Chapter 22: Chapter 22

“Dad?” Juliano called.

Romeo looked over at him with a raised brow. “Yes?”

Juliano walked into his office and sat down. Looking at Romeo, he said, “I think it’s time that we have a talk.”

Closing the book he was writing in, Romeo asked, “What can I help you with?”

“Dad, I want to know. I want to know why I was raped. I think I’ve waited long enough and now that my therapy is over, you can tell me,” he said.

Romeo stared at his son. Juliano was now sixteen, and the year was nearing its end. Juliano had been silent all these years, but he’s developed a phobia towards others touching him. 

When he was younger, he was fine, but when the nightmares started, he became distant. The only one who could touch him was Milaan, but that was only when he allowed her to. She couldn’t just randomly go up to him and hug him.

Romeo looked away from him then back at him and said, “Okay, but I do not want you to think badly of your father and I.”

Juliano frowned, “Why would I?”

“Because the things I am about to tell you are not for the faint of heart and I don’t want you hating us,” he said.

Juliano forced a smile, “It can’t be that bad, dad.”

Romeo stared at his son for a moment then began, “When I was young, I witnessed my parents arguing continuously and it got so bad that my father beat my mother up and this was only later when I found out. It had been going on for years.”

Juliano recalled his grandfather and said, “But they love each other.”

Romeo shook his head. “My biological father, or at least I thought he was my biological father.”

Juliano sat up, confused. Leaning against the table, he asked, “Dad, wait, what does this have to do with me?”

Romeo shook his head, “Listen, son. You wanted to know why, so I am telling you from the very beginning because I know your next question is how was I capable of saving you.”

Juliano went silent and nodded. That was his next question, and he didn’t expect his father to know that.

“My mother was married to a man named Michael, and they loved each other very much, but they struggled to conceive a child. When your grandmother finally got the news that she was expecting me, you couldn’t say that she was the happiest according to my grandparents, but my father was the happiest until one day when someone said that I do not look like him. That is when things went bad for your grandmother. Behind the scenes, Michael did a DNA test, and I wasn’t his. He loved me, spoiled me, but abused my mother for cheating on him,” he explained.

Juliano had sunken into the chair, listening to this. 

“One night it happened again but and I was hiding in the closet. I used to hide away when I was angry at my parents and, unfortunately, I hid in their room. He came home sober as a sane man and beat her up all because she didn’t fill up the gas tank. I watched him beat her until she was bloody and then watched as he raped her unconscious body. I think he must have forgotten that I existed because he just left the house after that,” he said.

Juliano could see that his father didn’t enjoy talking about this because his hands were as stiff as rocks. 

“I cleaned my mother’s body with tears and I was frightened. Back then, when it happened, I was only seven, so just imagine how that impact me. Unfortunately for me, my mother told my father that I helped her and it was quiet, or at least that’s what I thought. I found him beating her up in the garage with her hands tied and her mouth gagged. When he saw I had caught him, it was as though he had seen a ghost. My mother always said that I was my father’s treasure even though I wasn’t biologically his and for me having to catch him again made him lose that hope that he had as my father.”

“I in that moment lost all sanity and grabbed what I could and killed him. It’s after I set your grandmother free I realized I killed my father,” he said.

“That must have been hard for you,” Juliano said.

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Romeo nodded his head. “Yes, but that was the beginning of my hell.”

“Hell?” He repeated.

“After I set your grandmother free, she checked to see if he was breathing, but he wasn’t. She rushed inside and about thirty minutes later or longer, a man walked into the house and he looked just like me,” he said.

“What?” Juliano asked, perplexed.

Romeo shook his head. “Juliano, I cannot explain to you how it makes me feel knowing that I am that man’s child. In my life, I wanted to end my life because of the memories and heartache, but that’s when Halo entered my life and I found meaning again.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad? Isn’t the bad guy the man you thought was your father?” He asked.

“After all these years, I learnt that he just couldn’t stand living with my mother and giving her up,” he answered.

“I don’t understand,” Juliano said.

Romeo thought up a nice way to say it to him, then said, “Think of it like this. I am your father but Halo hid you away from me for six years and only told me because he needed my help then I find out that the love of my life had slept with someone else and he could be your father and not me.”

Juliano’s shoulders slumped. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

“I felt disgusted and betrayed. That’s I why I wanted to move out back then, but aren’t we happier now than we were before?” He asked.

Juliano nodded his head. He remembered those days, but his father was just taking too long to get to the point.

“So what happened next?” He asked.

“My mother told me he was my real father and told me he and my dad were best friends,” he said.

“That’s messed up, dad. Isn’t that like saying Antonio and I are brother’s knowing very well that we like each other?” He asked, giving away his thoughts.

Romeo took note but pretended he didn’t, say, “Yes, but that man was just too busy to have a family of his own and forced himself on my mother one night when he was drunk.”

“No,” Juliano said, dumbfounded.

“Yes, and I only found out a few years later. He and I never got along. He was always out working and thought that just because I am his kid, I’ll accept him.”

“What was he always doing?” He asked.

“He was a cop, so you can just imagine why I don’t like that,” he said.

Juliano chuckled humorously, “But uncle Anthony isn’t your father.”

Romeo tilted his head to the side and said, “Continue listening, son.”

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