But otherwise, I felt nothing. No guilt. No second thoughts.
He sat stiffly, trying to wear calm like the well-fitted suit adorning his back but his eyes betrayed him. There, behind the composure, was a flicker of something volatile - like he was waiting for a reason. Only, I wasn’t scared. And he knew it. The other night proved that to him, and I’d do it again if I had to, with less remorse and no coming back to talk.
My mum sat down, her face holding a new kind of stillness. Like the persona she always wore had shattered and all that remained was concern for the lost lifestyle.
“Why?” I directed to my father. I didn’t need to bullshit. I wasn’t here for denials. But I wanted the reason. Thewhybehind it all.
He stared at me in silence, and for a moment, I didn’t think he’d answer at all. Then he scoffed - that fucking scoff he’d given me so many times before - a sign of dismissal as if he owed me nothing.
It was clear in that second that I wasn’t getting anything from him. If there even was an answer to give.
So, I gave him mine instead.
“Ten years.” I let the words sit, heavy. “You’ve been stealing from me for ten years. All while looking me in the eye and pretendingIwas the disappointment. You mocked my business, refused to touch the whiskey I built from the ground up. Called it aphase. Ahobby. Ajoke.But the only joke in this room was you.”
He shook his head, a bitter laugh under his breath.
“I used to think you were just cold. Distant. Obsessed with money and work. Now I see it for what it was - jealousy. Yourcompany is crumbling, isn’t it? And instead of owning that, you sank your claws into mine. Took what I made. Lied. Stole.”
“You know nothing.” My father sneered, his eyes bloodshot, his hands shaking ever so slightly. “You think you know everything, son, but you would be a nobody without me.”
And it was my turn to scoff. My turn to realise there was no getting through to someone like him. A narcissist who was never going to accept any wrongdoing. I stepped closer, my voice low and controlled, my hands itching to ruin him but knowing he deserved nothing more from me. Including my anger.
“When everything comes crashing down, and I promise you it will, you won’t get to play the victim. You’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Turning to my mother, I softened my tone, but only slightly. The disappointment and hurt cut deeper than the rage with her.
“And you? You were complicit. You watched it happen. You left me, your only child, to be raised by housekeepers and strangers while you played the role of dutiful wife.”
Pausing, I caught my breath, washing the sadness away as memories of what I did have flashed forth.
“But I got lucky. I met Sebastian. Judy became the parent I never had. She gave a damn and she never once blamed me when I came home with bruised knuckles. She asked mewhy.”
My voice hardened as visions of another woman rose to the surface. The same woman who’d always been on my side right next to her brother and mother.
“And for either of you to dare belittle Evangeline - after everything she’s done for me, everything she’s fought for - is pathetic. She’s stood by me more than either of you ever have.Sheis what family looks like.”
I looked between them before glancing out towards the pool where I spent my teen years, surrounded by my friends, while searching for the love which should have come from family.
“We might be blood. But we aren’t family. Not anymore. If you come near her, or us, ever again, I promise you, those bruiseswill feel like a mercy. I won’t just break you, I’ll bury whatever is left.”
Without a second glance, I walked away from the wreckage of a life built on silence and pain, from the hollow shell of people who failed to love me. And it was visions of her that consumed me as I rode down the long drive, heading toward the warmth and comfort of all she was, waiting for me in a life I was desperate to start.
CHAPTER 40
Eva
Itwisted the apple stem slowly, whispering, “A…B…C-” snap. A grin bloomed on my cheeks.
C for Cooper, obviously. It always snapped on C. I practised. And for the last two years while I’d been testing this method, it always landed on C.
“Are you talking to your apple again?” Seb’s voice startled me and I spun around, clutching the apple like the forbidden fruit it represented.
“No. I was checking for worms.” I lied and he raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching.
“Sure, sure. Worms named Cooper?” He teased and my face went hot.
He walked off laughing, tossing a smug, “You going to make him a cupcake with a heart on it? Maybe apple flavoured.” I threw the apple at him, my frustration only increasing when it missed entirely and he laughed louder.
