn’s face went red with outrage. “You can view them later if you want but it seems like Nicholas was conducting on surveillance on you, and filming a lot of it…”
“You mean, he filmed us, you know” asked an embarrassed Finn who then put down his head as Michael and Maria looked away as it became clear…
“Yes,” Max nodded. “It’s become clear to us that Nicholas had spies everywhere and he was collecting data with the intention of using it if the need ever came around and it is very apparent that even when Elizabeth was free of his influence, she was always under surveillance.” she sighed. “And that meant whoever she was with, was a target and that means you Finn, and I wanted you to know because we don’t know how many landmines that there are ready to explode at a moment’s notice and the fact Nicholas is dead now doesn’t change that…”
“Oh god,” Maria whispered.
“It might have been just to gain intelligence for blackmail purposes at a later date, but it could many other things like what happened with Jake in Boston…”
“Right?” Jake muttered.
“What happened to Jake in Boston?” Finn asked.
“Old lies came back to haunt and it affected my ability to get a job there, so eventually we came back…”
“Oh,” Finn sighed as he remembered the rumors that existed in the olden days.
“Now that Nicholas is dead, the bombs might not be triggered but we need to be aware which is what tripped us up in the past. We got blindsided once and we don’t want that to happen again, and because we were unprepared Elizabeth was hurt by that, and the other kids as well” Max sighed as he looked at his daughter who nodded.
“Why, I don’t get why would he want to film something like that…” Finn asked.
“To use as more blackmail if Elizabeth ever got out line,” Jake muttered. “As her husband he had power over her but still he would want as much as he could to make sure she stayed with him, because if she didn’t and tried to run then he had the ability to destroy people’s lives and would use it….”
“What are you talking about?” Finn asked, “They were married?”
“Haven’t you been following the media. It got revealed in court the other day?” Grace muttered as they all see the anger and the pain on both Michael and Maria’s face, as well as the angst on Jake.
“I have been sort of tuning it out because I have had a lot on my mind,” Finn sighed as Elizabeth would not leave his mind, and he had not really been focused on the newspapers or other media. “They were married?” he asked hurt.
“Yes,” Max admitted. “I am trying to dredge up information but apparently they were, and I already have filed annulment papers to try to get it off the public records, but to the authorities they were…”
“So…” Finn sighed as it was starting to grasp it.
“Elizabeth was blackmailed into it, using threats and drugs to make her marry him. It happened when she was still sixteen” Max sighed.
“But…but… that’s a crime?” Finn asked shocked. “Consent in this state is 17, and he’s so much…”
“Older, yeah” Max nodded as they were all are despite his baby face exterior, he was just as old as they were, which made it more revolting to everyone. “He used the blackmail material he had on family, and friends to make her agree to it so we’ll have to fight whether she was in the right mind to consent, if we’re forced to?”
“So if it leaks to the public anything about you Finn, then it might look like you and Elizabeth were cheating, and she was unfaithful and it will damage your reputation if we can’t prove that he’s a slime ball” Grace admitted as they all could guess that was Nicholas’ intention was to make Finn look bad, and Elizabeth an unfaithful slut who slept around on her husband, and who kept getting pregnant and either kept them, and therefore forced her husband to raise the bastards or aborted them.
“Sh!t” Sue cursed as she unlocked another file, and brought up the file.
“What?” Max asked.
“He knew she kept having abortions,” Sue revealed.
“So, what, it’s legal…” Max murmured.
“Another thing to make her look bad in public,” Grace thought. “She’ll look like she was being selective about which babies she was having. She didn’t mind having Finn’s,” she sighed as Finn eyes went wide, “but anyone else’s, she picked and chose” she sighed. “It will make her look like a slut, who slept around and wasn’t practicing safe sex, and was being careless and running a lot of risks.”
“He was drugging her…” Max sighed. “For god’s sake. Nicholas wanted her to get pregnant, but with his kid, and so he would never have used birth control and the drugs would have rendered it’s use ineffective”
“I’ll kill him” Michael vowed as Finn got an eyeful of just what kind of trouble his ex-had been forced to endure over the last five to seven years.
“He’s already dead” Max sighed.
“Then Elizabeth is not going down for bringing justice to this town…” Jake muttered as he tensed over how his sister had been used and abused as Sue unlocked another video file, and even she wanted to throw up…
“I am going to be sick,” she said as she got up and ran from the office. Grace ran after her.
“The baby?” Maria asked.
“Nope,” Max wanted to faint as he saw what was on the clip. “Much worse.”
