“It was my father’s company,” I say. “He built it from the ground up and you wanted to walk in and claim it as your own once the ink had dried on the marriage certificate.”
The door bursts open and my mother strolls in as if she owns the house. “This is enough,” she sneers angrily, her gaze bearing down on Nesrin. But it’s not my half-sister my mother should worry about.
“You know he only wants Dad’s company, right?”
Her gaze snaps to mine. But the cold, aloofness she regards me with is one of a stranger. The woman may not have been warm and maternal with me, but she was never so ice cold I didn’t recognize her.
“I think you and your friend should give this up now,” she tells me. “Your father was a good man, but he’s dead.” The callousness in her voice makes me flinch. The same man who gave her anything and everything she wanted is clearly nothing more to her than a forgotten memory. Just like me.
“How can you be such a monster?” I whisper, shock thick in my voice. The tears I’d been holding back burn my lashes, and as much as I try to fend them off, when I blink, they fall.
“Your father was a ticket to a better life,” Mom says to me. “He gave me what I needed at the time. If it wasn’t for him, you would have grown up in a one-bedroom apartment in a shitty neighborhood. You would never have had the education and life that he gave you. Is that what you wanted?”
“I wanted a mother who gave a shit,” I bite out, anger taking over my frustration and hurt. My chest tightens when the woman I grew up desperately wanting approval from smiles. There is no love between us. I thought if I did this for her, if I married Finn, she’d finally care about me. Or show an ounce of love. But as she looks at me, I realize there’s nothing left to say.
“I made sure your life was filled with everything you ever wanted. I’ve even given you a future that will ensure you’ll never want for anything again.” It was all one master plan to get rid of me, so she could live her life with the bastard who was nothing more than a sperm donor. “You can now live a life without worrying about me.”
“Then consider me nothing to you,” I tell her. “But I’m pretty sure you already do.”
I thought it would hurt more. All my life, I thought that if I ever lost my mother, it would break me, but as I watch the relief wash over her expression at my words, I realize I’m stronger now. I lost my father, which hurt me more than anything I could have imagined, but with her, I no longer feel anything. I’m numb.
“You’ll rethink that,” she tells me. “Consider this your final offer,” she says as she slips a folder onto the coffee table and turns for the door. Isaac doesn’t follow immediately. His gaze flicking between Nesrin and me.
“I want—”
“You know where the door is,” Nesrin says before he can get another word out.
When he looks at me, I feel nothing. There’s a plea in his gaze, as if he wants me to ask him to stay. But I can’t. I don’t want to.
“You heard her,” I tell him as I take Nesrin’s hand. We may not have known each other growing up, but we sure as hell have found our family now.
“I love you both,” he tells us. “I always have. And if you ever need me…” He allows the words to turn to silence. And then he sets his business card on top of the folder before he follows his wife out the door.
Nesrin pulls me into a hug the moment we’re alone. I don’t know her. It’s the first time I’ve ever met her, and yet, I feel as if we’re kindred spirits. I hold onto her for a long while before stepping back.
“Do you want to see what this is?” she asks, picking up the folder.
Shaking my head, I say, “Not yet.”
“Is it safe to come in?” Damien enters the room, making a beeline for his wife. Finn follows soon after, and his arm is around me, warming me with his body heat. I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I now have a sister.
Two girls who grew up so differently, and yet, here we are.
And even though my mother has left me here, I know I’ll survive.
I’m strong.
I’m no longer an Abadi; I’m a Thorne.
27
ZARIA
My heart hurts for everything I have lost. Even though I’m done with my mother and her diabolical plans for her future, I can’t believe she would do something like this to me.
She hid my real father from me for so long. And now that I know the truth, all I want is lose myself in the familiar numbness. I hate her. I don’t want her near me. Ever again.
Instead of telling me the truth, she sent me off to get married to gain more power, when she already had the world at her feet. The rooftop of Thorne Manor is exquisite. I recall Finn telling me that they furnished it so that if you needed a place to hide, you would always be able to come up here and be alone. But now that I’m here, all I can think about is the darkness that used to swell like a tumor in my brain. It would take over until all I could envision was ending my life. With every taunt and tease the kids used to throw at me, I longed for total silence.
Knowing my father lied to me broke me. He was my hero and then he turned into my villain. It was a lot to take in, especially when I was already dealing with so many dark thoughts that took a hold of me. The bullying was almost as bad as knowing the man I looked up to wasn’t truthful to me.
“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be alone.” The voice comes from behind me, but I don’t turn to face him. I can’t look into those silver eyes. Jarred has a way of digging into the darkness and finding solace there. They bore into me whenever he looks at me, but I can’t allow anyone else to delve into my broken pieces.
“Please leave me alone,” I beg with my back still turned to him. There’s heat behind me, a sudden rush of warmth in the nippy air. When I feel a second body step up to me, I realize that Finn is here too because his cologne envelops me in a blanket of safety.
“I hope you weren’t thinking of throwing yourself from the roof,” Finn remarks nonchalantly, as if he were talking about the weather. He has this way about him, a cool demeanor that could come across as uncaring, but he speaks with his eyes. Those almost black orbs hold so much affection, so many emotions; they’re like a fountain of love.
I lean into them instinctively. Memories of our last encounter flood my mind, washing away the thoughts of pain just for a moment. If I can lose myself in them, in the pleasure they bring me, then perhaps I can overcome this need to leave. I wanted to run, to walk away from my obligations, but that would mean leaving Finn and Jarred, and I can’t do that. Not now, not ever.
Even though we haven’t said the word love yet, I can’t deny that all my heart wants and craves is them. I didn’t think I was capable of feeling something for a man I was practically sold to, but I’ve come to care about Finn. And I’ve grown attached to Jarred. My life has taken a turn, and it is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.
Finn’s hand tangles in mine, while Jarred trails his fingertips over my shoulder. It moves down, over my breast, taunting my nipple with a light brush before he grips my hip. Finn spins me around, while Jarred’s hand follows my torso with his heated touch. The moment I face them, I’m breathless.