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“Lies,” I hissed, looking up at Mom’s gravestone.
Mom probably used that excuse to nurse her wounded ego. If she could make me and my brothers believe it to be the truth, perhaps, it would eventually become the truth.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I grated through clenched teeth. My chest hurt with the weight of my guilt. “I can’t be like you anymore.”
All my life I hated the man who sheltered me and my brothers. He even protected my mom’s honor by never revealing she cheated on him and had some strangers’ babies.
Dad drank poison each day by keeping quiet.
He feared my mother and what she’d do to Eva and Milla if he ever tried to help them. It explained the reason why he went to them as soon as she passed away and kept their relationship a secret from me and my brothers.
He was scared of us too, I realized with a cold shudder.
And he’d been right to be wary.
We treated Eva and Milla in the most hateful ways. All because we thought they came to our home to steal our dad and his money.
You must never allow anyone to claim what’s yours, Mom’s voice rose in my mind. I pressed my hands to my ears, wanting to drown her out but her presence was too powerful to ignore.
For some reason, she hadn’t poisoned my brothers’ hearts.
I was the only one she molded in her image. I was the only one she still haunted.
“You were wrong, Mom,” I said in a broken voice as tears ran down my cheeks. “You were wrong to covet the man who wasn’t yours to begin with.”
Intense pain lanced through me.
My brothers and I played victims for years but the real sufferers were Eva, Milla, and the man we called ‘dad’.
“Noah.”
I whirled around at the sound of that gentle voice.
Milla stood at a far distance. Her long blond hair fluttered in the cold breeze, drawing my gaze to her somber face.
I stared at her, taking in her dyed hair, the perfect makeup, the stylish dress, and matching heeled stilettoes.
Milla was gorgeous but I missed seeing the way the sun turned her naturally dark auburn strands red. I missed the way her cheeks turned pink each time I eyed her. I missed the innocence in those beautiful blue eyes.
A sudden jolt went through me as I stared at her.
Milla was a female version of Dad. I blinked, and there he was...
They both shared the same shade of dark auburn hair. She’d inherited his sky-blue eyes and long slender nose.
How did we miss this until now?
Closing my eyes, I felt my breath rush out of me. My brothers and I were blinded to so many truths that’d been staring us in the face.
Milla moved closer but still kept her distance.
“Why are you here?” I asked in a strained voice.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said, looking anxious. “You ran out of there so fast. I was worried.”
A glimmer of her past self flashed before me.
There was a time when Milla used to be this kind and warm. She saved Corey’s life when he was a mere stranger to her. She even brought him home-baked cookies when he was recovering in the hospital.
