Chapter SiX: Our Past
Aria pov
“You really do have a way of making it to the headlines every week huh?” Damien's deep and hoarse voice slowly said from the other side of the phone but I didn’t give much meaning to his statement. I guess he might be looking for a way to get into my skin since that’s what everybody has been trying to do lately.
After that night at the gala when I proposed the idea of becoming Damien’s finance he has been all over my face. I panicked and I was desperate that was all, and as such I suggested the idea. I’ve been too scared to face my reality so I shut everyone out.
“What do you want, Damien?” My tone was sharp. I was not in the mood to entertain any of his mockery.
“Oh now that’s not how talk to someone who saved you.” He chuckled.
I sighed. I knew he would bring it up at any chance he got.
“Oh I guess you aren’t up to date.” He chuckled.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and I hated the way my stomach twisted at his words. The last time I felt that awakeness in my stomach was when Lucian and my relationship was exposed to the public.
“You should check the headlines my darling.” His words sent a shiver down my spin. I was reluctant. I was scared I didn’t know what I would see there but I definitely didn’t want demien to think I was scared.
“Why are we so quiet now? Are you scared?” He chuckled. I could see the amusement on his face without having to see his face.
“Scared?” I cleared my throat trying to gain back my confidence.
“What should I be scared about?” I put up all the courage I had left and pick up the TV remote and at the slight of the headlines both the remote I was holding and my phone reached to the ground.
No
This can’t be happening.
How..w..How
Why
Hot tears flow down my cheek like they have been waiting to flow out from my eyes for a long time.
It can’t be true but it was boldly written there.
“Lucian Backwell biological father to Aria Sinclair”
It’s true people have joked in the past that i could be his daughter because of how close we are and the bond we share in as much as we try to hide it at least no one guess we were fucking each other, so the jokes were always cool with me.
But this?
Is that joke coming into reality or someone must be trying so hard to mess with me.
I didn’t know what to think. I could feel the air dry up in my lungs. I have never had asthma all my life but I think I’m slowly beginning to develop one.
The thought of it made my skin crawl.
Did Lucian know about this, is that the reason why he always wanted to end our relationship.
Is that it?
I would rather see him with my best friend Celeste and believe that he betrayed me than this.
He can’t be my father! I snapped and flung all of the beautiful ornaments on the table to the ground. They were all limited edition and masterpieces of great people but I didn’t care. My head spins, ,My ears rang I was beginning to lose my mind
No no no
Please someone tell me all this is a lie!. I screamed on top of my voice in the empty mansion. I could hear my cries echoing.
My world had crumbled down already from the moment Lucian left me and allowed those predators to attack me. It was enough that I’ve had to deal with the pain, the torture and the hate from all of this but this is too much for me to handle.
I loved Lucian. He was my only source of joy, my only source of happiness away from all the burden I’ve had to carry on myself since my stepfather Victor is determined to have me be a perfect daughter.
He was the only one I could communicate to, the only one I could pour out my heart to. our affair wasn’t just sexual. It wasn’t based on sex and the warmth he made me feel. We connected to each other on deeper levels no one would understand.
I been keeping my head down because I had a tiny hope that Lucian was going to come back to me; he just needed the air to clear off.
Yes I was going to get mad at him for abandoning me, but I knew deep down in my heart that I was going to forgive him if he came back to me. It would give me more joy to know he would always come back to me but it seems that is not the case.
I need to seek an answer, if there was anyone that knows the truth about who my biological father is, it was only one person, my stepfather Victor.
I didn’t mind that I was in my gym outfit and that Victor would be mad that I would come to his office dressed in my gym clothes. I took the car keys and stepped on the pedals like my life depended on it since it actually does.
There he was. Without seeing him I could already feel his presence in the building. We have a bond like that. A bond I am now scared of holding on to.
Even if he was miles away I would never mistake his scent for someone else. His manly scent of black pepper and mint. It reminds me of how we have devoured each other in the past. My stomach twisted at the thought of it.
I took in deep breaths. I could feel a lot of eyes on my body as I found a way from the lobby down to Victor's office but I didn’t care, I was starting to get used to the stares and the judgement. My mind was only focused on the one thing I came here for.
I was reluctant to open the door when I got to Victor's office. It seemed as though all of my energy had been drained all of a sudden. I felt weak. My hands felt too weak to even turn the knob and go inside. I had no idea what was waiting for me in there, but I knew I had to go in regardless.
I signed heavily as I pushed the door open. My heart wasn’t deceiving me after all, it was Lucian and Victor together. My step father and my ex lover. That would have been a better phrase to describe them but it’s now my step father and my biological father.
At the slight of them my vision became blurry. Tears well in my eyes.
“Please tell me it’s not true.” I sounded like a broken record. My eyes stare deeply into Lucian’s. His eyes are emotionless and empty the majority of the time, but not for me I could tell if he was lying or telling the truth and that’s the reason why he has been avoiding being with me in the same space or having any communication with me.
His beautiful grey eyes met mine . He didn't have to say a word but I could tell he was just as lost and confused as I was.
I didn’t want to show I was drowning in fear and pain so I immediately cut off my eye contact with him and faced Victor.
“Dad.” The words tasted bitter as it left my tongue.
“Please tell me what is going on.” The tears I was trying so hard to hold back fell freely.
