☘︎ Jᴇɴɴɪғᴇʀ Rʏsᴏɴ ☘︎

Confusion is a pathetic thing, shock is twice that emotion.

So long I've been thinking Mia is a spitting image of her mother, but that is until I witness her father in flesh. The man who has his arms around Mia in a paternal embrace, looks nearly the same he did twelve years ago when he rescued us in the warehouse, when he caught the real clown. Dark hair, smooth pale skin and arched brows. A retired police officer chief.

But it is his physique, the broad shoulders and the leanly bulk form. It is those eyes, brown with a maniacal glint in them that finally makes me realize who he actually is. The man who impersonated the clown to haunt me, the man who made me believe I killed my mother. . .

"That day, I pulled the trigger on my gun too." Fury seethes my veins, overtaking any sense of irrational fear that might shroud me, "It hit someone. Was it you?"

Mia detaches herself from her father's hug, clinging to his arm like a toddler does to their parent. The annoyance is apparent in the frown settling between her brows, "Why can't we just get done with her, Dad?"

I remember Moon telling me her husband's name is Paul. That he was a respectable man among his peers. That he was so good to everyone outside, no one ever suspected him to be a twisted abuser at home. I see that charm take over him right then.

"It's okay." Paul affectionately pats Mia's head as if she's a kitten. Mia immediately obliges, separating from him and obediently standing beside him. There's something so disturbing about it. She acts like he's the only person who can give her a sense of direction in her life, like he's her savior, her God.

Paul turns to me, gentle smile and approachable demeanor, except I know it's all a facade, "You did shoot me, yes. Right here." He points to a part on his clothed shoulder, "But you see, you're no match to my daughter's aiming."

Mia beams gleefully, half twirling again. Something is awfully wrong with her.

Paul seems to catch on my thought process as his gaze follow my sight, "Mia has extreme-case DPD, Dependent Personality Disorder. It's a condition where a person tends to be highly dependent on someone. They fear separation from the said person to an obsessive level, they seek the approval of that person no matter what and will do anything to keep the person appeased. Psychologists say it could be caused by various factors. Some of them being having an overprotective parent, history of neglect and in some cases, it can also be triggered by. . .childhood trauma or an incident."

Paul looks to his daughter and his eyes soften in pity. Mia just smiles at him, still twirling and happy as if she doesn't mind her father talking about her mental condition as long he's present here.

But Paul's jaw clenches, a nerve ticking in his temple. He turns back to me, taking large strides to reach where I'm bound to the chair. Mia immediately looks up in alarm at him leaving her behind and follows right along.

"Mia's condition is a product of all of those reasons. You know why my daughter is like this?" Paul grabs my jaw in a bruising grip, "It's because of your father."

He must've seen my confused expression, because he lets out a nasty laugh, "Did you expect me to tell you it was your mother? Although that bitch was very much involved in the entirety of the situation, the main cause of every destruction I'd ever faced is because of that father of yours."

"Did you know Irene was supposed to be my wife? That Samuel stole her from me, that he tricked me into getting married to Moon while he wooed Irene away. All for her inheritance. Samuel was never the rich one, it was always Irene. Samuel just had plans he wanted to initiate if he had the money. Irene was money." Paul tsks, taking in the surprise on my face, "Your father isn't the Samaritan he poses himself to be." He shoves me away so hard by my face, the chair balances on two feet.

I right the toppling chair by planting my feet firmly on the ground before I can fall backwards. It still leaves me with a dizzy undercurrent, not only by the realization that I would've almost hurt my head but also at the things Paul is mentioning. My father has always loved my mom. It was his one rawest truth. He would never marry her for such a selfish reason.

But then I remember him in the hospital, saying. . . I've done things I still regret.

"Moon was an infuriating pest in my life, claiming to covet me and approaching me all the time. On the occasion when I was to get engaged to Irene, Moon seeked me out, crying and confessing her supposed undying love for me. It was so pathetic, I wanted to slam her head on a wall. But she just had to lock the door of my room behind her before she'd cornered me to express her stupid feelings." Paul looks annoyed, but his arms are now up in the air, ranting in outrage.

"We coincidentally ended up in a compromising position. It wasn't even intentional! Moon slipped and I was just stopping her from the fall but somehow we both ended on the floor with me on top of her. I should've just let her fall and hurt herself or best yet, die." He shakes his head as though even the thought of the day disgusts him, "How very convenient it turned out for the opportunity-seeking Samuel. He barged into the room with people to get a spectacle of Moon and me."

Paul's tone is full of bitterness, "It wasn't like this in olden times. People from respected families couldn't afford to get caught up in scandals, especially the kind which involved a reputed noble trying to stain the reputation of a woman, being intimate with her without the intention of marrying her. My family weren't rich per se, but they had a spot among the wealthy because of being ages after ages descendants of police officials. My family were reputation obsessed maniacs. They just had to keep up their good front. They didn't think twice before setting my marriage up with Moon to clear their name, even if it meant missing their opportunity at Irene's wealth and calling off my engagement with her."

