Chapter 118 A PAST UNAWARE

Chapter 118 A PAST UNAWARE
Jaxon's POV

I stared from my dad to Dr. Jane, waiting for either of them to speak.

“Okay, someone should say something. It's starting to get awkward,” Isadora said. Dad had specifically requested that she be present for this conversation.

“Well, your dad has something to say to you two, and I hope by the end of it, you both don't hate him,” Jane said softly.

“Wait! Is Papa dying?” Isadora asked, her voice laced with panic.

“Of course not, Isa,” Dad replied, forcing a faint smile. “I just haven't been completely truthful with you two. I have been a terrible father... especially to Jaxon.”

When his eyes found mine, I couldn't look past the sheer sadness in them. I remained quiet, preparing myself to hear him out, but he just stood there staring at me. When I couldn't hold back the burning tension inside me any longer, I threw the question right at him.

“You knew, didn't you? Starting from the day I woke up from my coma, only to see that... that...” I wanted to call her a devil, but I couldn't bring myself to say it in front of Isadora.

Isadora was the only good thing that had come out of that bitch.

“I'm sorry, Jaxon. I... I didn't...” he began, but that stutter gave me the exact answer I had hoped I wouldn't hear.

He knew. I had been praying he would say no. I was hoping he would swear that he had no idea that witch wasn't my mother, but that was just me denying the painful truth.

“How could you? You watched the whole world call me a psycho! You had me locked away in a psychiatric hospital because they said I had developed a mental disorder—even when you knew I was telling the absolute truth! You watched me break apart and you did nothing about it!” My voice rose, raw anger surging through me like wildfire.

How could he do that to his own child at his weakest moment? How could he stand by and join the very people who wrecked my life when I needed him the most?

“Dad... Jaxon... What is going on with you two?” Isadora’s confused, worried voice broke through the air as her eyes searched mine.

I met her gaze and instantly felt a pang of guilt. She didn't deserve to be caught in the middle of this chaos.

“Jaxon, why are you tearing up? Why do you look so mad?” she asked. I forced myself to drag my eyes away from hers, looking back at my father, who had gone completely silent.

“So let's hear it. What is your silly excuse? And have you, for once, ever wondered what truly happened to Mum?” I spat at him harshly.

“There hasn't been a single day I haven't thought about her! She was everything to me, Jaxon. Everything I did, I did because I thought I could keep you safe! I underestimated her once, and it cost me dearly. I was terrified she was going to finish what she started, so I let her play me like a puppet.”

His words didn't make any sense at first, until the gravity of them began to sink in.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked him, completely dazed.

“She... she had been threatening me long before the incident. She knew a secret that could ruin my life. I thought I could settle things with her, but she wanted me to divorce your mother. When I refused, she... she forced me into marrying her in secret as well,” he confessed, his gaze falling away from mine.

“You knew her even before the incident?” It struck me like a bolt of lightning. So Mr. Randy might actually be a Lennox after all. I ran a hand through my hair in total distress, my mind going completely blank for a moment before I turned my eyes back onto him.

“What secret are you talking about?” I forced myself to ask.

“That I was involved in my brother's death.”

My eyes widened in total disbelief. He had a brother? And he was somehow involved in his death?

I hadn't thought I could bring myself to stay in the same room with him, listening to him with the rage boiling like an erupting volcano inside me—but now, I was completely hooked. I wanted to hear everything.

“Tell me everything. From how you met her, right up until now,” I said, swallowing back my anger, though the flames of it didn't die down one bit.

“I... I met her in a club. She was working there at the time, and I won't lie—growing up, I never lived up to my father’s expectations. He never saw any good in me, and he told me as much to my face. But I never even knew I had a half-brother until the day your grandfather announced his retirement. I only learned of his existence because Dad mentioned him to the board—and even though he wasn't even in the room, everyone was completely in support of him.

“I was furious because I had been trying my absolute best to make my father see me—to see the effort I was putting in—but he straight-up told me I should accept my fate, and that if I could prove him wrong, he might let me manage one or two of our hotels. And by that time, I was already in love with Seraphina. I had promised her I was going to marry her the moment I was named CEO of Lennox Lux. So when that didn't happen... she went and had my brother eliminated. I was completely against it! I really was, because no matter how much I wanted to be appointed CEO, I wanted it to come from my father, not from killing someone for it. But I never knew it was already too late. They had already decided on his death before I was even told about it.”

He paused, taking a ragged breath.

“They? Who are 'they'?” I asked, confused.

“Almost half of our shareholders didn't want my father's newfound son to lead the company. I don't know how Seraphina managed to recruit them, but they put their plan into motion. My dad had arranged a private flight for him to China for an opportunity to expand Lennox Lux into European countries, with China as their first stop... but he never made it. They managed to tamper with the private plane he boarded, and it crashed over the open sea.”

My body went numb as I stared at my dad as if he were a complete stranger.

“Jaxon, I swear I didn't know until after he boarded that plane! I swear I didn't know! But I was forced to sign a document that bound me to a crime I knew nothing about. And Seraphina somehow got her hands on that evidence when the original plan of me marrying her didn't work out.

“My dad had already arranged with the Lancaster family for my deceased brother to marry their only daughter, but since he was dead, I was forced to marry your mother in his place instead. I never knew Seraphina was a Lancaster until I met your mother. I almost passed out when I first saw her, thinking she was Seraphina, until I learned the truth behind it all.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling entirely lost.

“Your mother had an identical twin sister who was lost at sea during a family vacation. The family thought she was dead, but she wasn't.”

I froze in pure shock. My mother was twins with that witch?

“I approached Seraphina with the truth she had hidden from me, demanding answers. But for some reason, she didn't want her parents to know she was alive. She made me promise not to tell her parents about her, promising she would destroy the incriminating documents they had forced me to sign. But instead of destroying them, she simply vanished... only to reappear years later, after I had successfully started building my life with your mother, demanding that I divorce her. That was when she started threatening to ruin me, and like a fool, I played right into her hands. I married her... but I never knew she would actually harm your mother just so she could...”

I pushed myself to my feet before he could finish his sentence.

I needed to leave. I needed fresh air.

All these years, all I had ever wanted was the truth. But now that I was finally hearing it, I couldn't handle it.

How could they? How could they ruin my entire life like this over a past I wasn't even aware of?