The End of the Marston Siblings.

He had been putting this off for two months. He had been left so numb, so horrified and confused by the revelations brought to his feet by Detective Inspector Mooney, about the truth of Diane's murder.

His children could not be responsible.

But Philip had listened as Mooney had laid out the entire sequence of events, feeling increasingly sick as he realised how much sense the sequence made rather than Diane taking her own life after reading that damn newspaper article about how she'd abandoned her child and put them up for adoption; Diane had not told him about the story, but he had seen the red around her eyes when he had rushed to her body when he saw her lying on the ground below the balcony, and it had just tallied with the notion she had committed suicide.

While the case had been going on - Phillip realised he had made a major mistake in making assumptions, both about Diane and her character, and Detective Inspector Mooney's desire to see justice served - he had been left reeling by her death, and he had wanted the whole matter ended so he could get back to his life, but his heart was broken by Diane's sudden death.

It had…startled him, that he had found love again following how he had lost his first wife, but he had.

Only for her to be taken away from him, by his apparently spoilt children.

Spoilt children…

When he had heard that, Philip had gone numb with shock which was an achievement considering how he had just learnt Karen, Stephen, and Pearl had conspired together to murder Diane, but the notion they were spoilt and they 'didn't want' Diane in their lives in any way had shaken him.

For two months, Philip had tried to get back to his life. He had sat in the audience, watching the trial of his children and he had been forced to listen as his children were sentenced to prison. At the trial, a number of other crimes had come out as well, and Philip had felt sick when he had listened to them all come to life.

Sexual assaults.

Threats of grievous bodily harm.

Theft.

Embezzlement.

Fraud, even.

What made a lot of it worse was his children had managed to get away with a lot of it because they had been backed by him, and they used their positions to keep themselves safe. It was only during their plan to kill Diane their crimes were unveiled. Phillip had never even known about the women Stephen had slept with over the years, never mind the counts of theft and even fraud from Pearl. Karen herself was guilty of fraud and embezzlement as well. Right now Philip was heading up a massive crackdown to discover just how badly his children had ruined his company.

The good thing was Karen, Pearl, and Stephen had limited their activities as much as they could without compromising him too badly, but the scandal had been almost impossible to keep quiet.

He could not believe his children were responsible for those crimes. That was one of the reasons why the trial had been delayed for a while. To give investigators the chance to properly investigate the accusations. Philip had been horrified when he saw just how much he did not know his own children.

But today, Philip planned on getting answers. He had used his connections with the Saint Marie government to see if he could arrange a meeting with Stephen, Karen, and Pearl. It was long past the time he knew his children, instead of seeing them all the way he wanted. A nasty part of him knew he had been putting this off for some time because he had genuinely wanted his children to suffer for everything they had done.

It hadn't been difficult pulling in a few of his remaining favours with the Saint Marie government to arrange this meeting. Yes, many of them were not happy with what Karen and Stephen had been doing, but when they had learnt he had put a lot of work into cleaning up the firm, they'd been open to his request.

The Marston Hotel firm had an open-door policy when it came to employment; Philip had never liked it when companies made the mistake of throwing away those with potential, in his mind everyone had potential. He didn't get it. How could you throw away someone who could be a great waiter? How could you throw away someone who could rise up to become a great manager? It was his policies towards employment that made the Saint Marie government appreciate his company, but while the scandal his children had caused had slightly tarnished that once a gleaming vision, they were giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Philip was sitting in a seat near a table with a large glass jug of chilled water with two platters of biscuits nearby, waiting for his children to appear while he tried to think of what he wanted to say, and what needed to be said.

Finally, they appeared, and Phillip took a good long look at his children. All three of them were the same people, but the moment he saw them all Phillip realised the two months they'd spent in prison had changed them. Stephen looked haggard like he hadn't slept well for the last two months. Phillip hoped his son, despite all he had done, had not suffered too much. He had heard how people could be picked out in prisons, and since his children had been brought up privileged, in a wealthy environment, Philip guessed his children had found themselves in a world that was totally unknown to them.

Karen and Pearl both looked the same, but there was something fundamentally different about the pair of them. But whatever it was, Phillip noted how the two girls were much closer together; the sisters had always had a gulf between them due to their different ages and life philosophies if in the end, they had both come together to commit murder, but now they seemed inseparable. The two girls had likely been on their own in prison, so they'd only had each other.

"Daddy?" Pearl's really quiet voice broke through Philip's thoughts, and he looked into his youngest daughter's face. Pearl, Karen, and Stephen looked stunned to see him, although he was surprised nobody had thought to tell them he was coming for a private visit.

Phillip stood up, and Pearl rushed to him, her arms outstretched, desperate for some kind of contact with him. Phillip almost held his arms out to receive the hug, realising that despite everything they had done, their betrayal, the way they had killed Diane after conspiring for god knew how long…they were still his children.

In the end, Phillip could not find it in his heart to push his daughter away. He wrapped his arms around her, inhaling her scent; Pearl smelt the same as she always had, but there was something more earthy, dusty. Pearl had obviously changed a great deal in the last two months, though whether she was tolerating the changes or not, he couldn't tell.

But all he knew was, while he was holding his daughter, Phillip realised how much he had missed them. He held out his arms for Karen and Stephen, and they both joined into the four-way hug. Like Pearl, Phillip could smell the changes in their usual scents; Stephen wasn't wearing his usual deodorant and cologne, and Karen was lacking the smell of her own favourite brand of perfume. All of them smelt unlike themselves, but it was their expressions that concerned him a little bit. All three of them had changed.

