Brooke
Joshua and I made our way over to the hospital. It was almost 3 in the morning by the time we parked the car. The whole entire car ride had been silent, which was unusual because Josh was a guy who loved talking. But something was off about him now. Something I couldn't place.
We made our way to Nathan's room undetected. As we walked into his room we found him hunched over the bed, packing his clothes.
"Nathan." Joshua spoke out loud.
Nathan jumped in surprise. He glanced over at us with confusion.
"Brooke? Joshua? What are you doing here?" Nathan asked.
"To see you. What are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the bag.
"There's something weird going on with my mom. I can feel it. And I want to find out the truth." He responded, giving Joshua a weird look.
"Where are we going?" Josh asked.
"To the only place I know we might find some answers. My dad." He responded.
"Nathan there's something we need to tell you." I spoke softly.
He stopped what he was doing and eyed us suspiciously. His face hardened. Then his blue eyes were on Josh's. I glanced over at Josh who was unflinchingly staring back at him. Clearly there was something else going on I had no clue about. After a few seconds his face began to soften.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Josh took a step forward. "Your mom is not who she appears to be. She's the reason why your father has not been around."
Nathan scratched the back of his head. He looked down at the ground with a clenched jaw.
He doesn't even question it…. The fact that his mother may not be who she is. I mean if I were him and Josh was about to tell me the shit has hit the fan about my mom I wouldn't believe him. I would need proof… evidence, reason, logic. What I don't understand is how can he just accept it like he is?
"She's been trying to keep you two apart for years. I don't know why but were getting down to the bottom of it." Josh finished.
Nathan nodded.
"What else?" he asked.
"That's all for now. We have everybody at Brooke's place doing research. Haley and Jake are locating your dad. Peyton and Rachel are running the background checks." Josh nodded.
Nathan nodded. How can he be so calm about this? We are running background checks on his mother! Come on Nathan! Say something! How is he really feeling about this?
"Alright, well there's no way I'm staying here." Nathan responded.
"Get your stuff. I'll get the car. Brooke will help you pack." Josh announced, then swiftly left the room.
Nathan continued packing.
"How can you be so calm about all of this? I mean you're not even questioning whether we're right or wrong. You're not even asking for proof." I stated.
"Josh and the others are getting the proof. Josh knows what he's doing. This isn't exactly our 1st time that we've done this sort of stuff. Usually we didn't do it for anything good." He responded.
Confusion filled me. What? I've known that Nathan was a different person in New York but what type of person was he? Background checks and investigating people? This is not the Nathan I know.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
There was a lot about Nathan that I didn't know. Granted I have feelings for him but there's like this whole other side to him. A darker side that he kept hidden.
"Black mail." He replied.
My mouth dropped open. A gut wrenching feeling grew in the pit of my stomach.
"You've black mailed people?" I asked hesitantly.
"Yes. I 'm not proud of it. But we did what we had to do." I stated.
"Who's we?" I asked.
"Nicole, Bryce, Josh and I." he confirmed my thoughts.
"I don't understand…" I trailed off.
"Let's just say that we were the elite group at our school. When people got in the way of something we wanted or hurt someone we loved we did anything necessary to protect them and ourselves. We would do awful and horrible things. We made those Gossip Girl people look like amateurs compared to what we did. But that was a long time ago."
"So that's the reason why you don't question each other." I stated.
"We've all been through a lot. We did almost everything together as a group. Being in those types of situations made us bonded for life. We've never lied to one another. They are like family to me. I trust them with my life. We know what we are doing because we are never wrong when we investigate." He stated.
A small chill ran through my body.
"Let's go." He nodded.
I gave him a weak smile and led the way out the door. The new and recent news I had learned about Nathan was getting more and more confusing. My head began throbbing as I tried to understand all of this… There was a lot about Nathan I didn't know and that thought scared me. When I was with Lucas I knew almost everything about him. I knew he had his faults, his weakness's, his temper problems and his cockiness. He knew himself just like I knew him. But with Nathan I had no idea what was going on in his head. Things were changing so fast… my head began swirling as we made our way outside. The Nathan I thought I knew was nothing more but a scratch of the surface. He was a complete stranger.
