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“I don’t think—”
She laughs without humor, cutting me off. “But even with all that she didn’t tell you the truth. The reason why Robert hated you so much.”
This is rich. “What, I didn’t like being a punching bag?”
“Robert wasn’t even your biological dad. He hated you because you reminded him of your mother’s infidelity.”
My blood turns to ice.
What the fuck?
“What do you mean?” I demand, leaning forward and looking her in the eye. “Robert wasn’t my father?”
“I don’t know how they all kept it under wraps for so long.”
What she says next, in her drunken stupor, stops me in my tracks.
“Andrew is your father. That’s right. My husband fucked his own brother’s wife. Why do you think I let her raise Romeo with you? Might as well keep the brothers together, right? And after all these years I think it’s time the truth came out.”
Romeo is my half brother?
This can’t be true.
Maybe she’s just drunk and making something up.
Or maybe the truth is finally coming out after all of these years.
I don’t know.
While she keeps on ranting about how my mother betrayed her, my life flashes before my eyes. I thought I knew who I was. The son of an angry man who could never control his temper. A temper I inherited, or so I thought.
I guess that answers the question, then.
Environment wins over genetics.
Bella steps into the kitchen, resting her hand on the doorframe, smiling widely. Her lipstick is still perfectly put on, unlike the woman next to me. “There you are. Julianna is calling it a night.”
“Do you want to go home?” I ask, standing and feeling relieved to have a way out of this conversation.
“She’s a beautiful girl,” my aunt comments, looking between the two of us. She too stands up, wobbling, and grabs a bottle of wine with her on her way out, with no idea or care of the damage her words have just inflicted.
“Yeah, I think I’m ready to go,” Bella says, pulling me from my thoughts. She takes my hand in her much smaller one. “But you can stay and keep on partying—I can get myself home.”
“If you think I’d let you go home alone in the middle of the night, you must be crazy,” I comment, leaning down to kiss her. “Let me make sure Romeo doesn’t need me for anything.”
We find him outside, watching Jeremiah doing a shoey. For those that don’t know, that’s when you pour alcohol into a shoe and drink from it like a glass.
“Classy,” Corey calls out, shaking her head. Damon isn’t with her, and for that I’m thankful. Last thing my sister needs right now is a man. She needs to focus on college, not some pretty boy. Let alone an Angel pretty boy.
“I’m going to take Bella home,” I say to Romeo, who nods. “You all good if I bail?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” he replies, slapping me on the back. “I’m going myself. Julianna has had enough.”
“Most of us have.” Aunty Victoria’s words echo in my ear, and I try to drown them out. Now is not the time to address this. I need to be alone with my girl. I can deal with the rest later.
“Not the birthday boy,” Romeo laughs.
I notice Jag, our new recruit, looking at me, and I arch my brow at him. He pales. No idea what that is about, but right now I just want to get my woman home and be naked in bed with her.
