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16
Max and the other men in the room watched her as she feverishly typed into her phone. She was now scrolling through the pages, and she looked up. Max had never actually seen someone turn different shades right in front of him before. He was instantly holding her back and propping her up. “What did you find?” Max prompted, knowing everyone was waiting on her.
“There was this law clerk at the lawyers who my dad favored.” She said softly, almost to the point no one could hear her. “Remember when I told you I got the weird results from the DNA tests.”
“Yes.” Max prompted again. He was getting her to sit down. “What does this have to do with you and this?”
“Max, listen,” Deanna said as she looked at up at into his eyes. He was listening, but time was important he
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Weathering the Storm 17
Deanna looked around here as the entire group of people that were in the room a few minutes ago were in the parking lot getting in different cars. They had a few different ways to get to the area, and then they would hike to the house and wait for some sort of movement. Two other units were going on a hunting trip to see if they could find the other person involved for some questioning and to hold him on his outstanding warrants. This simple favor Max had asked for was growing by the minute.Despite the growing nature of this, Deanna felt oddly calm as she looked toward Max. She knew half of the reason she had been on edge lately wasn’t because of this or the letters though they had taken a toll on her. She would never deny that. The fact he was so accepting of everything that had to do with her and their lives together was something she would never really understand. He
Weathering the Storm 18
Deanna looked at Max as he waited for a response. Everyone seemed like they were on high alert when she took a step forward. She wasn’t trying to hold the attention, but she could not get over who was in front of her. It was a shocking moment for her, and it showed her that everything she had thought for her entire life was nothing but a lie. She shook her head.“This is my brother Jeremy. You didn’t get to meet him at Justine’s funeral, Max. He was missing from that, but I heard he made a scene at our parent’s one.” Deanna said as she looked at the man on the ground with a look. No one had seen her give before. “The other one is his best friend, James.”“Deanna, tell them to let us go!” James said, “It was a joke!”“A j
Weathering the Storm 19
As soon as they were sure they had everyone and everything they needed at that point, they went back to the station to make a quick plan to go out and round up all of her siblings and their children as well. Though Deanna knew this was going to be a long night, she also knew she had to be there when everyone was brought in. She had to see their faces as they found out they were all caught up in this scheme. This wasn’t like one of the childhood larks they would all often get into together. This was her life.Nothing was ever going to be the same for her again. There would be literary no one from her family left if this ended up being true. If they all had a hand in a plot to go after her, she would never be able to move on from that. Deanna knew this was not really their fault to a point, but at the same time, they were all adults. They had the choice to walk away and hav
Weathering the Storm 20
As they waited, Deanna had to think. She had to figure out a way to protect herself in the long run. There was nothing she could really think of, though. Everything was piling up around her. This whole thing had snowballed from nothing ever happening in her life to everything falling apart. She thought back of the times she had stayed in her apartment and had dreamed about her graduation and finally being totally free of her family.Now she knew they had been waiting for that time as well. The best time to hold her in the basement of her parent's household and use her in ways she couldn’t imagine. They had all been in on it. The only thing that had saved her was the fact she had made a big deal by walking away and hiding basically. Though she still talked to her family, she had done everything by herself.She realized without even knowing the dang
Weathering the Storm 21
“Hello, Aunt Joyce?” Deanna said into the phone as she turned it on speaker, and Max took out his recorder to get the whole thing on tape. If Deanna was right, this could be huge, and it would be needed to make the case fit more by their standards as officers. “Just so you know, this conversation is being recorded, okay?”“Deanna, is that you?” Joyce asked as she struggled with the phone. “Why is it being recorded?”“I have some questions I have to ask you,” Deanna said as she had to ground the words out. This felt so wrong to her, but at the same time, it was the only way she could think of to possibly have some answers.“You know, don’t you?” The older woman asked, and Deanna’s eyes went wide.“Know what?” D
Weathering the Storm 22
Deanna looked up to him questioningly as he stood up and had to start pacing. That was a sign for her after noticing that he only did that when he was trying to piece things together to form a better picture in his head. She watched him move back and forth through the hallway they had camped out in waiting to hear from anyone that they had got to her siblings. They knew it had to be all at once, or one of them might disappear with some sort of knowledge of the others being picked up. This was bigger than this department should be able to handle. Deanna knew that, and so did Max, but he had faith that everything would work out the way it was supposed too.“What did you find?” Deanna asked as she finally couldn’t take it anymore with watching him pace back and forth on the hallway.“The curse,” Max said.
Weathering the Storm 23
“How in the world?” the older man asked as he had sat through the entire conversation listening to the two of the people in front of him. With every statement made, he felt more disgusted that he could even have the smallest part in any of this. He looked Deanna over again as he tried to clear out his throat. “Deanna, I have known you since you were born. I knew your brothers and sisters from birth, as well. I knew your father. No, I am sorry, grandfather, since childhood. Though I had no idea what was going on, I do have to say I didn’t particularly like your mother. She changed him though only an old friend would notice those small changes. I dare say this shouldn’t be a shock as we all saw the favoritism she had with David and some of the other boys I never thought this could be happening right under our noses.”“Not many people saw
Weathering the Storm 24
Max walked out of the room for a second as some of the other officers had come back to the conference room. He looked over the group that had amassed in the station. There were sets of adults and groups of children everywhere. He did a headcount of the people and saw that the number was right. They had got everyone in one try unless there were more out there that they didn’t know about. Max had some questions for the people who were not blood tied to the family. The spouses of the siblings. They had to answer for everything as well. As he looked at their faces, he started to understand this family a bit more. He felt some sympathy for them as well. It was plain to see they had zero clue as to why they were all there. It was then that Max realized they had no idea at the lengths the siblings would do or had done as well. They had no idea their children were being used as well.The kids themselves stayed
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