Page 81 of Castle

“I’m sorry. Do you remember anything at all? Even the smallest detail would matter.”

“Why…” His hands began shaking, his face contorted in pain. “Why are we talking about this?!” He demanded with calm fury, “I told you I don’t want to…god…my head’s hurting again. I’m having these flashes…it’s suffocating! I woke up the other day with…” He lost it.

He howled aloud in agony.

“Castle, calm down!” I told him softly, trying to touch him, but he slapped my hand away.

He was holding his head in pain, his eyes tight shut, living some kind of nightmare.

There were loud bangs on the door, and Winston’s voice drifted from there. “Is everything alright?”

“Please come in.”

I pulled on a robe and made sure Castle’s lower half body was covered before letting Winston come into the room. “Do you have some aspirin for the headache?” I asked him.

The maids standing at the door hurried, one was pouring water into a glass, another busy doing something else.

And then Castle stopped screaming. He looked at the empty doorway, his eyes red-rimmed. “I will ruin your lives! Mark my words!” He barked those words in an authoritative voice that I did not even recognize.

That was followed by deafening silence.

He stopped screaming and then looked around.

Everyone had stopped doing whatever they’d been doing. They were staring at Castle in horror. Even Winston’s eyes had popped out of its sockets, but he refused to say a word.

He wouldn’t even step closer.

And then something changed in Castle’s eyes, he was tear-soaked, “Why are you…” he sniffled, “why is everyone looking at me like that?!” He clenched his hair in his fists, “I’m tired…I’m going to bed.”

With a shaky hand, I ran my fingers soothingly through his hair. “I didn’t mean to cause you distress. Goodnight. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

He turned away from me and faced the other side of the bed, ignoring me.

Whatever had happened just now wasn’t normal.

And by the looks on everyone else’s faces, it looked like they’d just witnessed a dead man come to life.

THIRTY-TWO

“You’re tellingme she didn’t run away or commit suicide?” I asked Theo the next evening.

“Nope. Mom was a strong woman, and she would never do something like that. She cared too much about us to abandon us like that. I mean...I was very young, but I remember how kind and caring she was. She never mistreated the maids the way Devin and Dayana have been doing.”

“But the journal says she left, Theo!”

“Yes, I know. It’s her handwriting, but I don’t believe it. I don’t know what happened...” He whispered the next words, “But Castle did. He knew stuff that he was hiding from us.”

“The journal is strange,” I admitted. “It doesn’t make sense. If she wanted revenge, why would she decide to leave everything, especially her children?”

“Exactly my point.”

“Is Chandler…”

“He’s Lorna’s son. We’re half-siblings.”

“I see. So, after your mother disappeared, Lorna took over your house?”

“Yup. Castle wasn’t at a legal age to inherit the company; he didn’t have that kind of power. After mom left, Lorna movedinto the master bedroom that was my mother’s. It was fucking torture, watching this sleazy woman—a thief walking into our home, wearing my mother’s things and trying to take her place. It was disgusting and by that time, grandpa had already lost some of his marbles. They sent me to boarding school, and Castle left for college.”

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