Paul's eyes take on a dark look as he conveys the rest of the story, the origin of his spite, "Your father, Samuel, was beyond delighted. I, Irene's to-be-betrothed was the only person holding him back from courting Irene. Once I was set to marry Moon, I was out of the picture. He took the opportunity and made Irene smitten by him, he made her convince her parents to let them get married. Irene's parents weren't much on money background, since they already had the money. They wanted their daughter to marry for love and Irene believed Samuel was her love. I watched as the one I was to get married to, become someone else's. And a woman I didn't even care for, got bound with me."

"Moon's entire existence tested the last of my nerves. Losing Irene wasn't just about loosing her, it was about losing every luxury I could've provide my future generation with the inheritance she bought. And Moon? The woman didn't have a fucking cent on her. She was just a pretty face with absolutely no use to me. But to keep up pretenses if I wanted to get the little inheritance I had, I needed to be a familial man, have a child or two to appease my parents. I left them behind the moment they gave me the inheritance but until that time, Moon was almost going to birth a child. The child was mine, even if I got intimate with Moon only for keeping facades. I wanted to push her down the stairs, she made a good asset as a beating bag anyways. But then. . ."

Paul's eyes flicker to Mia who anxiously bites down on her nails. It's like she suddenly developed a shift in her personality around her father, but she still seems so very glassy eyed and thrilled to be standing in his presence. She needs help.

"When Mia was born," Paul's attention returns to his previous task of storytelling, "I loved my child way too much. Even if Moon nauseated me, after every mess, Mia was my only favorite in the world from the very first moment I caught sight of my daughter. But then just when my life was going fine, those fucking parents of yours couldn't let me be!"

"Stupid Moon was all into me until she got married to me and couldn't endure taking a hit or two once a day." He spat on the floor, "Irene convinced Moon to divorce me. Samuel helped her. There's a thing about legal court, eighty percent of the time, the mother if capable of raising the child, is the one to get the custody of the child. They wouldn't let me visit Mia because I was considered to be an abusive partner and hence could be an abusive father, even if I never was as such to my daughter! But just like that, Mia was taken from me!"

"Moon had to work to raise Mia, she neglected Mia and left her alone at the house nearly all the time. Mia started to become an anxious person. I visited her secretly despite Moon's overprotectiveness to keep my daughter away from her own father. Mia was all too thrilled to have one of her parents stick by her, my daughter did really love her father. Then the clown kidnapping happened and when I came to know about it, when I found the other kids and Mia, when I saw how the kidnapping had left her in trauma, messing her mental state."

Paul was evidently fuming now, "I blamed it all rightfully on Moon for being such an irresponsible parent, for letting Mia get kidnapped! But more than that, I knew who was the real culprit behind all of it! Mia's mental state got messed up because of Irene and Samuel's fault! If they hadn't helped Moon divorce me, if they hadn't helped separate Mia from me, my daughter would've been fine. I wanted to ruin them just the way they did me."

"That day in the warehouse, Moon hadn't been able to reach Mia on time because of her stupid work. But I had been there for her and Mia somehow grew dependent on me. Because I always stuck by her when no one did. Right, child?" Paul glances at Mia and she nods like a bobblehead in answer, "But guess what, her DPD worked in my favor, especially when I found out Mia had made friends with a girl, a girl who is Samuel and Irene's spawn. It was like opportunity served to me on a silver platter."

Even with strike after strike of new revelations coming to light, even when I know all of this events is going to lead to something darker, I let my mind focus on one single thing to keep me anchored to ground and not drag me away into voidness. I'd let this man rule my life the past two months for his twisted outcomes, I would die before I make the same mistake again.

There's one thing Paul neither Mia knew. I'd grown so paranoid after being kidnapped by the real clown that I hadn't just taken intensive martial arts training but also training to get myself out of bindings. So with those classes in mind, I stealthily work on the ropes bound around my wrists while I still listen to Paul continue his narration unbeknownst to my doings.

"I promised myself that Mia would have every luxury I could've given my child if Irene's inheritance was mine. I promised Mia she'd live like a princess. I told Mia all she had to do was help me make it possible if she wanted to live as comfortably as her supposed friend did, if she wanted to have everything her mighty friend Violet Davidson had. Mia isn't Moon. My daughter would stick by me no matter what. She did everything I told her, helped me find access into Davidson mansion by 'randomly' stumbling upon the security room and 'accidentally' spilling coffee on the security camera control panels. It was all really easy. I mean, who would even suspect a ten year old?"

Paul looks so proud of his scheme, not realizing how he'd used his ten year old, mentally unstable daughter for his twisted revenge, "Slowly by slowly, I imitated the clown knowing you were paranoid about his presence, stalked you to make people think you're a lunatic while I planned for the perfect opportunity to strike everyone down to make a straight pass to Irene's money. Samuel must've doubled the amount than it initially was but it still was Irene's inheritance that boosted him. I wanted to take it all away from him and what mattered the most to Samuel? His wife and his daughter. On the day of your eleventh birthday, I stole both of them from him just the way he had done it to me with Irene and Mia. Your mother died, you were sent to New York with the supposed blood of killing your mother on your hands while I helped Mia weasel her way into Samuel's life."

