Aster Montgomery's Journal

17th September

I want to ruin Christopher's life, but you know...when you're in love with someone for so many years, it's hard to comprehend the fact that your husband never loved you.

I gave him a choice and had a little talk, which turned out ugly.

'You've been having an affair with Lorna for so long! How could you do that to me, Christopher?'

He received my outburst with shocking calmness, as if he expected me to find out about it soon. "I'm sorry, Aster, I wanted to tell you since a long time back. I don't love Lorna, but she's very hard to get rid of...I don't know what happened to me...' he said.

'You have two children with her and a third one on the way. How many lies are you going to tell me?'

'Aster, I love you. I had to pretend with her.'

I held up my hand for him to stop talking. 'I want you to pack your stuff and leave. You can take Devin and Dayana with you if you want since they are yours and Lorna's...'

It had hurt me to say this because over the years I had loved and cared for both of them as much as I had for Castle and Theo; it shattered me to do this but there was no way out of this.

I picked a checkbook and signed a hefty amount. 'Take this money and don't show your face here again.'

Christopher looked broken, and I tried not to let it affect me and yet it was difficult to not feel anything at all. He'd cheated on me, married another woman while being married to me, yet in a small deep corner of my heart, I wanted him to leave Lorna and come back to me.

'Sweetheart, please, don't do this!′ He begged. 'I'm Castle and Theo's father too.'

'I don't care and I don't need you in their lives.′

'I'll divorce her.' He said, 'I'll break off the marriage with her and be with you.'

'No. I want you out of my life and in this house. I will not change my decision.'

'What decision?' Castle stood at the door. He looked so much like Chris. I knew it would break my heart every time I look at him in the future. He looked between his father and me, clearly picking on the tension. He had a basketball spinning on his finger.

'Nothing. Go back to your room, Cas.' I told him.

'Mom, Devin is being an asshole again. Can I throw him in the garbage or better yet, ship his ass off to some isolated island?'

'How many times have I told you to watch your mouth, son?' Chris asked him, obviously feeling threatened and taking the joke seriously.

'Don't talk about your brother like that, Cas. Now leave and close the door on your way.'

He made a face before closing the door.

'Did you see the way he talks about Devin? He thinks he is entitled to everything.'

'But isn't he?' I asked. 'Castle is my heir, Chris, and it will always be that way. If not for Castle, it will be Theodore.'

Chris laughed, 'you're taking revenge on those poor kids.'

'Those poor kids are the ones you forced into the house by lying to me. Castle and Theo are my blood! After the divorce, Devin and Dayana will go with you, and they won't have any more share into my will. I will pass whatever assets that you possess onto them.'

He loved Devin and Dayana more. When he talked to them, he had a different spark in his eyes and over the years I'd ignored it, as I always thought Chris treated them like his own out of the goodness of his heart.

But that was never the case. My children, Castle and Theo were born out of greed for my money. Devin and Dayana were born out of love.

'This is unfair.' He seethed.

'You can tell that to my attorney.'

'You're a heartless bitch, Aster.'

Those were my husband's last words to me. He called me a heartless bitch when all these years I had been feeding his kids. He'd lied to me time and time again while enjoying the luxury that my family name offered him.

* ~ *

I flipped the pages in the journal looking for more entries, but there was nothing.

Blank pages.

That was strange.

The journal was left at an unsatisfying ending. It was kind of like reading a thriller novel and getting the most unsatisfying cliffhanger ending, only this was reality. This had been someone's life.

I joined Theo and Castle in the gaming room upstairs that evening. Chandler was with us too, but he was busy playing the Pac-Man arcade game. Some of these arcade games were vintage, straight-up. Why go to the malls to play these games when you can bring the arcade room home?

The family came from old money. They never had to worry about anything and the evil siblings had shown how ungrateful they were to what Aster had given them.

"What's wrong with your fingers?" Theo asked me, inspecting them.

"It's nothing."

"The tabloids are talking shit about you." He told me, joining me on the leather seats.

"Tell me about it. I was a nobody until a few months ago. Now everyone knows my name for a completely different reason."

"Have you read the news?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to."

Theo didn't take a hint and started telling me about the lies the newspapers and broadcast were saying, "they are calling you a gold-digger, a nobody who married into our family for money."

"Oh please, no one would be interested in being part of a psychotic family, regardless of how much money they had."

"Ouch." Theo chuckled. "They know you never went to Harvard. They also know that you forged the documents. I'm sure Devin had something to do with this. That would explain why the media circus is tearing you out like a bunch of vultures."

I was tired of this.

I was tired of constantly living in fear and knowing there was no way out unless Castle regained his memories. I wanted a normal life. That's the only thing I hoped and longed for, and getting to that dream meant making a sacrifice on the way. There was a likely chance of a divorce, but I'd get the freedom and the empire would have their original heir.

Theo followed my gaze, "When mom was alive, we used to travel a lot. I don't remember a lot since I was too little, but we have the pictures to prove it. Castle enjoyed playing in the arcades and sometimes he would become this annoying kid who wanted to buy the arcades and take them home."

I laughed, "And he got what he wanted, didn't he?"

"He was mom's favorite, so they ended up buying the gaming machines for him."

I watched Castle and Chandler as they moved from the Pacman game to the Super Mario one. The familiar game sounds drifted from the arcade machine.

"You share a father," I said.

Theo's brown eyes burned into mine. "You've been reading the journal."

"Yes, I have. So I'm a little confused. The entry that I read proves your father was already having an affair with Lorna before he married your mother. Does that mean Devin and Dayana were born later?"

Theo nodded. "You need to understand something, Millie. My father, Christopher, was a con artist. He and Lorna were a team that lived off of by tricking other wealthy people. Dad took employment in the Montgomery household after a lot of planning and plotting, but Mom got pregnant before Lorna did. It would make sense that Dad kept the two families away from each other, and a few years later after Devin and Dayana were born, Lorna took up the job in the mansion, and she fed some horse-shit to my mother about an alcoholic husband. My mother believed her and that made it easier for Dad to manage two families, having all his children under one roof while he deceived our mother as she invited snakes into our home."

"The journal is not complete. Where is the rest of it?" I asked.

"There's a separate one. I'll give you that journal tonight."

"I've been wondering, Theo, is it possible that Castle knew something more about what's going on?"

Theo nodded. "Castle had secrets of his own."

"I don't understand."

Theo looked at Castle, who was now playing bowling with Chandler. "He and Devin knew things I did not. I don't know what happened exactly but before the boating accident, I talked to Castle and he said, I quote 'you're better off not knowing anything.' I'm not sure what it means."

"Did Aster kill Lorna and Chris?"

Theo stiffened with that question. "I'm going to let you read the second journal."

The second journal was delivered to me after midnight. 

* * *

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