Chapter 12 #2
The cigarette between her fingers swayed with each puff, the tip pulsating with the beat of her breath.
It reminded me of Damon. He smoked, too, and I whirled my head in search of him.
He generally attended these things and must be here, somewhere.
Damon graduated from NewTech and recently returned for his MBA.
Ironically, he was a student again while his brother had become a professor.
“It sucks,” I mumbled distractedly, to which she chuckled. “He thinks we are idiots, makes us clean his lab, and makes fun of how I dress.” Well, not really. More like he looked down on how I dressed.
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure he had done that, either. It was more like an observation. I had no idea why his opinion had bothered me enough to ransack my closet.
Sophie took a drag of her cigarette, her cheeks hollowing slightly. “Ignore Caden. He was born a grouch.”
Her words concocted an image of a young Professor Maxwell in a serious-looking outfit, doing math on a whiteboard twice his size. The visual made me smile, but it also sparked my curiosity. “What was he like as a kid? I’m guessing he was super serious and never laughed.”
“Hm. Kind of,” she replied thoughtfully.
My smile dropped when her face contorted at the thought of Professor Maxwell’s childhood. “What was that look?”
“What look?”
“You made a face when I asked about his childhood.”
“That’s just what my face looks like.”
I pinned her with a fess up expression, and Sophie relented with an eye roll.
“If you must know, Caden didn’t have the best childhood. It’s a weird thing to say since his twin had a great childhood and a set of loving parents. But Caden had different parents from Damon.”
I knitted my brows. “Now I’m confused because twins have the same parents. Biology and all.”
The terrace of the Banquet Center appeared blurry since I was officially tipsy.
But I saw Sophie make another face. This time, it was closer to a grimace.
“Technically.” She weighed the word as if wondering how to approach the topic.
“But their parents acted completely differently around Caden. The way they ignored him.” She shook her head.
“If they weren’t twins, I’d think he was adopted. ”
I stared at her curiously. “Why would their parents be indifferent only to one child?”
The end of her cigarette slowly burned out, and she put the stub out on a nearby ashtray. “Did you know Caden and Damon were born on different days?” she asked, sidestepping my question.
I nodded. “Damon was born first. By the time Professor Maxwell was born, it was after midnight, so their birthdays fall on different days.”
Sophie appeared perplexed over the extent of my knowledge of Damon’s childhood.
Thankfully, she didn’t read too much into it.
“When they were born, labor lasted less than an hour for Damon. He was the golden child right from the start, and growing up, he was the perfect angel.” She inhaled deeply, parking her butt against the ledge of the terrace railing. “He still is.”
Once more, I nodded knowingly. Damon was a renowned philanthropist with various charities to his name. Was it any wonder I fell in love with the man?
“But.” Her tongue darted out and pressed against her bottom lip.
“Caden’s birth was difficult, and the doctor opted for an emergency C-section.
There were a ton of complications and blood loss, and Mrs. Maxwell nearly died.
After regaining consciousness, she treated Caden like her nemesis and only wanted to hold Damon. ”
“That’s ridiculous,” I blurted defensively.
“It wasn’t his fault that his birth was difficult.
” I had never heard this version of the story and was shocked by what Sophie had disclosed.
I couldn’t believe a mother would refuse to hold her newborn.
To face a mother’s rejection on the day you were born was downright sadistic.
Sophie lifted her right shoulder. “He had offended her just by being born, and she never forgave him for it. From what I heard, she refused to nurse him. Everyone thought her attitude would change with time, but she only seemed to dislike him more. Growing up, she’d beg him not to appear before her.
It didn’t help that he wasn’t as easygoing as Damon.
” She slanted her head. “My parents are pretty close with the Maxwells, and we used to vacation together in the Hamptons. Every time we went away together, Mrs. Maxwell would make all of Damon’s favorite treats and write little notes telling him he was the best son ever.
She never did that for Caden. I think she was scared of him, and that fear stopped her from loving him. ”
Something in my chest twisted so sharply that standing became physically painful. How could a mother not love her child? What Sophie shared was too sad.
Suddenly, my absentee parents didn’t seem so bad. At least I didn’t witness them showering another child with love while I was actively deprived of it.
Sophie lifted her eyelids, pensively deliberating something. If I had to guess, she was considering whether she would share the next bit.
I waited.
“Not many people know this, so keep this between us.”
I nodded.
“Mrs. Maxwell was addicted to painkillers. She insisted it was because she needed a crutch to deal with a difficult child such as Caden.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I couldn’t help repeating. It was preposterous to not only blame a child for being born but for her addiction, too. “She turned him into the fall guy for everything that went wrong in her life.”
She held up a hand. “I know. I know. She said his eyes were cold, and it unsettled her. One time, she caught him experimenting on rats and lost her shit. Caden was a gifted kid with endless curiosity. She didn’t see it that way and decided he was evil from the get-go.
Nothing could convince her otherwise. After hearing it so many times, I think Caden started believing it, too. ”
“How do you mean?”
“I processed all the checks for this event. This payment came from Caden’s account.
” She pulled up something on her phone and turned the screen to me.
It was a receipt slip for a large donation, signed by Damon Maxwell.
