I watched her every move as she disappeared into the kitchen. Julian sat next to me, close enough if I needed him, but not touching.
Elena appeared with two glasses of water, and set them down on the coffee table in front of us before she excused herself for a moment. I was about to reach out to grab one because my throat was so dry that it hurt, but Julian grabbed my hand before I could and shook his head.
I frowned and looked behind me to make sure she wasn't back, before asking. "Why?"
"What if it's poisoned?" He asked and I rolled my eyes. He smiled slightly. "I'm serious, you barely know her."
Just in case he was right, I decided to listen. I never knew with anyone these days.
Elena appeared again from where she'd disappeared into the kitchen; a small smile on her lips as her eyes instantly drifted to where I was. The whole place seemed more like an apartment than a single room for one person. I was surprised at seeing the place because it looked nothing like the rest of the building. The walls were white but absent of decoration. The entire place seemed contemporary and modern. Natural light streamed in through the windows that covered one side of the small living room, and it felt cozy in a way. I wanted a place similar to it in the future.
"How did you know I was coming?" I asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
She took a seat on the couch across from us. "Olivia Adler gave me a call a few hours ago," my eyes widened and she shook her head. "Don't worry, she made sure no one knew. She told me that Sophia's younger sister was coming to visit me so I could open the door for you."
I swallowed hard. "You're my mom's sister?"
Elena nodded and I noticed the necklace around her neck for the first time. There was a silver ring attached to it. "Freya was my twin."
I studied her for a few moments. "Everyone told me you were her younger sister."
She let herself relax against the couch. "Yes, I know."
I waited for an explanation, but realized she wasn't going to give me one. I awkwardly shifted on the couch and glanced over at Julian, who was watching her warily as if he felt like something was off.
I averted my gaze and looked back at her. Before I could speak, Elena started with a light glint that looked an awful lot like awe in her eyes as she watched me. "You look just like Sophia. If I didn't know better, I would've mistaken you as her."
I blinked. "She's my sister." Wasn't it obvious that I'd look like her?
Elena shrugged. "Half."
I frowned. "What?"
Elena raised her eyebrows. "Elijah still hasn't told you?" She questioned, the surprise audible in her soft voice. I watched her cautiously, bracing myself. She studied me with a quizzical expression on her face before she responded.
"Sophia and Kaiden are my children."
I blinked. "No."
Elena laughed quietly, her eyes sparkling as she kept them on me. "Isabella, I think I would know my own children. Why would I lie about this?"
I waited for her to take it back. Moments passed and I was met with nothing but silence. When I slowly looked over to glance at Julian, he was watching her with slight surprise.
I realized she was telling the truth.
The blood drained from my face. "W-what? I don't – I don't understand."
It couldn't be. How was it possible?
Elena reached forward to grab her own glass of water, letting it rest in between her hands as she stared down at it. "It's true."
I felt sick as the realization hit. "You – you had an affair with my dad?"
She winced. "No, it wasn't like that. It's complicated," she started hesitantly and when I stayed quiet, she continued. "They had your brother Elijah when they weren't together. Even after they had him, your parents stayed separate, but raised him together for a few years. When I had the twins, it wasn't an affair. I understand it was still wrong, but your parents weren't together when I..." she trailed off, and I didn't need her to finish the rest of her sentence to know what she was implying. My stomach churned. "But yes, the twins are mine."
Half-siblings. Kaiden and Sophia were my half-siblings. My mind raced as I thought of every incident, every word, every memory from the past that suddenly made sense. It made me wonder if the tension that always existed under the surface was because of this. There was so much to consider.
I shook my head, my throat tightening up. The space suddenly seemed suffocating. "And everyone else knows this?"
Elena took a sip from her water and set it down next to her. "Elijah has always known. I suspect that Ethan may also know. Caleb might not, I'm not sure."
"What about Kaiden? And Sophia? Did she know?"
She seemed like she was contemplating what to say, before she finally spoke. "Kaiden knows that he's your half-brother, but he doesn't know that I'm his mother. He doesn't even know that I exist."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "And... Sophia? Did she know?"
Elena nodded and gave me a bitter smile. "What do you think the purpose of that note she wrote was?"
I paled.
Elena continued. "The note was supposed to be given to Kaiden because she knew she wouldn't get to see him again. She knew he wouldn't see her again. It was going to tell him about me, I think."
I was speechless, not even knowing how to start or what to say. Elena noticed this and continued. "I'm assuming you have questions."
I nodded. I had too many.
Elena crossed one of her legs over the other and went quiet for a few moments, one hand fiddling with the ring she had attached to her necklace. "I'll start with the beginning. What happened between your dad and I was an accident. I was in my earlier twenties, and so was he. He was single, but I was already in a relationship with Lucas at that point. I met him in college. He seemed like an ordinary man at that time. We started off as friends, but when I was nineteen it turned into something more. I loved him. I thought he loved me, so of course, when he asked me to marry him, I said yes."
