Miranda and I stormed through the mansion in fury.
"Back so soon" Chace smiled as we entered the kitchen.
"Where is he?" I screamed.
My aim was to find Uncle Jason and that's it - Nothing else mattered in that moment.
"Zac, Lila and Chris are in Coney island" Chace answered.
"No, Uncle Jason" Miranda corrected calmly.
I wanted to kill him.
"What's going on kid?" Aunt Kat asked, entering the room with uncle Nate, John and dad.
Aunt Kat had to have know. I bet everyone did apart from dad and I.
"Did you know about this?" I cried, passing them the letter before throwing them my backpack that was filled with all the money.
They furrowed their brows at me, taking the letter
"Oh my" aunt Kat gasped.
"Chace" said uncle Jason, entering the kitchen, "I fixed the lawn mower"
"What the fuck is this?" I yelled, snatching the letter from aunt Kat's grasp then pressing it against Uncle Jason's chest.
Uncle Jason took the letter quickly and glances at it. I could see the terror in his eyes that disappears after a second.
"Guess who found the missing St Peter's Painting" Miranda folded her arms.
"Oh that letter" he then said casually, "I wrote that when she told us she was pregnant", we all look at him "what's the big deal?"
He acted as though the letter was perfectly innocent, despite obviously knowing that it wasn't at all.
"You gave my wife six hundred thousand!" Dad screamed, glaring at the backpack.
"It was perfectly innocent" he reinforced.
"Bullshit!" I exclaimed, "how can you think that you're going to get away with this?"
"Get away with what?" Uncle Jason half smiled, "what have I done?"
He shot me a look that screamed he knew exactly what he's doing. He was almost smirking at the victory that he was foreseeing.
"You gave away six hundred thousand dollars to Paige!" Aunt Kat screamed at him. "You said Marco took the money from you"
"Its no big deal-" uncle Jason shook his head.
"That's enough!" Uncle Nate screamed at the top of his lungs
Uncle Nate's jaw was locked into place in anguish, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. No one ever wanted to be on the receiving end of that look.
Uncle Nate didn't name his son Jason after uncle Jason, Jason was named after his deceased wife (Jaisyn), who died in labour with her fraternal triplets: Michael, Ethan, and Jason. Uncle Nate actually never liked uncle Jason. Like the rest of us, Uncle Nate thought Uncle Jason was an arrogant piece of shit.
"Alright" Uncle Jason nodded slowly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Me and Paige knew each other before she met Daniel"
We all fall silent.
"How?" John was the first to speak.
"Jess was hanging out with her and a few other kids at the park" he began to explain "Nothing happened cause she was a minor and I was twenty at the time....a year later she was dating Danny-"
"You two had an affair?" Dad interrupted in fury.
"No" uncle Jason shook his head, "...on the day of your wedding, she was going to leave you at the alter, did you know that?" He smirked at my father.
"You're lying" I gritted my teeth at the man.
"..she jumped into my car and begged me to take her away from you" he continued smugly.
"Come on Jason lets leave right now!" Paige begged
"Paige" uncle Jason looked down.
"Come on lets drive off into the sunset together" she grinned.
"Its your wedding day Paige" he reminded the girl.
"you're the one that wants this" she cried "you want me, always have! This is our chance"
"I know but-" he sighed.
"Than what's the problem?" She raised her brows.
"You're going to marry my brother" he told her "you're carrying my brother's kid, that's never going to change"
"Don't do this" she begged, kissing him, he pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers.
"You've got to get back to the church" he ordered.
"No please" she said quietly, tears streams down her face, taking her mascara with it, "don't do this"
"I've got to take you back to the church" he repeated.
"No please don't" Paige's voice cracked. She placed her hands on his chest "don't...don't make me go back!"
"You love Danny" uncle Jason reminded him.
"No!" She shook her head "he makes me feel claustrophobic, like I can't breathe....you've got to take me away from all that, I'd just be you and me against the world Jason"
"Paige you're not thinking straight!" He exclaimed "you've just got a little cold feet"
"No Jason" she argued "you're the only man that I've ever wanted to be with. You know that"
"You don't mean it" he shook his head side my side.
"Yes I do" she nodded with her lips only a few inches away from his.