I was eager to hear what he had to say but my heart wasn’t ready for it.
What if Lucian is actually my father, I would..
“Please say something.” I could feel my chest pound so loud they might hear it as well.
“Aria, please try to stay calm.”
“Put yourself together, I am sure this is all a mistake.”
“A misunderstanding.”
That was Lucian, trying to ease the situation as always. I immediately missed his comfort, his encouragement but those words were not enough to make me feel better at the moment. Maybe it would have if he was my lover but not right now. Not when I know I would never have that kind of bond with him ever again.
“Please Lucian not now.” My voice barely above a whisper. I forcefully swallowed the lump in my throat and I still hoped that it was all a misunderstanding just as Lucian said. My ear waited eagerly for what Victor had to say.
“I’m sorry Aria..” That was all I had to hear from Victor and I broke down in tears. I could feel my heart racing and my body shiver uncontrollably. I fell to the ground and curled myself up as I used both my hands to cover my ears.
No no
It can’t be.
This is all a lie. I shock my head in disbelief.
“I’m sorry Aria, this is all on me.” Lucian comes down to the ground to pick me up but I wasn’t buying it.
“I will prove to you all that this is nothing but a sandal.” He said it as though his life depended on it. I hated how his words made me feel safe. I hated how my heart can just trust him after all he has done to me.
“There’s nothing to be proven.”
“It isn’t a lie.” I heard an unfamiliar sweet feminine angelic tone behind us as the door pushed open.
“What?”
“Isabella?” Lucian and victor’s eyes widened in horror.
“Who missed me?”. She had a weird smirk written all over her face. My brains were too tired to make sense of the situation but I immediately jolted out of shock when I realized she is my mother. Isabella Sinclair.
The one Isabella Sinclair. I would have thought I was imagining things out of mental stress but I wasn’t the only one seeing her. She was standing right in front of me with her fierce eyes, her pretty skin and perfect body curve just as Victor described her. She was here with us.
“What?”
“How?” Victor slowly stood up from behind his desk.
“Hey Lucian.. it’s been a while. I see you are playing your fatherly duties already. She chuckled softly. I looked at her in total awe. No words were coming out of my mouth.
“Hi ex husband, you should sit back. We all know how weak hearted you are.”
“Oops or don’t we know?” Her every word dripped of sarcasm as she made her way through the room.
“Yes I’m supposed to be dead blah blah blah. I'll skip the introduction and come down to what I am here for.” She totally ignores my presence.
“Please take your seat Victor.” She requested of him and the almighty Victor for the first time I could actually see him listen to someone.
“Now where do you begin?” She sighed heartily.
“We begin from the part where you are trying to make me the father of your daughter.” Lucian's voice was dark. He flinched when he realized I was still there. I’ve only seen this side of him once in my life and it was when I was attacked at the parking lot by a rogue. He almost beat out the living life out of the man and I pleaded with him never to show that side of himself again.
“Hey.. now.. calm your horses.” You enjoyed that night as much as I did.
“I do not know what you’re talking about.” Lucian groaned.
“You certainly do, Mr handsome.” She winked at him trying to drive him more angry than he already is.
“Hmm.. that night at the beach.” She looks up to the sky and uses her finger to curl a little of her hair as she swivels herself on the chair she was sitting on.
“You naughty boy.” She scoffed. She was finding all of it interesting but no one else was.
“Stop it Isabella.” Lucian full of rage, he clenched his fist tightly but he wasn’t denying anything she was saying. Does that actually mean that they had some type of history between them in the past? I was confused and lost.
No one actually cared about my presence. I could barely breathe all this while but it didn’t matter.
Victor is still in shock of seeing my mother.
Lucian seems to struggle with his past affairs with my mother.
And my mother I’m not so sure why she is back after being dead for years. The situation was overwhelming for me.
“Are you sure he is my father?” My voice shaking, I altered my first words to my mother for the first time in my life. Usually the first words children say to their mothers wouldn’t make much sense but I have passed that stage of childhood. she wasn’t there for as long as I can remember now I am a full grown adult.
Yes I have so many other questions to ask her
Like Why did she abandon me?
Why didn’t she came back all these time if she was alive?
Why did she leave me in the hands of Victor where I have become an asset?
But this was the major issue on ground so I wanted to know. I could feel bitterness in my throat but I needed to confirm one last time.
“If you know me my darling then you will know I hate repeating myself.” Her tone was sharp. It twisted a place in my heart for some reason.
“Yes I don’t know you because you left.” I swallowed hard.
“Why are you back now?” I cried out.
She chuckled
“To get my share of my late ex husband’s property.”
“There is nothing for you here Isabella.” Victor chips in. That was the first meaningful statement he made in the room.
People can be unbelievable. She left her infant child for years and now she is back just because of some property. I can’t believe all of them.
I struggled to get off from the ground, my eyes well in tears but I was done crying.
I was done being betrayed, used and abandoned.
“Aria..” Lucian called out when he saw me trying to make my way out.
“Please don’t.” I stopped him. I don’t care about Victor or my mother trying to use me or manipulate me but not him. His betrayal hurts me the most because he knew there was a chance that I could be his daughter. He knew he had some type of fling or affair with my mother in the past, yet he approached me. He should really be proud of himself for having both mother and daughter.
I made my way out of the building
“ I’m ready”. I said to the person on the other side of the phone.