"But you cheated on him," I pointed out and her lips tightened, but she nodded.
"It was a mistake and I suffered the costs. We'd been fighting at the time, and I'd done what I always did; I ran to my sister to ask her for help," she paused. "Your mother wasn't home. Your father was."
Elena took a deep breath. "Your mother was a good woman, Isabella. She always put everyone before herself. She always saw the good in people and I took advantage of it. I betrayed her. Not a day goes by where I don't regret it," she said, tightening her grip around her necklace.
I didn't respond because I had nothing to say.
"Lucas and I were married in our early twenties. I was happy. Happier than I'd ever been my entire life. This was before the big fight, and I'd planned out my entire life with him," she paused, her voice lowering with the faraway look in her eyes. "I began to see the signs about a year into our marriage."
I gulped. "What signs?"
Elena's eyes visibly dulled and she pressed her slender hands together in her lap. "Isabella, did you ever notice how well he played the role of your uncle?"
I nodded, a frown marring my forehead. "Yeah, why?"
She studied her hands as she spoke and I followed her gaze. My breath hitched quietly as I saw the scars lining her fingers. "Did you know that I used to love dogs?"
My throat closed up as something began to fall into grasp. I'd heard something similar to this before. I knew what she was hinting at.
"Six months into our marriage, Lucas got me a dog. I've always been an animal lover. After that, I didn't think it was possible for me to love him more. It was the little things that always did it for me and made me happy. He knew that. But because he knew that, he also knew that he could take away what made me happy in the blink of an eye," she explained quietly. "That's when it all started."
I braced myself as best as I could. "One night, we had one of our first fights. At this point, he started coming home with bruises and cuts all over him. I always asked, but never got answers about what he'd been up to. It got to the point where he started to get fed up with me constantly pestering him about where he had been. After that, it was the little things that would always make him mad. The arguments started off only verbally, but they eventually escalated until... well, it turned physical."
My face fell. Elena continued and I didn't fail to notice how her voice was starting to break. "One night after work, I came home and noticed Carmen was missing. That was the name of my dog. I went to Lucas when he got home, and asked if he knew what happened, but he brushed me off and told me that it didn't matter. I knew he wasn't going to help, so I went looking for Carmen myself. I put up signs and everything. Days went by, and I found nothing."
"Lucas did something?" I croaked, starting to put it together myself. Elena nodded shakily. I almost considered telling her that she didn't need to go on if it was too difficult, but I didn't.
"I'd confronted him one night about why he didn't care. He'd gotten Carmen for me, and I thought he loved her just as much as I did. He was in a bad mood, and he got fed up with me asking about it, so it slipped," she paused, visibly swallowing. "He got rid of her. That was what he'd told me, and I thought that he'd given her away, but he laughed in my face and told me..."
Elena paused, her eyes briefly closing as if something haunted her. "He killed her. I didn't believe him at first because he loved the dog just as much as I did, but I realized he was telling the truth. I lost it. I was shocked, and upset, and scared, and I started screaming at him, shoving him, and God knows what else I did. I had the upper hand until he turned on me. It was the first sign. I think there were many others, I just didn't realize it then."
Elena stayed silent, and I thought that she wasn't going to continue until she suddenly lifted her hands up and showed me. My stomach knotted up at the scars lining her fingers.
"He broke my fingers. One by one until I couldn't even scream because the pain had become so unbearable, I started to lose consciousness. It was – it was the first time I'd seen that side of him and it wasn't even the worst part," she breathed, her eyes brimming with tears. My own were burning. "The worst part was realizing that I'd fallen into a trap, and I had no way out. The worst part was having to go to sleep everyday next to him, not knowing whether I'd wake up simply because he decided he got sick of me. The worst part was having everyone tell me that I could leave, but they never really understood what it was like. No one understands until they go through it."
Elena took a shaky breath and continued. "No one understood. No one knew how far he always took things because I said the wrong thing or did something that he didn't like. Sometimes, it was just because he felt like it. He hurt me because he felt like it. I've gone through hell my entire life, Isabella, but I've never felt true terror until I realized that I'd fallen in love with someone who I didn't even know. It's that easy. You can fall for a person without ever seeing who they really are until it's too late."
"Did mom know?" I asked quietly.
She nodded. "She knew that he was hurting me, but she didn't know how bad it was. She tried to help me, but I pushed her away because I knew she couldn't," she said, studying her hands. "I tried to go to the police once."