"No you don't" he whispered.
"Yes I do" she repeated, bringing her lips even closer to his.
"No! You don't" he cried, wrapping his hands around her wrists, pushing her back into the seat, "I'm taking you back to the church"
"The rest of the car ride was silent" Uncle Jason finished, "over the course of the next two years we only spoke about it once and that's when she got pregnant with Katie...she kissed me and told me that's she was leaving...I thought she was going to commit suicide so I sent her the money to get her out of the trouble that she was in, and that's the truth"
"So for all those years" I started slowly "you thought that she killed herself?"
"Yeah well" he looked down, "...anyway Paige put it all in that painting and donated it to Saint Peters. She should have destroyed the damn letter"
"And That's it?" Dad reinforced.
"Yeah that's it" uncle Jason clenched his jaw.
Dad shook his head, as an attempt to control his anger, before storming out.
"Danny" aunt Kat called. I clench my jaw, walking quickly out of the room. "kid!"
Uncle Jason and my mother were lovers, god knows what happened between them. It was my birth that caused a rift in this family, and that's something that I have to live with for the rest of my life.
I don't think Uncle Nate Knew about Uncle Jason and my mother. Which makes me think, maybe uncle Nate doesn't know as much as he wants us to think.
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number of someone I needed in that moment.
"Hey what happened to the no phone calls rule?" He teased.
"How far are you from Brooklyn?" I asked him.
Within the hour, I was in the park trembling. Once I saw Gabriello's car, I jumped into his passenger seat, compelling him to hug me.
"What's going on?" Gabe asked me.
"I have to get out of here" I admitted, "Let's go to Paris or better yet Prague! You know its beautiful this time of year" I held his head between my hands.
"Taylor, we're not going anywhere" Gabe placed his hands over mine. "what's happened?" At that moment I kissed him, making him to pull away almost instantly, "I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it"
"Shut up" I beg, kissing him again.
We ended up in his motel room that night. Why he was staying in a motel was beyond me, but I didn't care enough to ask any questions.
"Now are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked, I sat half naked on the edge of his bed.
"I don't want to talk about it" I told him.
"Whatever it is, I'd like to help you" Gabe assured.
"It's not something that can be fixed" I admired, looking over my shoulder to face him.
"Try me" he raised his brows, kiss my neck.
"I was on a job and it revealed a lot about my family...well, my uncle Jason" I sighed, rubbing my fingers over my tempted, "it doesn't matter, really"
"Okay" He nodded. "How's Katie?"
"She's doing uncle Nate's rehab program" I sighed, "did you know she was using?"
Gabe shrugged, unphased.
"It's not uncommon in my family" he admitted, "I had my suspicions but no I didn't know...not for sure"
I twisted my body around to face him.
"Did you know one of your uncles were sexually abusing her?" I pushed my brows together.
Gabe's eyes widen.
"What?" He gasped.
"I'm taking that as a no" I sighed.
"Of course I didn't know" he assured, "I would have done something about it if I had!"
"Alright" I Averted my gaze away from his.
"Is that what you really think of me?" Gabe raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't say that" I rolled my eyes.
"She's my family, Taylor! I would have killed em if I knew" he continued, "but you don't believe that do you? because I'm a Larrunzario"
"Do you blame me? After what you guys did to Jason! And my uncle Nate and all the others that you've killed or raped" I looked up at him.
"I feel like we're going around in circles with this. You don't trust me" Gabe cried, "because I'm a Larrunzario and you're an Ashton and us together could never work"
"I didn't say that"
"You didn't have to" he retorted, "but hey, it's my own fault for getting involved with an Ashton" Gabe shook his head slowly. "But at least I know who my family are!"
"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" I folded my arms.
He scoffed. "Your uncle Nate groomed you and your entire family to be his loyal soldiers. Behind every move, even if you think it was your own free-will, it will always be Nate pulling the strings and that's how it'll always be as long as you're living under his roof"
Deep down, I knew he was right. I didn't want him to be but of course, I knew that he was.
"You're right, you and I, not a good idea" I stood up, getting dressed quickly. "Because I'm an Ashton, and you're a Larrunzario" I repeated his words before storming out of the motel.
That's when our illicit relationship came to an end.