BILLIONAIRE'S UNINTENDED BRIDE

Chapter 21: Forbidden Shadows

Chapter 21: Forbidden Shadows

Sebastian

Why the old man went ballistic on us all the time? That's one mystery I've stopped trying to crack. He had it all – a successful business, respect from everyone on the outside. But behind closed doors? A completely different story.

Most of our family dough came from Mom's side. Her dad was loaded, and left everything to her. As for my father, his cash was dirty, tainted with every crime in the book.

Our place was like something out of a magazine – huge mansion, 16 bathrooms, 12 bedrooms. But those walls? They saw some real nightmares. The night Mom and Luke got out, I was left behind in that massive, empty tomb. Luke said they were gonna come back for me, but that never happened. Come sunrise, When Dad found out they were gone, it was like a bomb went off. Guess who was left to take it all?

The years after were nothing short of hell. To get away from the beatings, I made a deal with the devil himself. Joined him in his shady business – drugs, human trafficking, you name it. I was just 15, man. Desperate to stop the pain, even if it meant diving into a whole other kind of darkness.

Every day after school, I'd step into this underworld, a living, breathing nightmare. The stuff I saw, the things I had to do, they left their mark, alright. Scars on my soul that ain't ever fading away.

Dead bodies, they became just another part of the landscape in Dad's world. Every day, another life gone, just a backdrop to his ruthless dealings. And me? I was right there in the thick of it, forced to do things that no kid should ever have to. Those memories, they're like scars etched deep into my brain

The first time I had to take a life, I was just 15. That kind of thing, it sticks with you, haunts you. I tried to fight back, to resist, but Dad had his ways of making me comply. His logic was twisted – for every hit I refused, he'd take out two more, making sure I knew the blood was on my hands either way.

By the time I hit 17, I was too deep in. Dad started calling me 'mini him', and that messed with my head. Part of me hated it, hated him, but another part... I don't know, it was like I was living up to some warped expectation. I was turning into the spitting image of the man I loathed.

The weird part was, I got used to it all – the violence, the blood. It became routine, just another day at the office. The money was good, really good, and somewhere along the line, it became the reason I stuck around. I was making bank, but the price? It was more than just dollars and cents. It was pieces of me, pieces I'd never get back.

The guilt, it's like a shadow that never leaves me. Every night, those nightmares come calling, a parade of faces, of lives I snuffed out without blinking. It's a hell of a thing to live with, a constant reminder of the blood on my hands. I tell myself I deserve it, every twisted dream, every sleepless night. Those souls I took, they're always there, lingering at the edge of my conscience.

The thought that Luke and Mom never came back for me, it's a knife that keeps twisting. Sure, maybe they looked, maybe they even tore the world apart trying to find me. But in the end, it doesn't change a damn thing. Their search, if it even happened, didn't save me from the old man's hell. I was left behind, forgotten, a kid thrown to the wolves.

Living under Dad's roof, it was like diving headfirst into an abyss. Every day, the line between right and wrong got a little more blurred, until I couldn't see it anymore. The things he made me do, they weren't just bad – they were monstrous. And with every act, every drop of blood, a piece of my own innocence just... vanished.

That's the kind of stuff that changes you, molds you into something else. I was just a kid, but what I went through, what I became – that's on me now. It's a burden I've got to carry, a past that I can't escape, no matter how hard I try.

All this craziness, it just piles up, especially when I think about Emily and Luke. The thing is, these feelings for Emily, they've got to end. I have to put a stop to them, no matter what it takes. Luke's my brother, and hurting him by wanting his wife? That's not going to happen on my watch. He's the one who deserves someone like her, not me.

I won't – be the guy who messes things up for Luke by getting tangled up with his girl. He's my brother, for crying out loud. He's been through enough, and he deserves someone like her – someone pure, someone not screwed up like me. Because deep down, I know the darkness that's been tailing me since I was a kid is still there, lurking. And if I let my guard down, if I give in to these feelings, that darkness might just take over. I can't risk it, can't risk snapping and hurting her, hurting Luke.

It's a tough pill to swallow, but it's the only way. The past, my past, it's a monster that's always just a step behind me. And I'll be damned if I let it catch up and mess up the lives of the people I care about.