The Family Secret

Chapter Ten

The boys left the room so they wouldn't hear anything that Darius was going to tell us. Right now we don't know a damn thing because my mother really never told us anything when we left my house. The boys right now I feel know a little of what is going on, but I feel that it's best that they don't know the full story. I honestly want to protect them from whatever I can. All of us are gathered around a coffee table when Jon starts off by asking Darius, "Do you know anything about the people targeting us?"

Darius answers, "They are people from divisions five and seven." All of us sat there like a deer in the headlights. We didn't know what Darius meant when he said 'Divisions'. He asks me, "Didn't your mother tell you guys anything about what is going on?"

I told him, "No."

Heather then adds, "She didn't exactly go into full detail about what we are dealing with. Her mom said to find you and that you would tell us."

"Also we had to dodge some bullets," Lelia added.

Darius takes a breath and says, "I can tell you what I know from what I've been told." He reaches underneath the coffee table and pulls out a folder that I can tell he had put together. Darius opens it to the first page, "We all belong to an organization called 'The Dominion'. This organization has been around since 1613 during that time everything was at peace."

Heather then asks Darius, "You say we all belong to one of these Divisions? What ones do we belong too?"

Darius answers, "Well Heather. You and your brother are from Division Twelve. Your Division was known for its medicinal talents. Lelia, you are from Division One. Division was known for their loyalties to Division Thirteen."

"Which brings me to you, Taylor. You and your family are from Division Thirteen. Division Thirteen only has one immediate family member who is in control over The Dominion as a whole."

"My family?" I asked.

Darius then tells me, "Your great grandmother was Natasha Romanoff. The founder of the Dominion. She was shall I saw the one who kept everyone in line, but very fair."

"And what about you?" Lelia asked. "What Division do you belong to?"

Darius answers Lelia with a smile, "I'm from Division Two otherwise known as the 'Information Seekers'."

"If the Dominion was supposed to be at peace what happened?" I asked.

Jon takes my hand as Darius tells us, "The way things are right now is that when you hit a certain age you are recruited into The Dominion. They didn't give you the option to say no."

"What happened?" Jon asked wanting an answer.

Darius then says, "Taylor's father a while back tried changing that rule. Giving us the option to say no and to walk away. He almost succeeded until two of The Dominion members betrayed him."

"Do you,-" I croaked out. I took a deep breath as I pushed back my tears, "Do you know how did it?"

Darius answers me, "I wish did know. If I did I would have hunted them down myself the minute I found out who it was. Unfortunately, I don't know." Jon pulled me into a hug because he knew that not knowing the 'who, what, when, where, and why' about my dad was killing me. Darius then brings up something that catches our attention, "However there is a fail-safe that might bring back your father's plan."

Heather asks Darius, "What is it?"

"I think anything at this rate is worth a shot." Lelia blurted out.

Darius then starts explaining, "The fail-safe is the marriage between four Divisions uniting together."

"So four people from four different Divisions. Two and two pair off and get married." Heather repeated.

Darius then answers almost sounding a bit annoyed, "Yes." He then adds, "The four would have to be what The Dominion views as the face of each Division." Darius then gestures when he says, "Which four of them are in here right now."

Lelia looked confused as she asked Darius, "Well there's five of us in the room right now, so which four out of the five are you talking about?"

Darius then answers, "Well first is Taylor and the reason for that is I've heard that she the spitting image of Natasha Romanoff. Next would be Jon, then you Lelia, and lastly myself."

Jon and I were already set on getting married. Right now I can see the look on Lelia's face and she just looks about as overwhelmed as I am. Heather asks her, "Lelia? Are you alright?"

To me, it seems like Lelia was almost feeling pressured into marrying Darius. No one wanted to force her into doing anything. However, she was the one who had to make the decision. Darius knelt down beside Lelia and told her, "I know this is a lot to take in right now. I want you to make this decision yourself. I promise you that I will not force you into doing anything you don't want to do."

It took Lelia awhile to process it, but then she finally made up her mind. "I'll do it." She answered. "If it means getting that plan working again. I'll do it."