Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 178

The next month was a blur to Vivian. She’d agreed to Samuel’s offer of giving therapy a chance — a real chance — and ended up with two sessions a week. It’d been difficult the first week, as she still held on to the fear that someone would find out the truth and come after her; until one evening, when she stumbled across a news article that Paul’s body had been found. The investigation was ongoing, as he’d been murdered, but he was dead. Really, really dead. It was followed two days later by a second article, detailing how the RCMP had found a connection between the deceased detective and one of the big crime families in the city.

*They actually believed me?* Vivian was left stunned. For years, she’d been terrified the cops would turn against her if the truth ever came to light but, here they were, on her side. It was surreal.

What also helped was Richard Clark’s body being found a few days later. The first thought that came to Vivian’s mind, was her father had found and killed him. But, after reading the different articles available, and thinking on it some more, she realized there was another possibility.

If Richard had managed to escape the abandoned factory, he’d have most likely laid low. With the news of Paul Oglivie’s connection to the Clark family, and how the police were finding proof of evidence tampering, it was possible the other crime families went looking for retribution after learning they’d been double-cross.

In the end, Vivian didn’t know, or care, which theory was true. Whether it was her father, or another family, who did the deed, Paul Oglivie and Richard Clark’s deaths meant she was, essentially, free. No more looking over her shoulder, no more waiting for something bad to happen.

All of this meant she spent a lot of time sleeping. Her therapist, a soft spoken woman with streaks of grey in her red hair, said it was due to burnout, brought on by years of mental and emotional stress. Vivian had been forcing herself through life without much gas in the tank, and now that she *could* rest, she crashed. Hard.

Miriam came by after school most days, bringing whatever schoolwork Vivian missed while her hand and ankle healed. Even after she was medically cleared to return, she continued to stay home for more rest — her therapist’s idea, since she was still averaging twelve to fourteen hours of sleep per day. Theo came when he could, much to Laurent’s displeasure. They even joined for the Monday family meals.

Eventually, Vivian stopped sleeping on the couch and moved back into her bedroom, where Miriam had a lot to say about the decor. Which was how the entire family, plus her two friends and Reagan, found themselves redecorating on the first weekend in November. Sebastian and Gabriel were given the role of supervisors, due to their still healing injuries. Vivian was given the task of supervising the supervisors, as they took great pleasure in being hyper-critical of their father and youngest brother’s work.

The wall behind her bed was painted a semi-dark sea foam green, while the other three were done in a much lighter shade of the same colour. Shelves with built in lighting were installed on the wall with the bedroom door, working around the television Samuel had purchased, even after she’d told him it wasn’t necessary. Framed art decorated the accent wall as well as the one with both her closet and bathroom doors. This left the fourth wall, where her desk and a couple of storage cabinets were placed. A comfortable, curved back sofa in a fun colour — coral — was found and placed near the centre of the room, accompanied by a small, white, coffee table.

Vivian had to stop her family from trying to add more things, telling them that the already massive change to her space was enough for now.

It was mid-November by the time things had begun to settle down.

Therapy was progressing, albeit slowly, and Vivian returned to school just after Remembrance Day. She was startled to find both Abby and Adriana were no longer students. Laurent rolled his eyes when she asked about it.

“You really think Dad would let either of them come back after what they did?”

“But he can’t prove Adriana did anything,” she retorted, which had her brother giving her an odd look.

“He never told you?”

“Told me what?”

“…Vivian… Adriana was the one who pretended to be you with those online profiles. She’s lucky all that happened to her was expulsion.”

“…wait, what? Seriously?” She’d never imagined Adriana would be the type to do that sort of thing, except… no. When Vivian thought about it some more, it was no longer that surprising.

“Yep,” Miriam nodded, popping the ‘p’ as she spoke. “Emma is now captain of the cheer team, and that whole group avoids me like the plague. It’s kind of nice. You should have enrolled sooner, Vivian. The peace and quiet is amazing.”

“I didn’t really… do anything, though…”

“Which is the real problem,” Laurent sighed, as he came to a stop near her next class. He’d decided to keep her company between classes, if things lined up so he wouldn’t be late for his own.

“Yes, yes, I’m aware. Everyone is telling me I need to complain more,” she grumbled, shifting her books a little. “I’m working on it. You could stop being such a dick about it.”

“Perfect,” he nodded. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“That wasn’t… whatever. Go to class, Laurent.”

Things were back to normal, or a kind of normal Vivian hadn’t experienced before. It left her feeling off balance some days, making her doubt if any of it was real.

After school, she changed out of her uniform and headed to the kitchen to see what Chef Dalton was making for dinner that evening. Before she made it through the foyer Samuel appears. “Can we chat for a minute?” He asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

*What’s got him all worked up*, she wondered. When she’d asked about redoing her room, he’d been over-the-top excited she was *finally* going to make the space her own. Outwardly, he gave the impression of being calm — for the most part — but his suggestions had been off the chart, and she’d had to ban him from purchasing anything without her permission.

Vivian followed her father to his office, where Charles sat in a chair, looking just as pleased. *What are these two up to…?*

“Hello there, Vivian. You’re looking well,” the lawyer greeted her, as he got to his feet.

“Hey, Charles. How are things?”

“Things are good, very good. Why don’t you have a seat.”

Feeling nervous all of a sudden, Vivian took the seat next to him, and watched as her father walked around his desk before sitting down.

“So… what’s going on?”

“Do you know what day tomorrow is?” Charles inquired.

“Yes…? It’s the fourteenth. Why?”

The men shared a look before Samuel cleared his throat. “It’s the day you can be made an official — legal — member of the family.”

Vivian stared at her father for a long moment. How had she forgotten about that? It had somehow managed to sneak up on her when she wasn’t paying attention. “Oh. Uh. I guess it is, isn’t it? I’ve been… I forgot… Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Charles assured her with a small chuckle. “You’ve had a rather… hectic month, I’d say.”

“So… am I suppose to do anything to make it go through, or…?”

“Ah, well, your new case worker has already filled out everything on his end,” Charles began, pulling out a manila folder from the briefcase resting by his feet. “But we’d like you to go over everything, too, just to make sure it’s all accurate.”

Cassidy Everest had been removed as Vivian’s case worker after the Thanksgiving Day incident. Even though she’d done her due diligence, and Paul was to blame for tampering with everyone’s legal records, Cassidy had gotten in a fair bit of trouble. When it was revealed she’d almost given Vivian over to a mentally unstable woman, who was paying three men to impersonate cops, it didn’t take long before she was replaced.

No one had informed Child Services of the connection between the fake cops and Paul, as it would only muddy the waters. Cassidy was being punished for her mistake, and that was enough.

With a nod, Vivian took the offered folder and began going over the documents inside, one after another. She took her time, reading all the legalese and fine print on each page before setting it aside and starting on the next one.

It took her a while to go through them all, but neither Samuel nor Charles said anything. They patiently waited while she did as she’d been asked.

As she set down the final page, Samuel asked, “Did we miss anything?”

“Well…” she hedged, shifting in her chair before looking up at her father. “There’s actually… These are all wrong.”

Both men stared at her for a long moment, before Charles spoke up. “Pardon me? How are they all wrong?”

“Yeah… my name is wrong.”

Frowning, Samuel grabbed the document before his lawyer could, and began flipping through the pages. His frown only deepened when he looked up from the very last page. “I don’t understand. Your name is the same everywhere. Vivian St Peters.”

Vivian shook her head, heart pounding. This was something she’d been working up the nerve to do for a while now. “Actually… my name is Genevieve. Genevieve Clark-Lamont.”