Full Circle - Day 17

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Day 17

The room, if possible, became even quieter… still. It was as if no one even dared to breathe. Victoria gasped. “No,” she whispered, “you said she died because I had turned up the thermostat. You said the heat caused her organs to shut down. Didn’t you just tell me that?” Her eyes pleaded with him for some sort of explanation.

Ivan shook his head. He couldn’t imagine that his heart could hold any more pain or guilt than it did at this exact moment. “Yes, Victoria, I did tell you that. That’s what I told all of you. But I can’t… I can’t let you continue to be the one that everyone hates and fears. I turned the thermostat up. I told your mother and sister that you had done it.”

“But why?” Victoria asked, tears falling freely down her cheeks. ‘‘Camille was already dead.’’

Ivan looked away now. “I… I knew how attached you all were to Camille. I knew her death would be difficult on all of you. But especially you, Victoria. I realized you were not going to be able to cope with her death rationally. At that time, you became a liability to me. I… I was afraid.” He paused. “Afraid you would maybe tell someone. There was too much at stake. I couldn’t let that happen. You have no idea how messy that would have been. Not just for me, for all of us. Camille was the secret we all kept.”

“Because you made us keep her a secret, Father,” Alexandria snapped.

Ivan shook his head. “The reasons why were never important. Things were on the verge of becoming very complicated. Very, very messy. I had to do something. I had to find a way to get Victoria out of the picture. She was emotionally unstable and potentially a threat to this family. So I had to present her to both of you as an actual threat to this family. I had to make you look at her differently. I had to,” he added, grimly.

This news took everyone by complete surprise. Viola had always believed she knew all the details of that night. Although she had never personally viewed the tapes, Ivan had insisted it would be far too painful for her, he had given her a brief and very believable explanation of what happened that night.

This new revelation from Ivan was almost as heartbreaking as Camille’s passing. How dare he do this to the family? How dare he use them as pawns in his very own game of life. She glared at him now. “You did this for your own selfish reasons? You tore our family apart. We had just lost one daughter and you had to take Victoria away from me too? How could you?” Viola turned away. She couldn’t bare to look at him now. No one could. So no one noticed when he slipped his foot under the bed and slid the gun out.

Reaching between his legs, Ivan picked it up and held it.

All the movement caused Viola to turn to him again. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the gun in his hand. “Oh God, Ivan!” she screamed, jumping up and rushing over to her daughters. “Would you really kill your own daughter?” Protectively she wrapped her arms around both of them.

Ivan laughed. But it was a laugh filled with contemplation and weariness. He looked across the room at the three of them huddled together, frightened of him. At that moment, he knew his heart had just made room for the last bit of pain it was able to hold.

Looking down at the gun, he traced his finger along the length of it. “I would never do that,” he said, still looking at the gun and not at his family. “I’m really not the monster that you all now believe me to be. I’m just tired. I don’t know how to do things any other way. I am who I am. I am a Van Cort… Only the strong can survive.”

And with that, he placed the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger…

Think it’s over? Not quite. Catch the final installment of THIS story in three days. You don’t want to miss the ending!!!