“He donated money but signed it under Damon’s name.
He has been doing this since we were kids.
Whenever he does something nice, he credits Damon for it. ”
My jaw dropped. “That’s so fucked up.”
It was awful that Professor Maxwell didn’t want credit for his good deeds because someone had ingrained it in him that he was bad.
I couldn’t help but notice the similarity in our situation.
My family thought I resembled a monster after seeing my scars and begged me to consider plastic surgery.
Meanwhile, Professor Maxwell’s family had convinced him he was a monster because of his unconventional personality.
We had more in common than I realized—we were monsters in the eyes of others.
His situation was worse. I could cover up the superficial marks on my body, he couldn’t cover the ones scarring his soul.
“Okay. So, Mrs. Maxwell decided that Caden was the devil. But what about his dad?”
She gave me a small smile. “Damon was also Mr. Maxwell’s golden boy.
He did everything asked of him and agreed to join the family business.
He was groomed to take over the company, but Caden had no such aspirations.
He was interested in medicine. It caused a lot of tension in their relationship, and Mr. Maxwell often told Caden his mother was right about him being evil. ”
“Oh God.”
Was it possible for your heart to shatter for a person you barely knew? His parents labeled him as a monster since birth. There was no one to protect him or tell him otherwise. Sophie’s story made me want to reach out and comfort the curious, lonely young boy.
“How did Professor Maxwell react to all this?” I asked weakly.
“He was hard to read, even as a little boy. But everyone assumed he brushed off his parents’ rejection.”
“Do you believe it?”
She sighed. “Every year, Mrs. Maxwell went all out for Damon’s birthday and bought him buttloads of gifts.
One time, she even rented an amusement park and invited everyone they knew.
Caden’s birthday was the next day, but he already knew she’d never make such a fuss over him.
I remember seeing him that day. He was sitting on a bench, watching Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell drag Damon to one of the rides.
She never included him in their family moments, and he never tried to fit in.
He just watched from afar. I always wondered if it bothered him.
” Sophie maintained a half smile. “Does that answer your question?”
This was more painful than Mrs. Maxwell’s refusal to hold her newborn. I staggered over to a nearby cocktail table and perched myself on a stool. Sophie followed suit, settling onto the stool beside mine.
“His mother was a bitch.” The words slipped out before I could catch them.
Sophie seemed amused that I had said the word, bitch.
To the best of my memory, I had never used that term, but she deserved to be the first. Making your son feel unwanted was bad enough, but flaunting how much love you had to give and deliberately withholding it was a new level of cruelty.
How do you come to terms with a mother who never loved you?
I hated her for it, even though she was long deceased.
“Why didn’t Damon ever call out his mother for being so mean?” I asked.
“Honestly, Damon didn’t see the cracks in their so-called happy family because Caden never voiced his complaints. He thought everything was fine when Mrs. Maxwell was still alive.”
“But he must’ve noticed that no one celebrated his brother’s birthdays.
Why didn’t he, or even you, organize something for him?
” I tried to keep a neutral tone, but a hint of accusation slipped through.
Sophie claimed she was close to the twins.
If she noticed the disparity in how the parents treated the boys, why didn’t she do something nice for Professor Maxwell?
She scoffed. “Have you met Caden? He’s not exactly approachable. Still, Damon rounded us up one year later to surprise Caden for his birthday. We showed up at his bedroom at midnight with gifts and a cake. And what did he do? Slammed the door right in our faces.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Would you want to be on the receiving end of a pity party? He might’ve been young, but he wasn’t stupid.
He knew his parents didn’t care for him and nearly bit our heads off for trying to supplement that affection.
In any case, he never seemed like the kid who wanted or needed a party. Can you blame us for letting it be?”
I nodded in understanding. I had encountered similar instances with Poppy. Those two were cut from the same cloth—reserved and guarded. It was challenging to do nice things for people who reacted poorly to it.
“So, every year, only Damon had a birthday party?” I asked, feeling defeated.
“Pretty much.” She rotated her head from side to side.
“Mrs. Maxwell would exhaust her resources on Damon’s birthday, and the next day, she’d make endless excuses about being too tired to celebrate Caden’s.
She’d insist one party sufficed for both boys.
She never even baked Caden a cake, and instead, served him leftover slices from Damon’s party. ”
I couldn’t bear to hear more and stood from the cocktail table, surprising Sophie with the sudden movement.
“What’re you doing?” she asked, perplexed.
“I have to go.”
She frowned. “What?”
“I have to go,” I repeated. “I’ll see you later.” I turned to leave but bumped into Matt. He held a champagne bottle with a hopeful look on his face.
“Rose, where’re you going?” He grabbed my shoulders to steady me, but I stepped away so fast that the stool behind me knocked over.
“Whoa! Be careful.” Sophie jumped as the metal stool hit the ground.
“Are you okay?” Matt sounded equally puzzled by my frantic nature. He tried reaching for me again, but I was already halfway to the door.
Their concerned voices followed me out. Their confusion made sense. I was confused, too, and couldn’t explain my urgency to leave. Something inside me screamed that even if it were impossible to break through Professor Maxwell’s hard exterior, I couldn’t let the matter rest.
I had to get home and bake the best cake of my life.