Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Bel’s expression grows bleaker, and tears shimmer in her green eyes. I can only imagine how this all looks, like we’ve all been hiding the truth from her. “How long have you known all this? How...”
Sebastian sighs this time. “Not long. It was uncovered by the PI. He found some of my grandfather’s paperwork, and it was laid out in it.”
“Mom wouldn’t do that. Mom wouldn’t trade one of her kids to save another. That wasn’t her.” There’s a note of panic in her tone.
I step closer to try to comfort her, but she swats my hand away. “No, don’t try to soothe me right now.” She shuffles to the side, away from both of us. “I wish she would have told me all of this before it was too late. I could have...”
“What?” Sebastian supplies. “You could have what? There was no threat then.”
Turning, she waves at my dad, or should I say Sebastian’s dad. “He was always a threat. To you, to me, and obviously to Mom.”
“Okay, and you would’ve done what about it? Walked in here and killed him yourself?” Seb asks. I’m nodding along with him because over my dead fucking body would she have come here to face that asshole alone.
My mom turns to look at me, and I’m shocked all over again. She’s spoken more words today than she has in years. As much as all those that I care about have lost, is it selfish of me to be grateful that I still have my mother?
Am I finally going to get my mom back?
When she steps closer, the doctor always guiding her, she shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Drew. I should have protected you, tried harder. I should have realized sooner what that asshole was doing.”
The dominos keep falling, revealing a new image, right behind the next one.
“This wasn’t the way I planned on telling you we adopted you. Not in a million years. As a matter of fact, around the time I started mentioning to him that we should tell you is when I suddenly started getting sick.”
“Why?” I’m so fucking lost right now.
She smirks and shoots my father a glare. He has the audacity to raise his chin even though he’s the one dying right in front of us. “Because of the money of course. Why does he do all the things he does? My money is what powers our life, it’s the only thing he has. The only reason he was able to get engaged to an Arturo was because he lied and charmed his way into their lives. It worked on my family too, and once the deal was done, it was too late to correct. He’d already sunk his talons in.”
Sounds exactly like him. Driven by greed and the desire to be in control of everything. He could charm anyone into believing him. Nevertheless, I’m going to need some time to decompress with all these new revelations.
“I’m sorry… this is just a lot to wrap my head around right now. ”
Mom nods. “I understand, but I need you to know why he treated you the way he did. It had nothing to do with you, Drew. Nothing. You were and still are a wonderful son. That man…” She growls toward the man responsible for most of the people's pain standing in this room. “It was always about the money. It took me some time to see that. He knew that if I died, every penny and dime would go to you. He needed complete control over you to ensure the money would continue to flow. That’s why he abused you, and forced you to fit into the mold he wanted.”
Her voice shakes now. “I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you, and If you decide you don’t want to be a part of my life anymore, I get that, but please know that you’re my son. You’ve always been mine, and I don’t need something as trivial as blood to confirm it.”
My heart stutters in my chest, and I reach for her, my hand grazing her cheek. She looks so fragile and breakable. I’ll do anything to protect her in the future.
“I don't want you to apologize, Mom. You’ve been there for me, and yes, there are things you couldn’t protect me from, but you’ve always been and always will be my mother.”
There’s a short coughing laugh that comes from the other side of the room. “Isn’t this touching, you two catch up so sweetly over my corpse.”
“Shut up!” I snarl at him, both wanting to kill him right this second and watch him die slowly as he bleeds out on the floor.
He struggles to suck air into his lungs, and I notice the pool of blood around his body growing bigger. It shouldn’t be long. Then again, with as big of a pain in the ass as he is, I doubt he’ll go out quietly.