Phillip gestured to the seats. "Sit down." He felt like this was a job interview, or it was some kind of formal meeting rather than anything else.

The trio sat down. They clearly realised he was off with them, and he saw them exchange uncertain looks with one another, but otherwise, the trio was silent. Phillip just sat back down in his chair, and he studied his children closely for five minutes. Stephen, Karen, and Pearl became more visibly uncomfortable while he kept silent. They knew this was one of his favourite tactics whenever he wanted to understand a cock-up in the firm, and they knew from experience the best thing to do was to keep quiet. He preferred the silence so then he could get a feel of the tension in the room. The fact they were the ones on trial right now meant all three of them knew the only way to get out of this was to just be silent.

"I have spent the last two months trying to clean up the mess the three of you have caused. And it goes beyond the conspiracy to murder my fiancé, your soon to be stepmother," Philip began bitingly as he remembered what Pearl had said about how they had not wanted her, so he took some pleasure in reminding them in a different world, they would have gotten married by now, "Theft, extortion, fraud, assault. Two months, cleaning up a mess like that, and it has cost me a lot. Part of me is actually relieved all three of you are gone, and I'm not the only one. Do you have any idea how many people at the hotel chain were glad you were out?"

That was a bitter pill to swallow and it had shaken Phillip even more, but not as much as he had been horrified with the news Diane had been murdered by the three of them.

He noticed all three of them share looks. They didn't look too surprised by the news. They clearly knew they had made enemies out of the staff, but they had never been a threat since they had such high places in the company. All Karen and Stephen needed to do were to band together, and all they would have to do was settle it from behind the scenes, and pay them off. Diane was only aware of the one incident, but when his children were arrested all of their victims who'd been hounded out of their jobs by sexual harassment or by other forms of intimidation, they had come forward.

It was how he had been forced to clean up the mess which had meant he took so long to meet with his children.

Phillip sighed and ran a hand through his silvery hair. "Okay, the three of you made it clear why you did what you did, but I just want to know if I ever knew the three of you?"

"Of course you do, dad!" Stephen's eyes flew open, realising the next few minutes would decide their ultimate fate. Judging by the looks on their faces as they realised how dangerous this was, Karen and Pearl recognised the danger signs themselves.

"Do I?" Phillip challenged. "The three of you are responsible for a massive, ongoing investigation into the firm, but what I really want to understand is why? I know there's more to what you did to Diane; just tell me, why."

The siblings looked at each other. They were surprised that this was happening right now. Their father had had so many opportunities to come to them to ask these questions. Why had he taken so long?

Pearl decided to get some answers. "Why didn't you ask us these questions before?" She asked curiously without any rancour. She just sounded curious.

Phillip glared at her. "I'm asking the questions. Why did you do it?"

Shaken suitably by her father's anger, Pearl visibly backed down. "We didn't want her-."

"You said that before, Pearl. But what did you mean?"

Stephen sighed. "We didn't want you married to her, so you and she would replace us."

Phillip had been preparing for something else, some base and pathetic excuse, or some desire to lash out, but he had not been expecting this. "What?" He whispered.

Karen sighed. "All we had was each other when we were growing up after mum died."

"We thought when you married her, we would be sidelined. We didn't want that," Stephen added.

It seemed the siblings were speaking about their reasons according to their birth order. "We had spent years together. Why would we share it with others? Do you think we made the decision to kill her lightly?"

"We knew if you had children with Diane, they would become more important to you than we were. We didn't want to be alone!" Stephen nodded in agreement and full support for his younger sister's words, but the pain in his eyes, in all of their eyes was painful for Phillip to see. "How did you think we would react when a woman came into our lives, and within two minutes of being engaged with you, she started making changes in our lives."

"It wasn't like that-," Phillip said desperately as he went back through his mind, to his interactions with his children when he had announced his engagement with Diane. Slowly, he remembered how unhappy his children really seemed to be, but Phillip hadn't noticed because he had been with Diane.

Oh, god, what had he done?

His children had believed that he was replacing them, and in a way, he could see it from their point of view. For years they had been together, as one family and then suddenly Diane had walked into their lives and as soon as he'd announced their engagement, his children whom Detective Inspector Mooney had dubbed as spoilt had been terrified they would be replaced.

"Oh, no? What about the time where she wanted to make me get a job?" Pearl asked rhetorically, her eyes suddenly hard. Phillip was stunned by the look in his youngest, and admittedly flightier daughter's eyes. How much had she changed?

"You know I was promoting the Marston brand. What did she think I was doing? Did she ever once bother to check what I was doing, globetrotting?" Pearl's voice bit out.

Phillip glared back as he got over his shock about his daughter's demeanour. "Oh, and what about the counts of assault? Of theft? What about the sexual assault charges? The fraud?"

And, as if his children had a magic wand waved over them, they lost their fire and sagged.

"Do you have any idea what kind of damage control I have needed to go through just to save the company because of your actions? I have needed to negotiate compensation for hundreds of people. I have needed to open my eyes, and I have not liked what I saw. Why did you steal so much? Why did you start committing fraud?!" Phillip demanded.

Karen, Pearl and Stephen exchanged looks of horror. What made it worse was that he could see they were not sorry one little bit about their crimes, they were just upset about their crimes had been found out.

Phillip sighed as he wondered what he could do about this, and he wondered if he could even bring himself to forgive his children even a little bit. He had already made a mess raising them, and introducing them to Diane as his fiancé, pushing them to the sidelines. The least he could do was hope he could make amends while they did the same. They were going to be in prison for a long time, and he did not want to be alone. Suddenly he sympathised with them since they had assumed they would become alone themselves even with a new stepmother.

Until the next story.

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