Lia
Mother?!
Is she fucking kidding me?!
I can't believe it. I don't believe it.
"The fuck you mean, 'my mother'?" I seethe.
"It's just like I said, Amelia. I'm your mother. My name is Annalise Devereux. I gave birth to you eighteen years ago." The woman in front of me calmly explains, staring me straight in the eye as if she's willing me to believe her.
But it's just so outrageous.
"SO WHAT?! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" I blow up, shooting up from my seat. I stand in front of the people who suddenly decided to destroy my life.
"I'm here to have my baby back." Annalise cries out and that's when I see how broken she is. Despite the expensive clothes she's wearing, there's this sadness and pain in her eyes that I'm only seeing now.
"Why now?" I sob. "Why not when I was with that son of a bitch Alexander? Why not when he abandoned me? Why not when I was homeless?! Why not when I was hurt?! WHY NOT WHEN I WAS ALL ALONE?! WHY NOT THEN?!?!" I yell with tears running down my face.
"I couldn't. – She exhales shakily – I couldn't. It could be dangerous to you."
"Dangerous?" Blake asks, pulling me back to him. As soon as I sit on the couch, he immediately puts his hand under my hoodie and rubs my back soothingly. He takes my hand in his, pressing a kiss to my knuckles before laying them both in his lap.
"Yes. Oh dear, this is so hard to explain." Annalise rubs her face tiredly.
"Well, try." I growl.
"Okay. When I met Alexander, I was married and I already had my three sons, Aiden, Ashton and Adrian. – she gestures at the guys standing by the window – But my husband was..." She trails off.
"A monster." Aiden finishes with a scowl. "Abusive son of a bitch."
"Yeah. And then I met Alexander. He was different, kind-hearted and gentle. I fell in love. But I couldn't divorce my husband, he wouldn't let me. And I couldn't just leave my sons behind with that man."
"But you could leave me." I scoff, curling up beside Blake, hugging his arm. He's my only anchor to reality, the only person I can rely on. I'm depending on his calmness to stay sane right now.
"After I got pregnant, my husband demanded that I abort the child. He knew it wasn't his. But I'd never hurt my baby. Once it was too late for abortion, my husband started taking out his frustration on me for not following his order. I did everything I could to not let this affect you, believe me, I did. Then he told me that if I give birth to you, he'll kill you. So I left you with Alexander and gave him enough money for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life so he could keep you hidden. I did it to protect you." I listen attentively to her explanation.
"If she gave him so much money, why did he go to those loan sharks?" Blake whispers into my ear, catching onto the same thing I did.
"What loan sharks?" Aiden clearly hears my man, unfolding his arms from his chest and taking a step towards us.
"It's nothing." I shake my head, still unsure about what I just heard.
"No, it's not nothing. What is it?" Ashton pushes, staring at me.
I turn to Annalise. "Your dear Alexander built up a huge debt with some shady people and tried to pin it on me. – I raise a mocking brow at her – Then came to me to take my inheritance to pay it back. Speaking of which, I still have no idea where it came from." I scowl, wordlessly demanding an explanation.
"Oh, it was from your grandfathers. – Annalise smiles warmly – Both mine and my late husband's fathers really wanted a granddaughter. A little girl to spoil all they want. They were ecstatic when I told them I'm having a girl. They wanted to meet you so badly. They still do." She tells me.
"Late husband?"
"Yes. He died half a year ago. That's when I could finally reach out to you, with no threat from that man. If he found you, he'd hurt you!" My supposed 'mother' cries out.
"So you left your daughter to protect her? And eighteen years later you suddenly come back as if it's nothing?!" Blake finally erupts after staying quiet this whole time.
"I had no other choice! I had to keep my child safe!"
Keep me safe?! She calls it keeping me safe?!
"Safe?" I get up again, pacing back and forth as I laugh hysterically. "SAFE?! I was left with a fucking moron and his whore of a wife, who treated me like her fucking slave until they got bored of me and dropped me like trash! I was homeless for almost a year when I was barely ten! I was hurt, badly, and the scars on my body will remind me of the nightmare I went through for the rest of my life!!! Had it not been for my dad, who took me off the streets and cared for me, I would be dead and you'd never even know!!!" I yell, not caring about the state I'm in. I can't just keep it in anymore.
"Amelia..."
