“Zachary told me very little about his mom.”
“Oh, she was one of a kind. Beautiful, gracious, gentle. I don’t think there were people who hated her. Ever. And Mister Anthony loved her. They were a match made in heaven.”
I raise my knees, resting my chin on them while contemplating her words. “But he remarried rather quickly.” I have no doubts Anthony and Olivia love each other, even if Zachary hates his stepmother. It’s painfully obvious the older couple have a mutual affection that has nothing to do with money. However, I’m curious to listen to an outsider’s opinion on this situation, rather than seeing it all through Zachary’s eyes.
Patience exhales heavily. “Yes, and that was the end of their relationship. Zachary was too small to understand. And whenever Mr. King tried to explain years later, he wouldn’t listen. Then both of them just gave up. It’s sad that’s what it is.”
My brows furrow. “Listen to what?”
She glances toward Emmaline before shifting closer to me and dropping her voice, as if someone might hear us, even though the other people on the beach are far away. “He married Olivia so fast, because he was protecting her from her ex-husband.” I still at this information. “He fell in love, yes, but he would have waited a long time before bringing them to Katherine’s house. You had to see how much he loved her to know that about him. But Miss Olivia’s husband was a very bad man.”
I stay silent, too afraid to put all the puzzle pieces together once again in my head, yet dread already fills me in anticipation of her next words.
“They’d been divorced for two years. She left him, because he wasn’t mentally stable, I think. Anyhow, he lost his damn mind for good when she started dating Mr. King. Once, he attacked her really violently, and she ended up in the hospital. However, no one could prove it was him, but they were sure.”
Oh my God, poor Olivia.
“So Mr. King did the only thing he felt was right. He married her and took her and the kids under his wing.” She exhales heavily. “He thought that would be the end of it, but… threats started to come from different anonymous sources. Despite King’s wealth, they couldn’t do anything about them, and then…”
“And then?”
“The psycho threatened to kill Zachary, and he probably would have. Anthony had no choice but to send him away.” And in this, he broke his son’s heart even more, but I don’t blame him.
He couldn’t have explained it all to his son, and his only instinct was to protect his child.
“I just don’t understand. How about the police? FBI? Or King’s security? I mean, who was her ex-husband that he had more resources than the Kings?” Judging by how Zachary lives, getting whatever he wants with the crook of his finger, it’s hard, or more like impossible, for me to imagine Anthony King was this helpless against some man.
“He was a computer genius who could never be traced. Not to mention, he could change documents and his appearance in the blink of an eye.” Patience pauses, taking a few breaths before becoming silent, while my palms sweat and my heartbeat speeds up when the full meaning of it settles in.
What are the chances that Olivia’s ex-husband waited almost three decades to fulfill his plan to kill Zachary, just like he promised all those years ago? But first, decided to play with us all and liked it a bit too much?
In all those profiles about the unsub, I always for some reason thought about someone young, but what if it’s this man?
He fits the profile with the powerful hate toward the Kings for what he thinks was stolen from him, his family.
In his mind, they probably left because of the Kings, so they deserve punishment.
And what greater punishment than killing the heir to the throne?
Yet, I still don’t understand how I’m connected to all of this, but maybe he has been a patient or someone…. Where in the hell could I have been kind to him?
Regardless, the father and son’s relationship suffered from a misunderstanding, when in fact, the exile Zach faced was Anthony’s way of showing him love and protection without uttering the words. “This is really tragic.”
Patience shakes her head. “Tragic was the kidnapping. For years, they tried to find the child when the father dragged it to hell and back. That was one of the reasons Anthony couldn’t allow Zach back home. It was too risky. The FBI flat out forbade it. They had no doubts he would have kidnapped Zach too.”
“Kidnapping?” I repeat while the ringing in my ears intensifies, and my pulse too, my heart beating so fast I feel like it’s about to jump out of my chest.
“Snatched right off the playground. I thought Miss Olivia wouldn’t survive. For five years, she didn’t know what was going on with her child. They continued to live on; the police claimed the child was probably dead, but Olivia believed otherwise.”
Oh no.
Oh no-no-no.
Everything in me screams to cover my ears from this unfolding truth that will forever shatter a mother’s heart, a family, and our lives, because finally the real name of the unsub will come to life.
“Until one day they got the phone call that they found the child, beaten and starved in a basement of a house. The neighbors found the child, because the smell was horrendous. The man died ten days before.” She shudders while the bile in my throat rises in my throat, the disgust mixing with empathy toward the child who probably was treated worse than a dog.
This treatment resulted in his future hate toward Zachary, because they protected him. They got him away, while the abusive dad got the other child, ruining his spirit and body.
And when these kinds of things happen, the psyche tries to protect us, placing the blame where it doesn’t belong yet somehow makes perfect sense in their heads.
I bet the dad repeated many times how no one searched for him or how everyone doted on Zachary, so he couldn’t catch him.
Then daddy dearest died.
And Zachary lived on.
There must have been a trigger, some sort of shift that resulted in all this violence that followed, and somehow, I think that’s where I come in.
“Thankfully, the child didn’t remember anything, and with the help of the doctors, it all became a bad dream.”
Oh, if only.
If only it was all this easy, we wouldn’t have so many villains in this world who find solace when they bring pain to other people, hoping it will numb theirs.
But it doesn’t, because nothing is enough to shut up all the voices in their head reminding them of the past.
At least in their cases, because they’ve succumbed to dark desires.
No one is born with the ax in their hand, ready to kill whoever; every evil is nurtured by its environment or ignorance of society.
“Who was it?” I ask, while freezing completely in anticipation of her answer. “Who was the child that was kidnapped?”
Patience waves at Emmaline, who throws sand in the air, and replies absently, clearly moving on from this conversation, “Lydia King.”
“Patience, I built a castle! Look!” Emmaline shouts and then motions with her hand for her to come. “Do you like it?”
The nanny gets up, dusting off, and walks slowly toward my baby girl while saying admirably, “Oh, it’s so pretty.”
Oh, God.