I spotted Josh's car at the front. Nathan clambered to the passenger side and I hoped in the back. Josh was texting on his phone as we all sat in silence.
"What next?" I asked wearily.
Joshua shut his phone. "Haley called. We got a hit on your dad. He's at the Cotton Lodge. Room 07." Josh stated clearly ignoring me.
I clenched down on my jaw as I eyed both of the new strangers. Somehow my loving and dear friends had turned into deadly and dangerous people.
"Cotton lodge it is." Nathan nodded.
I closed my eyes and slumped into my seat. I prayed that this was some nightmare. I hoped that any minute now I would wake up and unlearn all the things I had tonight. But as I opened my eyes I was still in the now moving vehicle. Deep down I knew this wasn't a dream… But reality.
Peyton
My eyes were glued to the computer screen with shock and confusion. I glanced at Rachel beside me. Behind us Haley and Jake were wide eyed.
"This can't be right?" I stated.
"Seeing is believing." Rachel replied.
"Grand Theft Auto, Arson, Destruction of Property…. Clearly this girl has definitely done her time." Jake spewed out.
"This can't be right!" Haley spoke.
Bryce walked over to us and glanced over at the computer. I watched as his face turned into an unreadable mask.
"This is right." Bryce nodded firmly.
"How would you know?" I threw out.
He glanced up at me with a small smirk. "Trust me girl, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. And this right here is right. She's a criminal." Bryce spoke.
"Wait… guys check this out." Rachel commented.
Everyone leaned in closer to the screen.
"She has a sister?" Haley spoke.
"Yeah clearly a Karen Roe… but she's dead." I stated as I looked closer.
"Nathan's never mentioned her." Jake responded.
"Of course not you idiot! It's because he doesn't know." Bryce stated.
"How was she killed?" Haley asked.
"She was shot…. But that's all it says. It's a cold case." Rachel announced.
"Okay… when did she die?" Bryce asked.
"Hold on! Just hold up!" I stated. "What exactly are we looking for here? Okay so his aunt is dead. Big deal."
"Hey princess… don't you find it funny that no one has mentioned her to Nathan? Wake up girl… obviously this had to do with Deb." Bryce stated. "How long ago did she die?"
"About 15 years ago." Rachel nodded.
"3 years after Nathan was born… that's interesting." Bryce commented.
"Whatever… this isn't leading us anywhere. Let's check out Andy." I spoke.
"Ladies and Gentlemen… we've got a match. Deb and Andy went to the same juvenile facility when they were both kids." Rachel claimed.
Bryce quickly pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Calling Josh. They're on their way over to the Cotton Lodge." He replied.
We all waited in silence.
"Hey… we found something." Bryce spoke. "Yeah she's got a big one. Line after line of stuff. She's done some time."
I glanced at everyone with great apprehension.
"There's also a dead aunt into the mix. A Karen Roe… died about 15 years ago."
Bryce began pacing back and forth. All eyes were on him.
"Okay." Then he shut the phone.
"Now what?" I asked.
"We wait." He replied, taking a seat in the desk chair.
"Type in Karen Roe." Haley responded. Rachel glanced over at her and nodded.
We scrolled down through her stuff. We stopped midway.
"She was married to Keith… way before Deb." Haley replied.
Bryce immediately stood up.
"Omg…. She had a baby." Rachel commented.
"Holy shit." Jake threw his hands in the air.
"Karen Roe was Nathan's mom." I stated.
Bryce pulled out his phone and left the room. We all sat there motionless as the news finally hit us.
"You don't think… Deb did that? Right?" Haley responded.
"Clearly there is a lot we don't know. Anything is possible." Rachel stated.
I glanced down at the computer… completely frozen.
The shit has hit the fan…
Hey everyone! Enjoying the story? Sorry I haven't been updating a lot… I've been trying to get this 'Masterpiece' all set for you guys. Keep reading.. cause trust me you're not going to want to miss the next chapter. The drama will keep building… keep hanging on!
