That One Ride

chapter 31: Secrets

For a quick interaction with my audience tell me in the comments below:

----Your favourite actor?

Mine is Sidharth Malhotra(Bollywood), and Chris Evans (Hollywood) 😍🤤

( International readers, y'all go check Sidharth Malhotra❤️ he is a soothing scenery to the eyes.)
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Teresa's POV

The nightlight faded in the clouds as words synced in our system. We heard everything, and we heard it right but the silence that engulfed our table was speaking volumes. It was more than difficult to understand any of it, let alone believe how down someone's standards could fall this low.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Alex said with a stammer. His eyes were still wide from the shock.

"That day when you broke the news, we wanted to tell you everything then and there. We were bound to the compulsion." Nesta said. Her eyes didn't fail the sparkle of truth as she talked to her son. Payton didn't lose the grip of his hand on his wife.

I was right! I knew I was right that there was a bigger picture to everything. Thank goodness that I followed my gut instinct, even though I was feeling extremely guilty about not telling this Alex, relief flooded my heart.

"But, why would he go this low? I don't remember him being like that." Alex asked.

Payton blew an audible sigh, his chest puffed with sorrow, his eyes filled with sadness. "I don't know when and how it started, son. But all of it is triggered when you started growing. I think the word 'adopted' never settled in his brain correctly. We are still trying to find out where our parenting went wrong."

"Bullshit! He never showed any signs of jealousy or disappointment. Not since his childhood." Alex's voice was calm. He seemed composed, like always, calculating and assessing every word.

His eyes, though, were a warmer shade of honey which were soft.

"How... How did he threaten you with Amelia?"

"Remember the dinner?" Alex nodded at Nesta's question. " When cupcake went to her bed afterwards, we were sitting on the couch, talking and enjoying. You and your dad were so engaged in the game that you hardly noticed the green laser in the middle of your forehead. I... I watched where it was coming from. I never felt horror like that, son. It was a snipper at another neighbour's roof. Waiting. Waiting for a signal from Robert to pull the trigger. The next day he called us to his office and... H-he showed us 2 men following Amelia from school. They tried to touch her the wrong way, which she informed Payton. And, then he asked us to choose. Choose between our children's life and pain."

Her words. The pain I felt was like a knife was slowly piercing holes in my heart, and it was because of the care my inner self felt for Alex. The thought of losing him with a snap of a finger made me wince in pain. My hands were shaking with panic until his soft touch embraced my back.

"He was involved with bad people from that time?" Alex asked.

I was silent the whole time as I had no courage to interrupt the family talk.

"It seems like that. That is why we sent Amelia away. She was like an interface for us, you know, to update us about your life and everything." Nesta's smile reached her eyes and I felt Alex's jaw losing its tight grip.