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I stumbled back, letting him go with tears in my eyes.
“Them?”
“I’m sorry, Caleb. I’m so fucking sorry, but…”
“No…” I begged for I don’t know what. “Please … don’t…”
Another bomb detonated through my soul as he confessed, “Ariel is mine too.”
I fell to my knees. My legs couldn’t hold me up anymore.
This was what dying felt like.
Eliciting feelings I never thought possible, emotions no one should ever have to experience. I felt every loss of breath as if he jammed a knife into my heart. Agony clutched my heart and wouldn’t let go.
“Your prenup stated the more kids you had, the more money she’d get if you divorced. We knew you’d eventually file, so we made Ethan to get you to marry her, but we made Ariel to get more money out of you. We just had to wait for the perfect timing to get you to think you’d slept with her.”
I whispered, “We never had sex.”
“No, we just made you believe you did. We rigged the paternity tests to prove you were the father of both of them.”
All the air from my lungs vanished.
I couldn’t breathe…
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
Not for a second.
A minute.
A lifetime.
My heart shattered into a million pieces.
It was raw.
Excruciating.
Downright torture.
I was suffocating in his lies and now I was drowning in his truths.
Without thinking twice about it, I charged at him, ramming my shoulder into his stomach. My brazen glare never wavered from the man who’d just ruined my life and everything I believed in.
My chest heaved.
My nostrils flared.
I looked like a rabid fucking dog.
His body tumbled to the ground from the impact of my vigorous attack. Not letting up, I punched him in the face over and over again.
I hit him until my knuckles bled.
Until my fists were numb.
Until my body couldn’t feel anything at all.
“Caleb! Caleb!” I faintly heard some yell, “Stop! You’re going to kill him!”
I didn’t.
Using all my strength, I brutally assaulted him as bile rose in the back of my throat with each gasp for my next breath. Chaos blasted all around us.
The pain.
The torment.
Blow after blow after blow.
I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
Once I heard Evie shout, “Caleb, please stop!”
Her voice had the power to halt my attack. I stopped, taking in Joseph for the first time since I began beating the shit out of him.
“You’re dead to me! Do you understand me?! You’re fucking dead to me!”
I leaned back, sitting on the balls of my feet.
Joseph groaned, rolling onto his stomach and coughing up blood.
The sound of footsteps brought my attention to her. As if things couldn’t get any worse, my eyes connected with the woman hauling ass next to Evie.
Seconds.
Hours.
Days could have flown by.
Time seemed to stand still for me while Evie skidded across the floor, suddenly in front of me. Though my stare was still locked on the woman who ruined my life.
Tessa.
Evie
I couldn’t believe she had the balls to show up to his grandfather’s birthday party. Thank God I saw her before anyone else did. I walked outside looking for Caleb as she made her way toward the front door.
Before I could say a word to her, we heard Caleb yelling. My feet moved on their own accord, trailing the sound of him and Joseph fighting. We ran toward them.
I didn’t understand what was happening. All I knew was Caleb needed me.
I felt it.
I felt him.
As soon as he saw Tessa, he stood and roared, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I came here to stop Joseph from telling you the truth, but I’m obviously too late.”
“You conniving bitch!”
I looked back and forth between them. “What’s going on?”
“Listen.” She placed her hands in the air. “You were never supposed to find out until this one…” She nodded to Joseph who was now sitting up, leaning against the cement wall.
His face was covered in blood, and I could barely see his skin.
“He suddenly decided to grow a conscience.”
“How could you do this to me?” Caleb bit, holding himself back. “What did I ever do to you to deserve this?”
“I got what I wanted, okay? You don’t need to worry about me.”
“You don’t give a flying fuck about anyone but yourself.”
I tried to keep up with what they were discussing, but everyone was talking at once, the details being muddled through their anger. All I could do was wait until Caleb would tell me. Until then, I listened intently, hoping I’d catch on.
“You’re right.” She shamelessly shrugged, unfazed by his remarks. “I don’t give a fuck. That’s what happens when you grow up poor! But you wouldn’t know anything about that now would you, Caleb Hawkins. You were born with a golden spoon on a silver fucking platter. I had nothing! You were my only shot at a good life. I saw an opportunity, and I stole it, alright? Call me whatever names you want—I don’t fucking care. I did what I had to do to survive!”
