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I stood up and turned on Ria. “Don’t feign ignorance! What is he talking about – baby shower?”
Ria went very quiet.
“Ria! Now is not the time for secrets! Tell me, now!”
She looked away. “I’m pregnant.” She said it so quietly I could hardly hear it.
“Say it again.”
Louder: “I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant. You’re pregnant.” I paced. “Is it mine?”
I barely dared look at her, but when I did, she was nodding.
“And Apollo knew this? Apollo knew about – about your child – my child – this big secret – all along? Yet you didn’t think to tell me?”
RIA
Forest was scarier than I’d ever seen him. Scarier than he had been during the interrogation, the last time he’d been truly furious with me.
I wanted to calm him down, to apologize, but I couldn’t bring myself to be sorry for having felt trapped into telling Apollo the truth. “I tried to tell you, the other day...”
“Too late, Ria! How long has Apollo known for? Did you tell him, or did he find out?”
“I told him. The first meeting I had where I went to tell him that you and I had slept together... he asked for proof.”
“And you thought, why not share my secret pregnancy knowledge with the father of the baby’s worst enemy? Did you realize how much danger you were putting yourself in?”
I folded my arms. “I couldn’t think of any other way to prove it. What did you want me to do instead? I just wanted to pay off my debt to you. I wanted the problem solved. You don’t understand, cause you’re rich. I’ve had debts hanging over my headmy whole life.”
“That debt was made up! It was in your head, Ria!”
Alright, so he wasn’t going to listen to reason. That was fine, I didn’t have to be reasonable. I could be very unreasonable when I wanted. And right now, I felt like being unreasonable.
I turned on him, matching his own agitation, drawing bitterness into my voice from where it had been, deep down. “Sorry if I didn’t trust some guy I barely knew and who all but kidnapped me and interrogated me about his half-brother to not ever hold the fact that he’d paid off all my debts over my head forever! I’d have been always afraid you were gonna show up and demand something from me-”
“I’m sorry for wanting to do something nice as an apology! I’ll never do anything nice again, just in case I scare someone into thinking I might one day emerge from the shadows to claim their soul.”
How dare he make a stupid joke at a time like this?
By now, I was possibly more furious than Forest had been at the start of this argument.
And, thoughhe’ddeflated somewhat, onceI’dgotten going I couldn’t be stopped until I’d screamed myself hoarse. “You think you’re nice? A nice guy? No, you’re a rich guy who isn’t actively super evil. There’s a difference.”
I held eye contact. He looked away first.
And I just kept going. “You know why your brother – sorry,half-brother– bothers you so much, right? Because you’rejust like him. Apollo is your shadow self, Forest. You’re both so alike, only you pretend to be noble and compassionate, while he leans into his cunning and deceit.”
Forest flinched, then tried to disguise his reaction. But I’d seen it, and it had hurt me almost as much as it must have hurt him.
But I couldn’t stop now. It was all pouring out. “But you’re both two sides of the same coin. You’vebothused me as pawns in your plans – pretended to care about my feelings, but really only caring about what I can do for you. I sussed Apollo out straight away, and I should have sussed you out too. But I guess you’re better at masking your shadow self than Apollo is. You sure fooled me.”
I could hardly bear to look at him. “And I’m the fool that’s knocked up with your kid. And you’re the one furious atmefor not telling you? How was I supposed to tell you when all you can think about is getting back at your half-brother, for what?”
It was rhetorical, but I expected him to chime in with some smarmy answer. He was silent. His silence scared me. He’d started the screaming match, and now I wanted some reaction out of him.
By this point, I was pacing, waving my arms, barely looking in Forest’s direction. “Brocks! What is wrong with all of you? You have all the money in the world and none of you are happy! Try being in my place, try being terrified your mother willdiebychoicebecause the medical debt is going to cripple her daughter for life! You’re a bunch of lazy, rich dickheads, more concerned with one-upping another than with the state of the world, or of real people.”