Then she got handed the package from the delivery person in their office. “It’s my last day Bobby, I don’t need anything…”
“Everyone else is busy, so they told me to hand this off to you and you can pass it off if it needs anything further,” Bobby said as he handed the package to Camryn, and she took it and sighed as she sat down at her desk and opened it and poured out the contents and found a UPS drive and a bunch of documents.
“What is this?” she murmured to herself and she went pale when she read the note.
“She stole your boyfriend, didn’t she?
You want payback, and to know just what she could offer Jake Guerin that you could not, take this and run with it.”
“Bobby” she called out to the passing delivery person. “Who said to give this to me?”
“I don’t know,” said Bobby as he left the office as Camryn sat down and inserted the drive, and up popped video files as she murmured to herself, “If this is about those pictures back in high school, I am not interested” she told herself but she saw something very different come on her screen, some old taped footage, and she squinted and then she saw Grace, “God”
And then another footage that looked like surveillance camera quality of fireworks, or it looked like it the day Elizabeth was located.
Then taped footage of the night that Grace got stabbed…
But the overall emphasis of the material was that Grace was not average, and Elizabeth was similar and there were two other younger teenagers in the park material that she gathered were Grace’s newfound sisters.
There was a note…
IF you want to expose her for the fraud she is, and how her family is not normal and should be exposed. Go ahead, and here is evidence the whole clan has run roughshod over the legal system and keeping their crimes away from justice. All because they have a connection in Jim Valenti.
Tell the world
*
“If I wasn’t on my last day and seriously pissed off someone thought they could use me against your family, we might be looking at something different but because I know you Jake, and I know your family. I wanted to warn you” Camryn murmured as she faced her ex and knew her friend didn’t deserve this.
Nicholas! Jake muttered to himself. This has all the earmarks. Just like he blackmailed my sister into being his slave in so many ways, “If he wasn’t already dead, then I would kill him, and you could report it.”
“Who?” Camryn murmured.
“The man who spearheaded the abuse my sister” Jake said. “He had something on her and used her and forced him to give him what he wanted. And this is example of it, and he was going at you to get at me and Grace.”
Camryn nodded.
“Look Camryn, about what you think you saw?” Jake asked.
“Here it is,” Camryn murmured as she handled her ex the flash drive. “I admit that it is hard to give up on a story, but I have long known your family was strange,” she laughed and Jake could only to a certain point as he waited for the other shoe to drop. “While you never were, but I saw the signs there, and then of course, I knew you were adopted.”
“Yeah,” Jake nodded.
“There were rumors around school for years about Grace. She always blended in, but there were moments when we were all younger,” Camryn asked because even though they had waited and dated in high school for those two years, she had gone back to elementary with Jake and had long known the Guerin family although she of course got close to them during the time she and Jake dated.
“Right,” Jake nodded.
“And your sister wasn’t always that subtle” Camryn admitted. “Especially when she was around your family home, away from the prying eyes and because I was dating you, well, I saw more than I probably should have at the time.”
“You never said anything,” Jake asked as sudden memories came to him of being around the family home, and how the younger generation were not as careful when they were behind closed doors. Behind closed doors, yeah my siblings didn’t know the art of being subtle He never had imagined that Camryn suspected, but now he wondered what he had opened their family to by allowing her to be in the house, and so open in their relationship.
Camryn could see Jake was tense and his mind was full of worry and she wanted to reassure him “Hey, I cared for you, and I knew your family was special. They were good to me, and so why would I rock the boat for you guys,” Camryn admitted as she he long knew the Guerin family, and it’s offshoots with Grace were something unique to their world, and yet it never really bothered her, and it made her protective for her former boyfriend and didn’t bother that Jake went on to be with Grace when she knew he had been harboring secret feelings from before their break up. It is not like I was thinking of Jake as the real thing Camryn mused. Robert was more the real thing, and that also did not work out. Now she knew what true love was with his fiance. “But Jake, if this gets out?”
“I know,” Jake murmured as he took the UPS drive from Camryn and stuck it in his computer and played it “Damn it,” he asked and then he wanted to faint when he saw the final video, of Elizabeth killing one of her captors with her green energy.
“Jake” Camryn murmured.
“I am okay,” Jake said as he wanted to throw up, as he still had nightmares about that day when they found Elizabeth and the horrors inflicted on her, and now to see that she was trying to fight back, and to see her being choked and treated like a rag doll, and taken away to even more horrors, and probably even worse than what she had already suffered to that point.
Just as the phone rang, and he chose to pick it up to try to get reprieve from the pain he had seen on his sister’s face.
