Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I spent most of the afternoon with my half-brothers and Maggie.
Toward the end of my visit, Gabriel arrived with some paperwork for my inheritance.
He went through the fine print and explained everything but my mind wasn’t on that.
It was still reeling from all the information I had discovered about my father, but I still struggled to find something about him that joined us together other than our DNA.
Back at the hotel, in the quiet, I sat down. I was tired and emotionally wrung out. The meeting had gone better than I could have hoped but I was still wrestling with my next step. I had to tell Mark but I wondered whether it would be better to deal with my parents first.
What should I say? I doubted there was a way to do this without emotions running high. I was still angry but I wanted to give them a chance to explain.
My phone pinged with a message.
My place tomorrow morning. No excuses.
It was from Mark. My time was nearly up.
Deciding it was probably best to deal with him first, before I went to see my parents, I opened my laptop and rearranged my appointments for the next week. It was time to put my life back together.
I received a couple of emails reminding me I was late with some payments.
With everything going on, I had forgotten to pay some accounts.
I felt a little frustrated that no matter how much I tried, I didn’t seem to be able to get the better of my forgetfulness.
I spent the rest of the evening sorting them out and, once I was done, I felt a little more in charge.
It was late so I got ready for bed but lay awake for a while, trying to figure out how to tell Mark. He would discover the truth about Sebastian. That gave me some comfort, and I managed to fall asleep.
I was feeling more hopeful when I arrived at Mark’s apartment. I could now tell him everything and there would no longer be any secrets between us. For the first time in what felt like ages, I had a secret smile when I entered the elevator.
He had been jealous of Sebastian. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, as Mark wasn’t like most guys, but I felt some hope that it might mean something between us.
When he opened the door, my smile waned slightly. The closed-off expression on his face dimmed the hope I had been experiencing.
“So, you’re here to explain?” he asked, allowing me inside his place. I was pretty sure there was a sardonic touch to his tone but I couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah.” I felt nervous and I didn’t know why.
“Can we have this talk in my study?” He looked back over his shoulder for confirmation. I nodded, shoving my hands into my pockets.
This wasn’t the Mark I was used to. He seemed cold and I had no idea why, but I followed him anyway. After everything, he deserved to know what had been going on.
Once he entered his study, he motioned me to take a seat. I sat down, feeling like I was in trouble somehow, the whole scenario reminding me of the one time I had been called to the principal’s office.
“Is something wrong?” I decided to go for the direct approach.
He sat down behind his desk and then I noticed a folder I hadn’t noticed before. His eyes were fixed on it.
“I wanted to trust you.” He began rolling his shoulders back slightly. “But I have trust issues.”
“You don’t trust me,” I echoed. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
“What, Mark?” I insisted, needing to know what the hell was bugging him. There was something going on. Had he discovered the truth about the secret I had been hiding?
“The night I discovered you in the hotel with that stranger, I was worried, really worried that you had gotten yourself in a situation you couldn’t get yourself out of.”
I crossed my arms, waiting for him to get to the point, and I knew this wasn’t going to go well. His expression was somber. Whatever I had hoped would happen between us vanished.
“What did you do, Mark?” I prompted.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on you.”
I shrugged. “I know that.”
He shook his head. “Not just having you watched.”
“I don’t understand.” What could he have done?
“I never believed you could be the type to do things for money.” He sounded like he was in pain and I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I saw the look of distaste in his expression.
“You’re not making any sense. ”
He stood and shoved the folder over to me. “I kept tabs on your accounts. I know some of your accounts fell into arrears.”
I felt violated. My mouth gaped open when I opened the folder and saw statements to my account. “How could you?”
“I did it because I cared.”
I shook my head, unable to process what he was saying.
“I caught you in a hotel room with some stranger and then you receive an astronomical amount of money.”
It took a few moments before I realized what he was getting at. “You think I…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
I was flabbergasted.
“If you needed help, all you had to do was ask,” he said, walking around to lean against the desk. “I would have done anything to help you.”
“So, you think I sold…myself?” I finally managed to string the sentence together.
