Royal Prick (A Stepbrother Romance #2)(54)

“She tricked you! That bitch ruined my life with one single f*cking lie?” I swear fire was shooting out of ears. I was so angry hearing what he said. I no longer felt anything but placid anger toward Viviana. She was a monster, and I wanted her f*cking gone from our lives.

“It was my fault too for believing someone I had just met when I should have believed and trusted in myself. I didn’t trust myself, though. What she said seemed so real, so damn true. I woke up naked for god sake in bed with another woman.” I could see defeat and humiliation in those somber eyes of his. It was as if he finally realized that he failed my mother and me.

“You wouldn’t have believed anything if the bitch never targeted you. If she was never a part of your life. If she never walked through that f*cking door… If she never lied, then you wouldn’t be here right?” I stood from the plush chair I was sitting in, ready to give that whore a piece of my mind. She was a homewrecker no matter which way you looked at it. She took everything from the people I loved most.

“Royal, the past is where it needs to stay, in the past. You can’t go around fighting for the past when the future is right here within your grasp. You just learn to let go and adapt to the changes that come with it. Attacking her for something that happened seventeen years ago will do no good. We can’t change the past no matter how badly any of us might want to.” Was he trying to cover this up, now that he finally told me the truth? The words were already said. There was no taking back the things that happened.

“Listen here, Mark.” I slammed my fist down on his desk, the rational part of my brain shutting down. Nothing about what I was about to say was rational.

“I listened to my mother cry almost every day for a year. I’ve watched her slip in and out of depression since before I was even old enough to know what the f*cking word meant. The past is very much still a part of my life. Maybe you have been able to move on from it, but I haven’t, not when the repercussions of her lies destroyed my life.” Everything inside of me told me to go downstairs find Viviana and tell her just how I felt about her. To rip her heart out, and make her endure the pain that my mother and I had; to tarnish her perfect image. To rip away every single thing she loved in her life.

“If I could go back and change things I would, damnit would I ever, Royal.” I wanted to believe the look of guilt and sincerity in Mark’s eyes, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he was gone for so long if he knew it was all a lie from the start. Why didn’t he fight harder for my mother? Why didn’t he just come home and tell her the truth?

“What happened between you and Mom then? Did you tell her it was a lie? Why didn’t you come back for us?” I questioned, a warning to my words. Let him lie to me. Let him, because then maybe it would be easier to look at Noelle every day and not hate the part she played in ruining my life. I knew how stupid it was to hate someone for something that they had no control over but still. If it hadn’t been for her, my parents would still be married. I would still have a family and maybe I wouldn’t have been so angry all my life.

Then you wouldn’t have her. A voice echoed loudly in my head.

He sighed, “There was no point, son. I had already ruined everything with that lie I believed, and by the time she moved on from the hate and anger she had toward me it was too late. We couldn’t rekindle anything, when there was nothing there to rekindle. The trust had already been ruined and without trust you have nothing.”

Tears pricked at me eyes, the fact that my very future was f*cked up because of a woman like Viviana, because of someone like Noelle being brought into this world. My heart was being ripped open. Old wounds started to ooze blood, and I didn’t know if I could ever look at her the same way. If I could see her without hating her. If I could separate the two.

If Noelle knew… If she knew I would never be able to forgive her, and any chance at a future we ever had would be gone.

“I need to go.” I wiped at my eyes, not wanting to let Mark know how much the truth hurt me. I may be set free now that I know everything but going years upon years without an answer to anything killed me. Now I had my answer as to why things were this way.

It was all merely a lie. A tangled web of lies that could never be forgotten.

“I’m sorry, Royal.” I knew his apology was real, but I couldn’t accept it. He wasn’t sorry for what had happened, he was sorry that the truth was fine released.





Chapter Twenty-Two


-Noelle


One Tequila.

Two Tequila.

Three Tequila.

Floor.

That was my mantra as I downed shot after shot. I met Jordan at the Falls which was our usual spot. It was where we went to pregame or just to hang out and escape from the world around us. After a few shots were taken to unwind, we headed to the party. We didn’t know the guy that was having the party from school, but he let us in because he said it was hot as f*ck that I put Sasha Master’s in her place.

I should’ve been outraged, or even humiliated that something like that was being remembered and spoken about by my peers, but I wasn’t. I felt a sense of pride.

I just laughed it off, heading straight for the bar that was lined with every color of liquor known to mankind. Which meant with the amount of alcohol that was already swimming in my veins that I didn’t move even an inch from this spot since we arrived. I was plastered. My body weighed down by the booze, but my mind was finally free from thoughts of Royal so it was a win win.