A sudden realization strikes me in the gut, a sense of deja vu hitting me so hard I pause to catch my breath, "The scandal where Moon was found with my father in a compromising position at a party. . .which made him marry her to save her reputation. . .Did Moon help you too?" The words felt bitter on my tongue.

"That woman is a fool." To my astonishment, Paul shakes his head in displeasure, "Had I asked her to help me, she'd have blurted all my plan to Samuel as some sort of honesty camaraderie. I wasn't that lame. I just used her as a spawn in my game. While Mia on my insistence-because she was 'worried' where her Mom had gone off to-got a bunch of people to the same room where a drunk Moon was in Samuel's arms. In matter of few incidents, I had my daughter living under Samuel's roof, having every luxury which was always her right. But how could I leave it at that? I had to take back what he'd taken from me afterall. I had to take away all that money from him."

It was all so sick. Everything Paul claimed my father did to him, Paul ployed and ployed to returned them back ten times worse.

Paul goes on as though he's enjoying conveying everything, as though he knows the effect it will leave on me and quite enjoys it, "But for that, Mia had to be of the age to be able to acquire it all. You were already out of the picture since to the world, Samuel Davidson's real daughter was dead. The only family he had left was his second wife and step-daughter. We made sure Mia became the favored daughter so when time came, he'd hand over the Davidson Group to her. It all seemed like it was working."

Paul strides over to me, pulls out a powdery substance from his shirt's pocket, holding up the plastic pouch in front of my vision, "Arsenic. Quite an interesting substance. Consume it in very little proportion once or twice with something, it wouldn't cause much of a problem. But if you keep consuming it over the years even in the littlest proportions, it can cause cancer. Surprising, right?"

The terror engulfing me has nothing to do with the fact that the ropes bound to my wrists are half-way stuck from unknotting, "You did not. . ."

"Samuel had to die somehow now, didn't he? How would Mia inherit everything otherwise?" Paul waves me off like he can't spare time to hear how delusional he sounds, his eyes hardening, "But we didn't expect Samuel to have a change of heart when he nears his death bed."

Paul looks at me, almost fooling me by the look of pity in his eyes, "Really, if only Samuel had given over Irene's inheritance to Mia and died on us, it would've all been normal. You wouldn't have been hounded to make you seem crazy in front of the public, your name wouldn't have been dragged into the mud on the day of the Annual Davidson Ball. It was a risk to expose your real identity, since it'd put you back on the legal front as Samuel's daughter, but it was a risk I was willing to take. Because being exposed meant you were also accused of a crime. Even if you didn't commit it, no one knew, not even you. So it automatically would've put you in prison and by the time you were out, Mia would've already gotten her inheritance and taking it back from her wasn't going to be so easy for you. But no, that Vitallis kid comes in and spoils my plan!"

Paul throws the plastic pouch away in irritation, "Lykas was supposed to be Mia's future and just like your accursed parents, you stole him from my daughter! Screw making you appear crazy in front of the public. . .I vowed this stealing nature would end here and now. With you."

I'm so stunned by everything he says, so into my mind processing the revelations that I don't see him pulling out a sleek gun from his waistband.

It isn't until the weapon is raised, pointing to my head, do I come to my senses. But it's too late. I can see the maniacal obsession to end me in his eyes. I can see Mia glancing between her father and me with in excitement.

I keep my eyes trained on Paul, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me cower as my hands angrily pull on the rope on my wrists with the knowledge of every escape training I took.

One hoop out.

Paul pulls back the safety hook.

Two hoops.

Paul's finger wraps around the trigger, almost pressing-

"For heaven's sake, I'm done with this drama. With the amount of time you've said Samuel has Irene's inheritance, it's like you're a child throwing a tantrum over a toy your friend has and you don't." Viviane's sudden statement throughout the whole charade is like alarm bells ringing, disrupting the silence.

Paul's head whips to her, his gun lowering from me and his eyes blazing, "Do not say things you'll regret. Don't quicken your death when you're not going out of here alive, girl."

"Oh, yeah? I beg to differ." Viviane speaks with an icy calm, her lips twisting up into a predatory smile, "You know what they say about wolf in sheep's clothing. No one ever suspects the tiny little sheep could strip her skin and be a far dangerous predator than a wolf could ever be. How about I demonstrate it for you?"

It is the most unexpected people who surprise you at times. Unexpected people like a cheery assistant who acts so bubbly and fragile, that no one would doubt the extent of danger she possesses.

It is in that moment I see a switch within Viviane, like a person suffering from split personality disorder.

Only this side of her is so, so dark and. . .deadly.

--------᪥♔︎᪥-------

Ahahaha remember I told y'all how a scene inspired this whole book? It is the Viviane scene at the ending of this chapter and the next chapter Jenna's POV!

Also Paul and Mia both need to sign up to the asylum at the soonest, along with me. Since the amount of psychology research I had to do for this chapter has rendered me brainless🚶‍♀️

Writing this chapter felt like writing a monologue but I hope all the doubts are cleared now! And if you have any confusion, feel free to ask!

Tataaa, tiny hoomans.
Until next time! <3