"I'M NOT AMELIA!!! MY NAME IS LIA! LIA CLARKE AND IT WILL STAY THAT WAY!!! – I cut her off – What do you expect me to do now?! Do a happy dance that my mommy finally decided to look for me? Give you a hug and become a cute little family? Welcome you with my whole heart, despite not even knowing you?! I'M JUST SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT AFTER NOT HAVING A MOTHER MY WHOLE LIFE I SUDDENLY HAVE ONE?!" By the end of my rant I'm panting heavily, with my face flushed as endless tears leave my eyes, blurring my sight. But I still catch the shocked looks on everyone's faces.
Only Blake isn't surprised. I guess he expected such reaction from me. I notice him lean back on the couch, waiting for the turn of events. I glance at him, only to see him already looking at me worriedly before he pats the space next to him.
I shake my head, I'm too restless to sit down.
"I'm sorry Amelia. I didn't know..." I ignore Annalise's apology, going to the kitchen to get a drink. I can't listen to this shit anymore.
I lean my hands on the counter, breathing heavily as I try to calm down after my outburst. I can't believe I just spilled everything like that. Usually I'm not that easy to crack.
The crying coming from the living room bothers me, but I force myself to not react to that. I believe Annalise's story, I can see the similarities between her and me. I'm pretty much her splitting image, just younger.
"Amelia?" I turn my head to see who's bothering me, only to see Aiden staring at me seriously. "Can we talk? In private?"
I give him a short nod then gesture at the study. I catch Blake's questioning look, so I give him a small reassuring smile then lead Aiden into the room, noticing that both Ashton and Adrian follow us too. I lean my back against the wall by the window, waiting for the three to start talking.
"Amelia – I glare at Aiden – I mean, Lia. I know it must be confusing to you right now, but our mother did everything she could to keep you safe from our father. We know him and we know what he's capable of. Mom did the best she could. You don't have to be so harsh on her. She lost eighteen years of her child's life..."
I sigh tiredly, instantly knowing what he's getting at. "I know that, I'm not stupid. But you have no idea what I've been through."
"We know everything, Lia. About your life with Alexander and Sandra, them leaving you, about what that man did to you, your adoption by Tyson Clarke and even about your fighting. We searched for you for years behind our father's back, doing everything we could to know what you're doing. But then we lost the trail after you left Memphis." Aiden admits, shocking me to the bone. They know!
"What are you going to do with that knowledge?"
"Nothing! We were just looking for our sister!" Ashton exclaims defensively. "Do you know how happy we were when mom told us we're going to have a baby sister?!"
"We got everything ready for you. – Adrian adds – Each one of us had some toys, dolls and games for you in our rooms. You have no idea how much we loved the idea of a baby sister." The loving tone of his voice tugs at my heartstrings for some reason. They sound sincere and I can't find it in me to not believe them. Damn it! I wanted to throw them out the door, cry in my pillow then forget about the whole thing. But they're making it so hard to do that.
I slid down the wall to sit on the floor and pull my knees to my chest, burying my face in my hands. With a deep breath, I fight to keep my tears at bay.
"Lia, I'm sorry. I know it must be hard for you. But give mom... and us... a chance. That's all we're asking for. You're our baby sister." Aiden sits down next to me, while Ashton and Adrian settle on the floor in front of the couch, facing me.
"How old are you?" I quietly ask them, leaning my chin on my knees to be able to look at them.
"I'm 28, Ashton's 27 and Adrian's 25. A bit older than you, huh?"
"Old men." I chuckle. "If you knew about... my life, why didn't you approach me? Even once? If I knew there was someone... It would've been so much easier to accept this." My voice breaks as I speak, my throat closed up with emotion.
Aiden is the one to answer. "If father found out about it, he would hurt you, like mom said. Her having a baby with another man made him... mad beyond reason. He'd do anything to hurt you if he found you because it would break mom's heart to lose you. He wanted revenge for her betrayal."
"No one can blame her for loving someone else, though. We all know how father was." Adrian adds. I notice he's the quiet one of the three, while Aiden is sort of a leader. He takes charge of the situation easily and his brothers seem to listen to him with no objections.
"You didn't resent her for having a kid with someone else? You didn't feel like it would take her attention off you or make her neglect you?" I question curiously, staring at the guys, for the first time deliberately. They're all handsome men and I'm sure they have women pining over them all the time.
"No. – Aiden chuckles – We didn't hold it against her and we never will. After all, she gave us what we wanted our whole childhood – a little sister." He reaches out his hand to gently stroke my head and, surprisingly, I don't even flinch.
"Can you give us a chance, Amelia?"
I decide to take a leap of faith, giving the guys a small smile. "Only if you stop calling me Amelia. I'm Lia now."