I held my breath because I knew it would get worse. Julian was so still next to me, it was like he wasn't even breathing. "Lucas was at work one day, and it took me hours to muster up the courage to go, and I finally did. When I got there, it seemed like they were going to help me. I talked to a female officer, I filled out a report, and told them my statement. I did everything necessary, but I didn't realize that it was another trap."
I felt sick.
"It was how I discovered what he did for a living. I thought I was going to make it out, until Lucas himself walked into the police station. It was how I realized that I was helpless because while I sat at home, watching the clock in dread and waiting to see how long I had until he was home, he was building his reputation out in the city." She paused. "After that night and what he did to me as punishment, I never made the mistake of going to the police again."
Elena sat forward. "His mother was the one who told me about the brain scan." My blood ran cold as I realized what she was hinting at. "We'd gone to visit his parents one day, and I was forced to go with. His dad didn't suspect a thing, but it was his mother who saw the way I was acting. She saw me flinch every time he came near me. She saw how I couldn't look him in the eye, and everything else. Lucas had gone out with his father when she finally came to talk to me."
Elena folded her hands in her lap. "Antisocial Personality Disorder. That's what she told me. Among other things which I'll get to later, but it was the first thing I found out."
My heart dropped.
"He's a psychopath?" I whispered, my stomach twisting as I thought of how many times I'd been around him. She nodded. "Does Elijah know?"
"He knows that he is one. He doesn't know about the true extent of the things Lucas has done. Only your parents knew about that part."
I was going to be sick.
Elena continued, straightening in her seat. "A while after I found out, we got into another fight. This was the one where I ran to Freya's house, and your dad was there instead." She paused, waiting for my reaction, but I had nothing to say. "When I found out I was pregnant with the twins weeks later, I knew I couldn't go through with the pregnancy because I knew that the moment Lucas found out they weren't his, he'd kill me and my children."
I stayed quiet, letting her continue. "I was going to get the abortion. I was days away from getting it, but I made a mistake. Lucas found out," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I thought I'd kept it hidden well enough. But I didn't realize he was listening when I called in before I went."
"He didn't let you?" I breathed and she nodded, her face tightening up.
"He thought it was his. He didn't understand why I was going to get the abortion and he didn't let me," she scoffed under her breath. "I was too afraid to go behind his back. I wasn't surprised that he'd take control of this decision too because at that point, I barely had any choices left in my life. I was trapped, so I had to go through with it. Every day, I wished that I could go back and take back that phone call. I wasn't ready to have kids, and I didn't want him to be around my children if I did have them."
"Did he ever find out that they weren't his?" I questioned hoarsely.
Elena's hand shot back up to her necklace. "Not for a while because I convinced him that I had an accident."
My lips parted in disbelief. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
"This was months after he refused to let me go and have the abortion. I was trapped at home, so I thought about it day and night, and I knew that no matter what it took, I couldn't let him be around my children. He was a monster, and I couldn't risk him doing anything to them. Especially not if he realized they weren't his. So I formed a plan. When it was finally time to deliver, I was going to stage their death. I still remember the nurse who helped me. I owe her everything. She helped me put my plan into action so Lucas wouldn't be allowed in the delivery room. After I delivered, she took Sophia and Kaiden away. It worked; he believed that they didn't make it."
I stared at her in absolute shock. When I looked over, Julian looked the same as I did. None of us knew what to say. Nothing we could ever say would be enough.
"Your parents knew of my plan. Ivan knew since the beginning that I was pregnant with his children. Freya knew everything too, and she was the one who took Kaiden and Sophia in," Elena explained gently, a small smile crossing her face, but the agony lingered in her eyes. "Anything I could ever say will never be enough to thank your mother for what she did. I didn't deserve a sister like her, and despite the horrible thing your father and I had done, she never treated Kaiden and Sophia like they weren't her own. She loved them as if they were her own children. I'm forever grateful for that."
My eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of her, but I blinked them back. Everything she was saying sounded like my mom. She was the most selfless person I ever knew, and I didn't doubt for a second that she'd been the best mother to Kaiden and Sophia. I'd seen it myself.
"After I came back from the hospital, it was crucial that Lucas never ran into Freya and Ivan. If he saw the twins, he'd put it together that I'd lied. Everything would be destroyed. To prevent that from happening, your parents took the twins and Elijah, and moved hundreds of miles away. I didn't see them again for years. By then, Ethan had been born."
"You had to stay with him?" I asked.
Elena nodded briefly. "Lucas never changed, but I had accepted my fate. I had accepted that I'd be stuck with him forever and no one would put me out of my suffering because there was no way anyone could help. Any time I tried to leave or get help, he always caught me. Every time, the punishment would be worse than the last time and it came to a point where I gave up," she said, her voice breaking and I didn't bother wiping away the tears that slipped down my own face. "I told myself that I could put up with everything that he did because my children were safe. I told myself that things would get better, and even if they didn't, maybe it was all what I deserved for betraying your mother the way I did."
