Chapter 53: The Exposed Aftermath

There it was. Playing right before my very eyes. It was me and Julian having sex on the staircase. The image kept cutting in and out as if always prepared to duck for cover at the tiniest hint of getting caught. It may have been dark but it was easy to pick out our voices and Julian’s defined figure wasn’t exactly hard to miss. You could clearly see his blonde hair gleaming beneath the moonlight from the nearby window. Though the woman beneath him wasn’t as defined, the sounds were unmistakably mine to the point I couldn’t deny the proof even if I thought up my best lie yet.

My face flushed from both embarrassment and rage as I reached for the phone. “You FUCKING piece of *SHIT!*”

Grace quickly pulled her phone back to her chest before I could snatch it out of her hand. I had half the mind of tackling her and smashing the screen with a single stomp but she looked over my shoulder toward the living room where Gabriel sat holding my mom. My stepsister was beginning to read me just as easily as her frustrating twin did. She knew I wasn’t going to make a scene when my mother’s spirits were already dangerously low.

“I’ll tell you what, dear sister.” Grace spoke to me with a sweet voice that sounded innocent enough to make me puke. “If you do something for me then I’ll gladly delete this filth from my phone and the copies.”

My jaw clutched in fury. *Of course this fucker made copies! God fucking damn it!!!* “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. Are you trying to blackmail me AGAIN? Fucking Barbie– I outta melt the plastic off of your face!”

Grace’s glossy pink lips flipped into a frown that showed frustration in the very corners. “Being cussed and threatened is not what I was going to ask you to do for me.” she tapped her shiny fingernail against the screen of her phone as if baiting me. “All it takes is one button to my dad’s phone.”

Though my hands balled up into tight fists, I somehow managed to keep them off of Julian’s twin. “Let me guess. Gonna demand me to leave again? We both know that’s never gonna happen. Not while my mom is married to your precious daddy.”

Grace’s gorgeous blue eyes that were far too identical to Julian’s had a gleam in them that showed distaste. I could understand the feeling. Fuck, I was feeling it right now. Her voice held venom as she spoke. “Oh, I’m aware. Unfortunately.”

Her response wasn’t something that I expected. Up until now she had been fighting tooth and nail to get me to leave this mansion as if her life depended on it. “Then the fuck do you want from me then?”

My step-sister leaned in closer to my face, her eyes showing the venom of a viper again. A viper with beautiful, captivating scales but with the most lethal venom. I may not have gone to school but I think I’d heard about the prettiest animals that are supposed to be *meals* end up being poisonous and kill the predator. Something like that fitted this situation perfectly. I thought this pretty, petty princess was all talk and fake tears. It killed me to admit it but I underestimated her, just like I underestimated Julian. And just like her twin brother, I wasn’t sure how far she’d go.

“Oh, I don’t want you to leave, dear sister…” she whispered as she neared my face to the point she could speak in my ear without even a mouse overhearing her words. “I want *them* to WANT you to leave.”

My body stiffened as I used all of my strength to keep myself from knocking her teeth out right then and there. The thought that she would even demand me to do something like that when my mother was grieving filled me with enough rage that it felt as if it were fire that had blasted its way up from hell. My struggled restrained fury could be heard in my shaky breath as I spoke through my teeth, my jaw clutched tight. “You want me to fucking make them want me gone? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Exactly.” Grace leaned back with a smile that shouted victory. She had just thought of the most solid plan that would make her all of her wishes come true.

If I walked out on my own free will, my mother would beg for me to come back. But if I royally fucked up where Gabriel could never forgive me and my mother had no choice but to turn her head away, then I would never be allowed to set foot in this mansion again. And that also meant I would have to leave my mother’s side when I didn’t even feel reassured that she’d be safe here without me. Most importantly… if I end up having to leave after I made that promise then that would destroy my mother and I might as well be doing the same thing I did all those years ago. Leaving her when she needed me the most.

As one of my fists twitched and I prepared to lift it up, Grace immediately noticed what I had planned and she urgently spoke up before I could make her dreams come too. “Also, if you put your hands on me, I’ll still show the video to our parents and ever single worker in this place. What was your little friend’s name? Amy? I’m sure I could find her one social media and send her one of the copies too~”

*Fuck. FUCK. FUCK!!!*

I was stuck. I was really fucking stuck. I hated being dominated. I hated being controlled. I hated being forced in submission. I’M the one whose supposed to be in control. I’M the wolf here and they were all pampered doggies. And yet, more and more, this leash around my neck gets thicker. Ropes turning into chains that seem to just keep multiplying over and over. Again and again. The wolf I am was being forced into obedience.

My ragged breath and the dilated eyes told her loud and clear that if it wasn’t for the threat of having copies of that blackmail, I would be dragging her by the ankle through hell and back. Her cocky smile couldn’t hide the bead of sweat on her temple and she warily took a clumsy step backwards at the same second I took one forward. This time it was my turn to get close enough to her face to whisper in her ear, my words practically snarled through my clutched jaw. “Remember this Grace– two people can still keep a secret if one of them is dead.”

Her body stiffened by she didn’t back down. This was the first time I’d given her a real death threat. And I meant every word. Without giving her a second more of my time, I turned away and stomped off. My suspicions over Julian having something to do with that maid’s accidental death was the least of my problems now. Now, I had to worry about fucking up so badly that Gabriel would want me gone. Making Grace’s dream to permanently get me out of the mansion, and her life, for good.

*But that also means breaking my promise to Mom…*

My fury died into a twisted feeling in my chest and it made me stop in my tracks. It hurt enough that I had to put my hand on my chest in hopes that would ease the pain. But it didn’t. I hadn’t felt sadness this deep in years, and it made me want to fall to my knees and–

*Cry? …No. My tears are still all washed up. I can’t even feel them watering up… why is that…?*

As I came across the living room again, I saw my mother leaning on Gabriel’s shoulder with a smile on her face as they watched something on TV. I didn’t know what it was but I saw some puppies on it. Her summer leaf-green eyes still had a hint of grief in it but her beautiful smile showed that she was trying to push back the depression for the ones she loved. By now, I could tell that Gabriel truly cared about my mother and that he was a good man.

*But would he be enough to protect her from all harm?*

I may had approved of the man but that doesn’t mean that I put faith into his strength. Sometimes your hands have to get dirty to protect the ones you love. Very dirty. I turned my head away from the heartwarming sceen and let the dire coldness consume me again as I plotted my plan to get everybody in the Augustus Mansion to hate me forever.