*
Just what we need Max was thinking as he was meeting with Jake and Camryn who came over to show him what Camryn had revealed. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse” he murmured out loud as he got a look at the files as he was reminded of those flashes his sister and he had managed to achieve all that time ago, but to know it was being filmed. “Did that bastard have a camera on all the time?”
“In this day and age. You don’t even need a camera,” Camryn admitted as she had seen too much footage picked up by a simple phone.
“Unfortunately!”
“No kidding,” Max muttered as he was already confronted by the notion of today’s technology and what they could record as the door opened and in walked his daughter Grace and Sue who looked surprised to see Camryn.
“Grace,” Camryn murmured as she acknowledged the women.
“Camryn… You are a surprise, what are you doing here?” Grace asked as she looked at her husband who smiled as Grace looked over and saw Eva in the corner playing with some toys. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Neither was your husband,” Camryn laughed. “But I had something to share with him and it couldn’t wait?”
“Oh, what?” Grace asked.
“Nicholas dirty work…” Jake muttered as he could tell how his wife had been surprised to see Camryn and yet he did not know how they had come to be in her father’s office. “Wait, what are you doing here?”
“Sue got some intel on the computer. She’s still working on it, but we wanted to share some of what she was able to get off the laptop.” Grace murmured. “We called Maria and Michael and they should be here anytime. What is it Camryn?”
“Evidence of the family secret?” Jake murmured to the surprise of both Grace and Sue. “Camryn received a package at her job.”
“Old job?” Sue asked.
“I am unemployed, which helps us because if I had gotten the material while I was still being paid. I would have a more moral quandary in this, but I was never going to use what is on the tape. Your family means too much to me, and Jake does too so I was never going to use it to hurt you.”
“We appreciate it,” Max muttered not too many others would be as sensitive to their secret and would have blown the lid because of what it would have meant to explode their worlds as he closed the file on his computer as Camryn got up and let Sue sit down.
“I don’t get it,” Grace mumbled “How is there any footage of the you know secret?”
“Elizabeth indicated Nicholas had a lot of spies everywhere and camera’s or other methods to capture incriminating footage,” Max murmured as he ticked another reason why they might be better off revealing all to the public at large than trying to keep it a secret. “There is very little that can stay a secret these days” he muttered to himself as again he was weighing the reality of what his epiphany This what happens when your secret is not in your control, and thanked god that Camryn had come to them, and it still remained in their hands, and he knew they had gotten way too lucky.
Confronted on that front Grace went pale and knew how lucky they had been to have someone on their side. She knew she did not always trust Camryn and now she knew she had been wrong to be distrustful in those moments. “I guess it’s a giant thank you, Camryn” Grace murmured as it started to sink in. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that we exist in an age where anything can be picked up. Which is why we should be grateful at what was not caught on tape?” she muttered as she took her husband’s hand as they both gave each other support that they both needed.
“You are welcome….” Camryn sighed as she could tell how happy Jake and Grace were, and that made her happy as well. Something good has got to happen to this family “I hope you two can come to my wedding?”
“We will definitely try,” Grace murmured with a genuine smile. “More than try…”
“Obviously, it was Nicholas’s last attempt at revenge before everything went down with Elizabeth. He was hoping that Camryn would want to help his quest to bring us down” Jake murmured. “If any of the footage went public. The simplest ramification would be that they would look at us differently and that had to be his goal.”
“What’s on the laptop?” Max asked Sue.
“You have to see for yourself,” Sue murmured as she opened it up as Camryn said her good-byes and left the office.
“We got very lucky with her,” Jake murmured as he took his wife’s hand. “She knew our secrets all this time, and never told the world. She saw more than we thought she did at the time. So, yeah, we should definitely go to her wedding?”
“Yeah we should,” Grace nodded as curses were reigning down on the office as they got a close look into some of the files, and none of them liked what they saw as Max reached for his phone and texted off some notes to relevant parties, and made an additional call.
*
What’s on it?” Maria demanded as she and Michael walked into Max’s office not long after Max had sent his SOS as they were surprised to see Grace and Sue in the room as Sue was sitting at Max’s desk and looking at the laptop. They had talked a bit on the phone on the way over, so they were at least knowledgeable “What can you see?” she said as she nodded at Sue who stayed silent because she now knew that Colin had laid the news on his parents, and she was nervous to see them.
“Lots of files and many video files” Sue said softly. “Most of it is still encrypted and I have only managed to make it through a small portion so far…”
“What does that mean?” Michael asked as he pulled out another chair for his wife, who sat down while he paced.
“Let’s wait for Finn to get here,” Max sighed as his friends looked shocked.
“Why Finn, where is Isabel?” Maria muttered as she surveyed the room and saw her eldest son, his wife, and Sue.
