Page 174 of Poison Vows

“I have no idea,” Scar answers softly. “Grandfather wasn’t at the residence either. All I know is security has been beefed up. Even my brother has been put on lockdown.”

“That night, what happened?”

“You mean the night of your spectacular wedding?” Scar wiggles her eyebrows. “Well, besides the drama, your pseudo father died in the dungeon.”

“What?” I gasp. “Did… did Emmett…”

“No, he was killed by someone else and that person is on the run now.”

“Is it Vaughn?”

“I’m not sure, but it can’t be him since he’s around, just hiding away, and well, processing all the big purchases you did today, most likely.”

I’m stunned by this.

“He does that?”

“Kinda, but maybe it’s different for you and my cousin. I have no idea how the upper, upper echelon live their lives,” she says with a chuckle. “But seriously, Vaughn is being kept under watch somewhere, not at the residence.”

“Uh, Scar,” I start hesitantly. “Do you know what Emmett meant when he was taunting Vaughn about his father?”

“Oh that is drama!” Scar’s eyes grow wide. “It turns out Emilio stole Uncle Angelo’s first love while she was pregnant and passed off the baby as his.”

“Oh God, why?”

“Because Auntie was pregnant with Emmett at the same time! It was a race to for the next generation of power.”

Jesus.

“Why did Angelo go along with it?”

“Fear? No guts? I’m not sure but Uncle Angelo was pretty young when his girlfriend fell pregnant. Now, you have to understand, Grandpa already couldn’t stand his sons, so their mistakes enraged him,” Scar muses. “I think Uncle Angelo went to his older brothers for help, but they saw it as an opportunity. Emilio took Vaughn’s mother as his own and lied to Grandpa about it.”

Wow.

I always knew the love for power makes others evil, but to such an extent? Poor Vaughn.

“What about his younger brother?”

“Lucien’s mother is some other model. The two are not close.”

“I heard you have a brother. Are you two close?”

“Hmm, he’s my baby brother but he’s favored by my father more. Even my mother loves him more so whatever.”

I see I touched a sore topic, so I switch to something else.

“Scar, do you know what happened to my… uh, my…”

“Your birth mother and that vicious, spiteful sister of yours?” she finishes on my behalf. “Yeah, they’re both at the guest house at the residence. If you want to see them, you can.”

“What? They’ve been there this entire time?”

“Babes, are you in touch with reality at all?” I mutely shake my head. “Well, the Hughes family has gone up in flames! They’re being grilled by the public after all that guy’s crimes came to light.”

“Oh my gosh.”

“He committed murder, embezzlement of state funds, human and drug trafficking, prostitution, you name it! Their house upstate was seized by the FBI.”

---