“How else can you explain the stranger and the money?”
Gabriel had mentioned something about inheritance payments. I had no idea how much had been paid. I had been too occupied with everything else to be concerned about that.
I felt sick that he would believe I was capable of that. Now I understood the look of distaste.
I could explain, but I felt betrayed by him. If he could believe that, then we didn’t have a chance at anything. How could there be anything when he couldn’t trust me? He would eventually find out who Sebastian was, but it wouldn’t be from me.
With all the dignity I could muster, I stood and closed the folder, leaving it on the desk.
“Well then, we have nothing to talk about.” I felt the tremor in my voice.
I was trying to get out of there but he stepped into my path. “Tell me I’m wrong,” he insisted, his eyes searching mine. “Tell me this isn’t what this was. ”
I couldn’t look him in the eye. It was too much. It hurt. “I think it’s time I leave.” My voice sounded void of emotion.
He sighed and stepped out of my way, allowing me to leave. I hurried out of there quickly, feeling my resolve about to crack. I yanked the door open and shut it behind me.
It was only when I got out of the building, when my chest was rising and falling with each agonizing breath, I realized all those years of loving him and it had ended like this. He couldn’t trust me and that meant we had nothing, despite caring for each other. Maybe this was for the best.
How could he believe I would do something like that? I had always believed he knew me well, but this showed he didn’t know me at all.
It sucked but I still had more important things I needed to deal with. Matthew and Sophie deserved an explanation and I still had to confront my parents. My biggest dilemma was which one I should do first.
It would be so easy to call Matthew and Sophie and tell them but I had to at least give my parents the chance to explain before I told my siblings.
One last time, I looked up at building I had just exited. He would find out the truth but then it would be too late.
“What the hell is going on with you?” Matthew shouted.
“Stop yelling,” I shot back from my seat on the sofa. My patience with my brother was wearing thin but I wasn’t going to tell him anything until Sophie arrived. “I’ll tell you everything when Sophie gets here.”
He had paced back and forth since he had arrived. He was driving me nuts.
I had wanted to speak to my parents before saying anything to my siblings, but when Matthew had arrived on my doorstep and refused to leave until he got an answer, I conceded on the condition he had to wait until Sophie could come over.
I did wonder if Mark might have mentioned what he believed but if my brother had believed for one second that was true, he would have lost his shit. At least Mark had the sense to keep his ideas to himself. I could at least thank him for that.
Once I had called Sophie, she had told me she would come over right away.
But that wasn’t quick enough for my impatient brother who was struggling to keep his temper under wraps.
I didn’t want to tell one before the other so he would just have to wait and no amount of yelling was going to change that.
When there was a knock at my door, I jumped to answer it.
“Hey,” I greeted when I opened the door and saw my sister.
“This’d better be good.” She was also mad. I couldn’t blame them but I knew they would understand once I told them what had happened.
“Just give me a chance to explain.” I gave a pleading look.
She studied me for a moment and crossed her arms. “Fine.”
I closed the door and she followed me into my small living room. Matthew was still pacing the length of it but he stopped when he saw our younger sibling.
“Finally,” he retorted.
“Don’t start with me.” She shut him down.
“Stop, you two.” I put my hand to my head. I could feel a headache coming on and I wanted to get this over and done with. “I need you both to stop bickering.”
“Okay, we’re listening.” Matthew stopped pacing to stand beside the chair Sophie sat down in.
I wasn’t sure where to start. I sat down in the sofa opposite them. I wrung my hands. It was probably best to start off with the phone call that had started it all.
“I was contacted by an attorney about an inheritance.”
“I don’t get it. No one we know died,” Matthew said, and I pinned him with a glare. He put his hands up. “Carry on. ”
“The inheritance is from my father.” And there it was. I watched the confusion and then the questions.
“What are you talking about?” Sophie snapped. “That’s rubbish. Dad is fine.”
“ Your father is fine. Mine is dead.” I made a point of using the word father instead of dad as I still considered their dad to be mine.
“I don’t… What are you saying?” Matthew questioned with a confused look.