“Business for the store,” Max said. “She’s away for the day” he sighed. “I’ll fill her in when she gets home tonight. “Unfortunately for us, and for him. Finn is in this this whether you like it or not,” he sighed again and knew he would have to drop some unpleasant information on his friends.
“Why would Finn matter to Nicholas’s schemes?” Maria asked looking up at her friend.
“It’s clear Nicholas was stock piling information on Finn, following him and conducting surveillance over the last few years.” Max revealed to the silent shock of the room.
“Why?” Michael asked as he stopped pacing and looked around the room and knowing faces and knew he was missing something important “Finn was only a small part of Elizabeth’s life that ended because of the kidnapping…”
“Nicholas like any villain would want any information they can gather. But in this case. It was the simple case that it appears Finn had meant a lot more to Elizabeth than anyone even knew,” Max sighed as he knew he was going to be revealing quite the bombshell. “Apparently, they still saw each other on occasion after the kidnapping, and once Elizabeth was home and recovering, and Nicholas had to have known and it made him nervous and therefore he was making Finn one of the targets”
“I don’t get it, why?” Maria said shocked that her daughter and Finn might still be seeing each other despite the breakup. I should not be surprised because sometimes a boy can get under your skin. Michael did mine despite our numerous breakups.
Grace nodded as she turned her father with a knowing face. “You might as well tell them…”
“Tell us what?” Michael asked.
“It turns out Finn is Emily and Drew’s biological father,” Max admitted to the shock of the room. “And before you ask, Elizabeth lied to Finn about Emily back in those days, and she disappeared before the pregnancy with Drew would have become known even to herself” he said softly as his friends looked at their friend with foreign expressions like they were completely shocked, and it hadn’t even crossed their minds.
“Elizabeth hasn’t explained her thinking to me, but I put two and two together yesterday when I saw Elizabeth and Finn have a moment and then when I saw the kids, I guessed it. It’s more prevalent in Drew these days…” Grace murmured.
“Mom and Dad, the name Andrew is also Finn’s father’s” Jake murmured to the office, and Maria felt like fainting if she was not already sitting down. “So, the thinking is that Elizabeth had a rather good feeling that with Drew that it was Finn, and really given the timing. He would likely be the only candidate.”
“Guys, I know how this must rock you, and to just blurt it out like this, I am sorry.” Max mumbled because this was one more disabling moment in a whole trilogy of them…
“Finn…” Maria asked.
“Yes,” Max nodded. “Apparently, they would hook up and they couldn’t totally quit each other from spending time together, but he apparently broke it off for a final time right before she disappeared at 18 because of her drug use.”
“Jeez, I guess that is the best alternative,” Maria allowed as she was forced to reckoned with the past while Michael remained silent. “Whose is Mick’s?”
“Elizabeth told me it’s some bodyguard of Nicholas,” Max sighed as she revealed and kept some of the facts to himself because knew his friends would want to know it “He’s dead…”
“Oh god,” Maria whispered.
“She claims it was a car accident,” Max nodded. “Innocent of any Nicholas involvement or so she believes. Anyways part of what Sue has been able to unencrypt so far involves Finn…”
“What about me?” Finn asked as he walked into the office as he had heard his name in the air and looked around the office. He had gone home after visiting Jake’s place, and had just about to head to library to focus on studying when he received the call from Max to come to his office. He immediately worried it was about Elizabeth, and now to come in and see the crowd, he had to wonder what it was all about…
“Finn,” Michael sighed. “It has been a long time…”
“Yeah,” Finn nodded. “If this is about Elizabeth and me,” he asked as he caught the stare from both of his ex’s parents. “All I wanted to do was help your daughter, and that goes for now, because I cared a lot for your daughter, and she has always been a part of my heart.”
“Really?” Michael asked.
“Max?” Jake asked as he tried to get his parents off the spell of interrogating the guy over his involvement with his sister as he knew he had done enough of that although he didn’t fault for wanting answers when they had been in the dark about just how involved Finn was with their daughter.
“We have been able to gain access to some of the files, and while there are hundreds. It is apparent from the intel we’re able to gather so far that you Finn are in numerous files as well as video files, and I thought you should be apprise of what is going on, so that you could be better prepared” Max muttered as Finn looked up and Michael focused on something other than wanting answers from his eldest daughter’s ex-boyfriend.
“Me?” Finn asked. “Isn’t the laptop that bastards. Why would he have anything about me?”
“There are some video files,” Max allowed as Maria winced at images coming to her mind as she tried to drive them out of her head. “They are of private nature, and I won’t show them to the whole office but as Elizabeth’s attorney, I needed to view them, but I figured you should know…”
“What to do you mean video…” Finn asked.
