Chapter 111 111. Place
Tabitha’s POV
I sit in the backseat of the car with my hands folded on my lap, staring ahead without really seeing the road. Jace drives with one hand on the wheel while loud hip hop blares through the speakers. Reed reaches over to change the song, but Jace slaps his hand away without looking at him, his attention fixed on the road. Reed mutters something under his breath and begrudgingly leans back in his seat. Evren sits between me and Luca in the back. They picked me up at around ten, just as they said they would. Everything is moving according to plan, yet nothing feels right.
My mother is still at the hospital. The maids stayed behind with her, and Alpha Emery is supposed to arrive later in the afternoon, the maids said so. If it were up to me, I would still be there. I would be sitting beside her bed, watching her chest rise and fall, waiting for her to speak again. I would rather stay in that suffocating room than sit in this car pretending that everything is fine. But after what happened last night, she would not even look at me. She closed herself off, and I was left standing there with a thousand thoughts I could not say out loud.
Maybe because I didn’t give her the answer she wanted. But how can I? The situation is a whole damn mess.
As I mindlessly gaze through the car window, the conversation I had with my mom flashes back in my mind…
My mom rigidly stands by the window with her back to me. The pale light spills over her shoulders, and I can see the tension in the way she holds herself. This is not the same carefree mom that I used to know. It’s like I’m staring at a completely different woman, even far different from the person who grieved my father’s death. Her tears are not that of just sadness or defeat.
She has the eyes of someone who is ready to destroy everything in the name of revenge.
“I am close,” she says without turning around. “I am closer than I have ever been.”
I frown. “Close to what, Mom?”
She turns slowly, her eyes sharp and unblinking. “I am close to proving what really happened to your father. I am close to proving who killed him.” There is so much conviction in her voice that I almost believe it.
“Once I have gathered every last piece of information that I need, I will finally be able to prove the kind of monster Emery Aldair truly is,” she says, her voice shaking with restrained fury. “I will expose his weakness and the rot that runs through his sons as well. They are going to pay for what they did! Every single one of them. They thought they could bury what they did to your father and walk away from it?” Tears shine in her eyes as her jaw tightens, the words forcing their way out through clenched teeth. “But they will not get away with it! Not while I am still breathing. I will tear through every lie and every secret until the truth is dragged into the light. I will use everything I have to get the justice that I deserve, that we deserve! And when the day comes that I finally stand before your father again, I will not lower my head in shame. I will look him in the eyes and tell him that I didn’t stay silent. I fought for him. I fought until the very end.”
My chest tightens until it feels hard to breathe, and I have to swallow slowly to keep the sting from rising into my eyes
“Mom, you can’t say things like that. You can’t keep doing this.” I say, my voice breaking. “You can’t destroy yourself on a mere suspicion!”
Her gaze hardens. “This is not a mere suspicion, Tabitha. I’m sure of it. Emery Aldair is the person behind your father’s death!”
I shake my head.
“You don’t even have proof! You don’t have anything solid against them.”
My mom regards me for a while, staring at me as if she’s seeing me for the first time. Then, her mouth twists into something close to a sarcastic smile or a grimace. She lets out a short laugh that holds no humor.
“I thought you would understand. I thought you would see it.” She shakes her head in utter disappointment. “I wanted to believe I was wrong. But now I see I was only lying to myself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are protecting them,” she hisses almost accusingly. “You are siding with the Aldairs. I can see it in the way you speak about them.”
My mouth parts in surprise. “N-No, I’m not!” I exclaim, but I only end up sounding too defensive.
She shakes her head in disbelief, her mouth twisting as if my words have left a bitter taste. “So they managed to charm you after all,” she says, her voice tight with contempt. “What did they do, huh? Show you a little kindness? Act decent for a few days? And you swallowed it so eagerly, didn’t you? You took it in without question, and now you’re already asking for seconds.”
My teeth grind at the sting of her insults.
“How can you say that?” I snap, my voice trembling despite my effort to keep it still. “You’re the one who married into that family! You’re the one who dragged me back into this island—into their lives! I’m only doing what you told me to do. I was trying to be polite.”
She lets out a short, bitter laugh that sounds more like a scoff. “That’s not what I am seeing,” she says coldly. “You are not just playing along anymore. You are starting to like them. Especially those Aldair boys. I thought you hated their guts?”
“What, did you expect me to antagonize them while we’re staying in their house? You’re the one who told me to get along with them! You told me to blend in. Now you are turning around and acting like I betrayed you for doing exactly what you asked. I am keeping the peace. That is all.”
I stare at her in disbelief. “What did you expect me to do?” I ask, my voice rising despite myself. “Did you want me to snap at them every time they spoke to me? Did you want me to act hostile in their own home? You told me to blend in and to get along with them! Besides, you were the one being all charming at first, and now that I’m doing the same thing, suddenly I’m the problem?”
“I did that to gain their trust!” she says sharply. “Everything I did was to get close to them. To learn what I needed to know. You were only supposed to play along.”
Gee, Mom, sorry I became such a stellar stepsister without realizing I was supposed to be awful on purpose! I didn’t know you were spying on the side.
I ball my shaking fists on my side. This whole thing is a crazy mess. I just want to punch myself and hope that this is all just one horrible fever dream.
“I knew it wouldn't be easy to worm my way into the hearts of the Aldairs, especially to Emery's evil spawns. But I still tried. I played the character of a good wife and an understanding stepmother. I did well, although I doubt the brothers have wholly accepted me as their stepmother. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need them to believe the role I’m playing. I just need them not to regard me as a threat. Even as an afterthought would be enough. That way it’s easier for me to roam around the estate and take all the information I need without being suspected. Everything that I have done until now was all part of my plan but then…” Her voice chokes off and she stops, her hand stroking her belly, and she cannot continue.
My chest tightens. I wonder if her pregnancy was part of this plan too. The thought makes my heart ache. The pain in her eyes tells me it is not, but I am too scared to ask.
She shakes her head and withdraws her hand from her stomach, turning her sharp eyes on me. “After the file I stole, I suspect Emery Aldair will tighten security once he discovers that something is missing.”
“What if he finds out it was you who stole it!” I cut in.
“He won’t,” she says firmly.
“You sound too confident, Mom. This is serious. You know he’s not someone we make an enemy of!” I insist.
“He already became our enemy the moment he killed your father,” she says. “It doesn’t matter now. We have to be more careful with our movements from now on. Every step has to be calculated. One mistake and we lose everything.”
“What careful? We should stop it right here and now! This is nuts, Mom. If what you’re saying is true, Alpha Emery will be more watchful than ever. We could get caught. And what even is the thing you stole from him?”
“It’s best if you don’t know for now,” she says. “I am very close to uncovering the weakness of the Aldairs. I don’t want to drag you into this mess, but I am going to need your help to get this over with once and for all.”
A knock on my shoulder brings me back to the present.
“Are you okay?” Evren asks, his voice breaking through the haze of my thoughts.
“I—uh—Yes! Yeah, I’m okay,” I say, blinking rapidly. “I just got lost in thought.”
“Don’t worry, we’re close to home. Once we arrive, you can just stay in your room and rest for a bit,” Jace informs me while tapping on the drive wheel as he waits for the stop light to turn green.
“Actually…” I chew on my lip and look at the brothers. “Is it okay if we don’t return to the estate right away?”
Reed turns from the front seat and frowns. “Why?”
“I have a place I want to go to.”