"You didn't deserve it," I whispered, shaking my head. "No one deserves that."
She smiled, but it was lifeless. For the first time, I noticed how hollow her eyes seemed. It was as if she had nothing to live for anymore. "I lived that way for months. Years maybe. Time blurred for me. All I remember is what I went through day and night. I'd gotten used to it all until one day, your parents returned."
She took a deep breath and shook her head, her forehead creasing. "One day, I got a phone call on the landline. He was asleep, so I picked up. It was the nurse who'd helped me take the twins to safety." She faltered, as if she was remembering something awful. "Picking up was the mistake that cost me everything."
"He heard you?" I breathed in horror and she nodded grimly.
"He found out that I'd lied about the twins not making it. He found out about the affair. He found out that I'd given Kaiden and Sophia to your parents, and – " she broke off, shuddering once.
I didn't need her to tell me what had happened after.
My eyes welled with tears. "He had to take me to the hospital that night. I wouldn't have survived otherwise. He had no choice," she said. "What he didn't know was that he'd given me a way out. For the first time in God knows how long, I had a way out."
She straightened and looked up slowly to meet my gaze. "I faked my death. It was the only way out for me. The same nurse who'd helped me with the twins, helped me with everything else."
"But I was told that you ran away?"
She nodded. "Because I failed. He only believed that I was dead for a few weeks, until one of his men caught sight of me in a different city. I wasn't aware of the true control Lucas had. I wasn't aware that he'd built an underground empire and he had eyes everywhere. Luckily, I managed to escape," she said quietly. "He hasn't been able to find me ever since. But I know that he's still looking, wherever he is. He's never going to stop. Elijah has helped me stay hidden, but I'll explain that part later."
I knew that was true. I remembered the night in the city where Harrison had ordered Kaiden to tell him where Elena was or he'd kill me.
Lucas really didn't know.
"What I didn't know was that I was pregnant once again," she whispered, averting her gaze. "When I left Lucas, I was carrying his child. I only found out after months passed because I'd ignored all the signs."
I was speechless.
She laughed sadly, but it was a broken sound. It sounded like she hadn't laughed in a long time. "I know what you're thinking. I don't blame you, but I never had a choice, Isabella. When I was with him, when I was trapped inside that house, I never had a choice in anything I did. He never listened when I said no, so I stopped saying it at all. I had the kid while being on the run."
"Lucas has a child," I repeated quietly.
"Yes."
"Where?" I questioned, my heart sinking in horror because I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. "Is he or she... alive?"
This was only the beginning, and yet, it was unendurable. I hadn't even gotten to the parts I'd come for and it was already more awful that I could've ever imagined.
A sob escaped her lips and she squeezed her eyes shut. She started shaking her head. "You can't – what I'm about to tell you is something your brothers don't even know. You can't tell anyone, Isabella. Promise me."
I wanted to, but I couldn't. I didn't want to make a promise I couldn't keep. Elena noticed this and her face fell visibly, but she nodded anyways.
"To answer your question, yes. He's alive," she whispered, and I realized I was trembling from head to toe as I waited for the answer. "And... and you know him."
"I know him?" I repeated, my head spinning as I watched her. Elena nodded. She seemed like she was preparing herself with the way she hesitated. She refused to meet my eye.
When she finally spoke, I almost didn't hear her.
"It's Caleb," she whispered. "Caleb is his son."
***
A/n: there's 3-4 chapters left in this book and I wanna address something because it's something that may feel like I've brushed it off, but I haven't and it relates to the very end of the entire story. (The sequel will be the very end).
Obviously I've mentioned this in an author's note before and in the intro about there being abuse in the story. I didn't name who it was, but I think it's pretty obvious by now which characters were.
And even though it was revealed that in their opinions, they thought they were doing what was "best" or whatever, it's not being dismissed even if it seems like it is right now.
By the end of the entire story, if someone was abusive (in any way), they'll get what they deserve. I don't support when the mc ends up with the abusive characters. Whether it's family or friends or relationships, it's not going to happen so that should say something about one part of the ending. You can guess who I'm talking about.
You've probably realized, but they're all fucked up.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I've had questions about the ending and if it's a happy one. Idk how to answer that bc some of you hate her family, some of you love them, some of you can't forgive them, and some of you are confused about how you feel about everyone. By the end though, you'll know how you feel about everyone for sure.
In my opinion, the actual end is gonna make some people happy if they realize that whatever happens is for the best. Not because it's a 'family' story and needs to end a certain way. Every character will get what they deserve for the actions they're responsible for.