“Of an intimate nature,” Max allowed, and Finn’s face went red with outrage. “You can view them later if you want but it seems like Nicholas was conducting on surveillance on you, and filming a lot of it…”
“You mean, he filmed us, you know” asked an embarrassed Finn who then put down his head as Michael and Maria looked away as it became clear…
“Yes,” Max nodded. “It’s become clear to us that Nicholas had spies everywhere and he was collecting data with the intention of using it if the need ever came around and it is very apparent that even when Elizabeth was free of his influence, she was always under surveillance.” she sighed. “And that meant whoever she was with, was a target and that means you Finn, and I wanted you to know because we don’t know how many landmines that there are ready to explode at a moment’s notice and the fact Nicholas is dead now doesn’t change that…”
“Oh god,” Maria whispered.
“It might have been just to gain intelligence for blackmail purposes at a later date, but it could many other things like what happened with Jake in Boston…”
“Right?” Jake muttered.
“What happened to Jake in Boston?” Finn asked.
“Old lies came back to haunt and it affected my ability to get a job there, so eventually we came back…”
“Oh,” Finn sighed as he remembered the rumors that existed in the olden days.
“Now that Nicholas is dead, the bombs might not be triggered but we need to be aware which is what tripped us up in the past. We got blindsided once and we don’t want that to happen again, and because we were unprepared Elizabeth was hurt by that, and the other kids as well” Max sighed as he looked at his daughter who nodded.
“Why, I don’t get why would he want to film something like that…” Finn asked.
“To use as more blackmail if Elizabeth ever got out line,” Jake muttered. “As her husband he had power over her but still he would want as much as he could to make sure she stayed with him, because if she didn’t and tried to run then he had the ability to destroy people’s lives and would use it….”
“What are you talking about?” Finn asked, “They were married?”
“Haven’t you been following the media. It got revealed in court the other day?” Grace muttered as they all see the anger and the pain on both Michael and Maria’s face, as well as the angst on Jake.
“I have been sort of tuning it out because I have had a lot on my mind,” Finn sighed as Elizabeth would not leave his mind, and he had not really been focused on the newspapers or other media. “They were married?” he asked hurt.
“Yes,” Max admitted. “I am trying to dredge up information but apparently they were, and I already have filed annulment papers to try to get it off the public records, but to the authorities they were…”
“So…” Finn sighed as it was starting to grasp it.
“Elizabeth was blackmailed into it, using threats and drugs to make her marry him. It happened when she was still sixteen” Max sighed.
“But…but… that’s a crime?” Finn asked shocked. “Consent in this state is 17, and he’s so much…”
“Older, yeah” Max nodded as they were all are despite his baby face exterior, he was just as old as they were, which made it more revolting to everyone. “He used the blackmail material he had on family, and friends to make her agree to it so we’ll have to fight whether she was in the right mind to consent, if we’re forced to?”
“So if it leaks to the public anything about you Finn, then it might look like you and Elizabeth were cheating, and she was unfaithful and it will damage your reputation if we can’t prove that he’s a slime ball” Grace admitted as they all could guess that was Nicholas’ intention was to make Finn look bad, and Elizabeth an unfaithful slut who slept around on her husband, and who kept getting pregnant and either kept them, and therefore forced her husband to raise the bastards or aborted them.
“Sh!t” Sue cursed as she unlocked another file, and brought up the file.
“What?” Max asked.
“He knew she kept having abortions,” Sue revealed.
“So, what, it’s legal…” Max murmured.
“Another thing to make her look bad in public,” Grace thought. “She’ll look like she was being selective about which babies she was having. She didn’t mind having Finn’s,” she sighed as Finn eyes went wide, “but anyone else’s, she picked and chose” she sighed. “It will make her look like a slut, who slept around and wasn’t practicing safe sex, and was being careless and running a lot of risks.”
“He was drugging her…” Max sighed. “For god’s sake. Nicholas wanted her to get pregnant, but with his kid, and so he would never have used birth control and the drugs would have rendered it’s use ineffective”
“I’ll kill him” Michael vowed as Finn got an eyeful of just what kind of trouble his ex-had been forced to endure over the last five to seven years.
“He’s already dead” Max sighed.
“Then Elizabeth is not going down for bringing justice to this town…” Jake muttered as he tensed over how his sister had been used and abused as Sue unlocked another video file, and even she wanted to throw up…
“I am going to be sick,” she said as she got up and ran from the office. Grace ran after her.
“The baby?” Maria asked.
“Nope,” Max wanted to faint as he saw what was on the clip. “Much worse.”