Quietly, I offer a nod of thanks, before pressing it to my lips and taking a long drink. I don’t know how to tell them what I’ve just learned because I can’t come to terms with it just yet.
I saw Mallory today, and she said nothing. Even though we spoke for a couple of hours about why she’s here, how she met Creed’s dad, she never once gave me a reason to doubt this was all a coincidence. But as my mind plays out scenarios, I wonder if the woman who raised me as her own, Marcia, married Bradford for this reason, to one-up her sister, my mother.
“Nesrin?” Damien’s voice cuts through the cloud of sadness that’s taken hold of me. He’s on his knees in front of me, his hands finding mine, holding them to his mouth. Blue eyes peek up at me, regarding me with pain, dancing like flames in the depths.
“I… I need to leave,” I tell him, as I consider my options. I can’t live here. And I certainly don’t want to live in a house with Creed Haven. Even though he’s done nothing to me personally, I know that if I have any chance at a life with Damien, I need to make a choice. I don’t have to go to Oxford, there are other schools in London. I can apply for scholarships.
My grades were always perfect, and I know if I took a chance, I’d be able to get something. I am even willing to work part-time if I need to. Anything to be away from the lies that seep from the veins of the women I believed to be my mother, and my aunt.
“What happened?” Damien asks, and I realize he’s been waiting for me to speak for a while. “I need you to talk to me.”
I stare at the floor, focusing on the mat that covers the area where Damien is kneeling. It’s soft, smooth, and I try not to think about my world falling apart. But I need to tell him everything. He has a right to know.
“My mother, I mean… Marcia.” My voice breaks, but I swallow past the lump in my throat and meet his intense gaze. “She’s not my mother.” The confusion in his expression is evident from the furrowing of his brows. “She took me in when I was born. My mother… My real mother is Mallory.”
“What?” All three guys utter in unison, Cassian and Finn flank their brother, arms crossed, gazes locked on us. They’ve accepted me as one of their own, as their little sister, which made me feel like I’d found my place in the world.
“She just told me how Mallory had an affair with my father.” I shake my head, still disbelieving the soap opera that my life feels like. “Mallory was worried because she wasn’t married. My grandparents were strict. I knew that, even though they died when I was young, but even as a kid, they scared me.”
“And Marcia took you in?”
I nod, feeling more tears spill from my lashes. “She agreed to raise me alongside my father, but even then, he didn’t stay. He didn’t want me. I feel alone. Broken.”
“You’re not alone,” Damien assures me, his gaze locked on mine. He tugs me from the bench, pulling me into his lap, as we both fall back onto the soft mat, which I know they usually use for sparring. His arms wrap around me, warming me right down to my bones.
“You are never alone,” Cassian tells me, as he takes a seat. “We’re always here for you. You’re with Damien now, he’s chosen you, which means you’re a Thorne.”
“Your dad wants me with Creed. He wants a Thorne-Haven wedding.”
Damien goes rigid beneath me. “No.” The word is gritted out from the man holding me. “That’s not happening. If he wants me to step down from running Thorne Corporation, I’ll do it, but I’m not allowing you to be with Creed.”
“Allowing me?” Even in the twisted events of this evening, I sass him. But the way his gaze bores into me, I know he’s not joking right now. He doesn’t have to worry about it, because I want him and only him.
“Creed can’t have you.” Finn agrees with his brother. “And he will understand you’ve already been claimed. The night of the masquerade ball, Damien made sure to show him that, he wouldn’t come near you unless he wants a war.”
“I just want to go, fly away and never come back,” I tell them. Damien’s arms tighten around me, holding me against his chest. I can feel his heart thudding against me, and the rhythm is calming.
His next words are a reassuring affirmation which makes every inch of my body release the anxiety that had earlier taken hold of me. “Then we’ll go.”