"Your daughter and father are both together. You have nothing to worry about them, Arion. The only thing that you and Mary should b doing right now is to listen to I'm about to say." Noticing the seriousness in Martha's tone of voice, both Mary and Arion sat down and focus their whole attention on Martha.
Martha started to explain everything that happened, back from the very beginning. She also includes the plan she and Marcus have. After she said everything that Arion and Mary needed to know, both of them have this gloomy expression on their faces.
"Aunt Martha," Mary was the first one who spoke. "I respect you, I really do. But what you and my father-in-law were planning is beyond rude towards me. I don't care about James, not at all. However, I do care about the fact that you tried to use him as a bait for the Ricci family to come."
Anger. That is the only word that Martha can describe in Mary's face, and she understands why Mary is angry.
"W-Why are you trying to do that, Aunty?" Arion asked. Even he doesn't like to hear the Ricci family's name. They are the reason why he walked away from his family for so many years, and up until now, he is still trying to get every bit of information that he needs to destroy them. And what his aunt Martha and his father are doing is not making actually helping him. "You know damned well that the Ricci family is dangerous, and Mary doesn't want to hear a word of their name. Also, what does my brother have to be able to lure out those bastards?"
"Well, first all, your brother has information that only a few knows, and the Ricci family wants that information." To where the stairs are, Marcus' voice was heard. Everyone turns their attention to him.
Marcus is still looking pale, but it seems like he can handle himself, and Anna is by his side. There is nothing much Arion can worry about.
"Father, shouldn't you at least tell us this so-called plan that you and aunt Martha are having?" Mary asked as soon Marcus has comfortably sat down. Mary is full-on support if everyone wants to take down the Ricci family, but she at least has the right to know if there is a plan. They should have let her known about their plan much early on.
"We told anything because you're an emotional wrecked whenever you hear about your family entering your life again." Marcus straightforwardly spoke to Mary. Marcus is not saying nonsense, it has always been like this.
No matter how many times Mary says that she's fine with the Ricci's entering her life again, she always ends up crying alone in the darkroom by herself, which is the more reason why Marcus and Martha decided not to say anything about it to her.
With an angry expression plastered on her face, Mary spoke, "Emotional? Yes. I'm emotional when it comes to those bastards. And let me correct you, they are not my family, they are my nightmares." Every time Mary hears from her husband that there is another new information about the Ricci's she starts to get nervous.
She thinks that the Ricci family is closer and closer to endanger her children, and she can't have that to happen. But now that she's hearing this, she felt that the danger is much stronger than ever.
"Father, I can tell that this plan's intention is good, but I am not happy about this. You should have at least considered my wife's feelings. You should have told us. Sure. Mary can be too emotional when it comes to them, however, she is strong. She can overcome her emotion towards them when it is needed." Arion angrily explained to his father.
"We were considering her feelings here, Arion. Her feelings are the exact reason why we didn't tell her." Martha spoke in a matter of fact tone. And from what she sees, it is a good thing that they didn't say a word. Mary looks like she about to faint from too much stress.
"As I said, aunt Martha, you two didn't." After saying that Arion helped his wife stand up, then he led her to their room. His wife needed some space and thinks about they should do next.
"I see. Arion is still way too overprotective of his wife. How cute." Jay who has been silently listening to the whole conversation suddenly spoke. He has seen quite a few times already, but it never ceases to amaze him at how protective his cousin is to Mary.
He wonders if he could be like that once he found himself a partner.
"I have a question." After listening to the whole conversation, many questions popped into his mind. Marcus nodded at Aaron, signaling him that he is allowed to ask the question. "Who are the Ricci family? Why is my mother so scared of them?"
"Aaron, your mother is not scared of them, she's scared of what they will to you and to your sister. That is the reason why she has that kind of reaction." Marcus carefully explained to Aaron. "And the Riccis family is related to you by blood from your mother's side. Also, they are one of our family's enemies."
"I thought Mom's family is... dead." Now that they are talking about this, Anna suddenly realized that she only knew a little bit of information about her mother's family. At least, for the most part, Anna believes that the stories that she's been hearing are not actually true.
Martha decided to sit right next to Anna, then she held Anna's hand. "To your mother's perspective, they are dead to her. She doesn't care about them. They ruined her."
There are only a few people who knew about this, but she's willing to share her past with the twins. She told the twins that the first time she met Mary, she did not actually like her. In fact, she hated the fact that Mary has a blood of a Ricci flowing in her veins.
Martha wasn't a big fan of the Ricci because she knows what kind of sick people they are, and she thought that Mary is the same. She judged Mary over and over again whenever she sees her. And now, she feels guilty about it whenever she speaks about the Ricci in front of Mary.
"Your mother hated those people because they, her own parents, experimented on her." It's a painful past the Mary doesn't want to let her kids know about her, but in order for the twins to understand everything Martha has to tell them the important details.
"Y-You..." Anna is having a hard time picking the right words, and it took her to few seconds to finally said it out loud. "You should be telling this to me and my brother. I'm sure that my mom doesn't want you to tell us about her past." Knowing her mother, Anna is sure that if her mother wants to say something to her, she would say it to herself.
In this matter, Anna wouldn't care if it takes years for her mother to open up about the Ricci family. What Martha Cole is doing right now is violating her mother's privacy.
"I know. I know that. But we can't wait for your mother to get ready. You two need to know everything right away because starting from today, the road will become a bumpy one." After Martha said that, she stood up, then walks towards Marcus to kiss his cheeks. "Now that I'm sure that you're alright, I'll get going now."
"Careful on the road, Jay." Marcus reminded Jay, and Jay only nodded, then he helped his mother carry her bag. "And also, Martha, gather everyone for a meeting tomorrow. If they can't come, then it's their loss."
Even if the enemy they were expecting did not show up, it does not mean that Marcus will let this one slide. By tomorrow, a strategy meeting will happen because Marcus is having a feeling that this certain enemy already has a plan against them.
After the mother and son pair left, Anna and Aaron are in silence. They are still in a state that they are having a hard time believing that the people they are related to are the worst people they ever have known.
"They treated our mother like a guineapig?" Anna asked in disbelief. She knew from the start that her mother was never been in a good family from the start, but never she could have fathomed that her mother lived worse than her in her past life.
"Yeah. I wanna kill them. How dare they do that to our sweet, sweet mother." Aaron wished that he has great power in his hands and could have just killed the people who shows nightmares to his mother. If he had that kind of power, then maybe, just maybe, he could lift his mother's sadness.