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He deserves everything he’s about to get and more.
Sebastian clears his throat. “Why would I have anything to say to him?”
“Don’t play coy. You know the truth. No matter how deep you dig the hole to bury your secrets, they’ll eventually be unearthed. The answers you seek are right here. I thought I’d give you the courtesy he never did with your mom, and let you say whatever last parting words you might want to before I kill your father.”
35
DREW
Father? I’m not sure my brain is comprehending my mother’s words. Everyone appears to be wearing the same shocked expression. Holy shit. We miscalculated all of this. In a few ways, I myself feel duped, but I’m grateful to have my mom at my side and to finally end this once and for all.
I glance at Bel and notice the burning rage in her eyes. She’s glaring at Sebastian like she wants to rip him apart, piece by piece.
“What the fuck, Sebastian! I knew you were hiding stuff, trying to protect me, but this is a pretty big thing.”
He exhales through his nose, a flash of guilt in his eyes. “We can have this conversation after we take the trash out. I’m not talking about it right now.”
“Sebastian,” I whisper. “Give her something here.”
He flicks his cold eyes to mine. “Like you always do?”
She lets out a sigh of defeat. “When this is over, we will be talking about this.”
Sebastian growls low in his throat, the tone sheer frustration. “Our mother and Drew’s whatever he is now were set up in an arranged marriage. I was the result of said marriage. Once I was born, she started planning her escape. During that time, she met someone new, got pregnant with you and made a deal with my grandfather—our grandfather—to trade me to him in exchange for her being able to run without being hunted, for her to disappear with you.”
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.”
