“I will do no such thing.” She huffed, but even from where I was, I could see her body betray her as his hands moved down her hips.
“You destroyed me, Ren,” he whispered against her ear, her head tipping back. “Did it get you off, knowing you ripped my heart in half, took my world away?”
“Yes,” she hissed as her back arched, soaking in his body against hers. “You were pathetic, like a whipped dog following me, a married woman half your age. Willing to give up your money and title. Pitiful.”
“Shut up.” He clutched her throat again, squeezing down. I knew from the pictures I saw, they had been into very kinky things, but it still made me feel ill to see my Aunt Lauren getting turned on by his roughness. By the man who threatened my family and attacked me.
“You’ve gotten so used to lying. Do you even know the truth anymore?” He flipped her around, shoving her front into the wall, his body pressing into her from behind. Her nails gripped the wall, desire billowing off her. “Did you know with one signature, I can rip everything away from your family? Your pretend wealth? You are penniless, Ren. I didn’t even have to try to make that happen. Your husband did it all on his own, but I won’t say I didn’t leap at the opportunity to be the one who held your future in my hands, to watch it crumble, to know I had a hand in your ruin, destroying you bit by bit. I hold everything that’s ever meant anything to you. Wealth. Title. Reputation. Me. The man you so cruelly walked away from, running back to that twat. Has your life been everything you wanted? Hoped for?” He pinned her arms to the wall. “You used to have so much life. Now all I see is this pathetic, vapid shell.”
Aunt Lauren whimpered with pleasure and pain as he dug into her skin.
“You’re nothing but a bitch who has lied and deceived everyone she’s ever pretended to care about, destroying their lives in your wake,” he rumbled in her ear before stepping away from her. “I know the truth, Ren…I know the boy is mine.”
“Wha-what?” A cry broke from Lauren’s throat as she turned back around, her eyes wide. “How?”
“Look at him! It’s like looking in a mirror at my younger self!” He tossed his arm toward the doorway. “You made me believe it was part of the reason you went back to Fredrick.” William shook his head. “But you knew he was mine. Walking away from me wasn’t enough for you? You also took my son with you.”
“Please.” Her hand went up to her throat. “Please, you can’t…”
“What?” he roared. “Tell your husband his son is actually mine? That we had been deeply in love? Bloody hell, Ren. I hated that boy for so long, thinking he was why you ran back to Frederick, but this whole time…” Grief slashed off his tongue, his head bowing. “Why? Why?”
“You talk like it would have been so easy to walk away from our lives!” she exclaimed. “To divorce and run off together and have a baby, leaving everything behind.”
“Why wouldn’t it have been? We could have gone anywhere and started over.”
“The gossip, rumors, and scandal would have destroyed us.”
“And there was where our problem lay. I didn’t care. Not when it came to you.”
“I was young, scared, and chose what I thought was best for my child and me.”
“But not for my child and me?” he seethed.
“Will, you can’t tell anyone,” she whispered. “Landen will never understand. He will hate me. Hate you. Please, I beg you. It will destroy Fredrick and Landen’s relationship. Destroy our family.”
William snorted, pacing around in a circle.
“Nothing good will come out of him knowing. Not now. Please, don’t hurt him out of spite. I beg you.”
A heartbreaking noise came from William, his hand running over his face. “Twenty years since you walked away from me, but you still control my life, my thoughts, my actions. Everything I do is still about you.” His back curved; he looked broken and gutted. “Even in hate, even trying to tear your life apart, my life centers around you.”
“Tear me apart if you must. But leave Landen out of it.”
“He’s my son, Ren. I could have been a father to him. A husband to you. We could have been happy.”
Lauren’s head bowed, a tear sliding down her face.
“Tell me one thing.”
“What?”
“Did you ever really love me?” Raw and vulnerable, he laid his feelings out for her to crush.
Aunt Lauren brushed a tear away, turning her head to the side, not saying anything.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, agony twisting his features before he nodded. “I see.” He started to head for the exit. Lauren whirled around, staring at his back.
“I did,” she whispered, her declaration stopping him. He kept his back to her, not speaking. “I loved you more than anything. It’s never changed, Will. I chose what was best for everyone. What was right. My duty. My life had already been set out for me, promised to Fredrick. But there hasn’t been one day I haven’t thought about you. About us. What could have been. And there will be a huge part of me that will always regret not following my heart. But I did what I had to.”
A wretched noise came from Lord William, his head dropping forward as if she shattered everything inside him. His shoulders stayed curled for a minute, then he lifted his head, a deep defeated sigh escaping his mouth, and without a word or look back, he strode out.
A sob hiccupped from Aunt Lauren as she watched him leave. Even I could feel him close the final chapter on them. They had finally confessed their true feelings, but sadly it changed nothing, coming too late.
I had no idea if hearing her declaration helped or hurt him more, knowing the what-ifs and possibilities if they had ignored society and just followed their hearts. Lord William and my aunt may have turned out to be completely different people. Happy. Instead, they lived bitter, shallow, and miserable lives.
Tearfully, Aunt Lauren spun around and ran out of the room the opposite way, choking on her sobs, leaving me gutted and heartbroken for them.
I hated Lord William, but watching this slightly altered my view, seeing why he became the man he did. And my aunt had always been superficial and cold, but now I realized it was the only way she learned to survive, putting on her mask to get through each day, focusing on things that deep down she knew meant nothing.
Lennox’s touch turned me around, my arms wrapping around him. I couldn’t speak, but I felt he knew what I was saying.
I had seen my future if I chose Theo. The life that would keep everyone else happy would actually be steeped in lies, ugliness, and misery for the very same people I was trying to protect.
If choosing myself and happiness made me selfish in the eyes of the world, I had to take that on.
I didn’t want to be Aunt Lauren.
I couldn’t live like that.
Chapter 22
Knowing I would be missed, I headed back to the party, Lennox keeping his distance, trailing far behind. The doors opened for me to saunter back in. Like walking through cobwebs, a strange prickle skated down my skin. A sixth sense tapped at the base of my neck, telling me something was wrong. Off.
Strolling slowly, I scanned the room, noticing many staring down at their mobiles, their eyes then glancing up to me. Fiery hot pokers rammed into my body from all corners of the room.