~TIANA JACOBS' POV~
I got home that afternoon and I noticed that the house was so quiet. So quiet that I couldn't even hear my brother's usual giggles from the entrance of the house all the way from his room. Worried that something happened, I pushed open the door and I went straight into my room. I got changed and did my homework - agonizing - and I planned to go jogging that night. I went past Mum's room so I could go down when I heard her sobs coming from her room.
I was surprised and I sat down quietly right next to her closed bedroom door. "-just left. I don't know what to do," she said in between sobs. "H-he just said he understood how Tee felt and," she didn't even end her sentence before she burst out crying and I felt like someone just punched me in the gut.
Mum never cried like that.
Not ever since he left when I was younger.
I just sat there, listening to her heart breaking sobs until I saw someone walk up the stairs. Liam saw me and he shook his head to himself before walking back down. I sighed to myself and I went on that run I wanted. I just ran because I needed to clear my head.
I'm obviously the reason why Mum's crying like that. The reason why he left all of a sudden, leaving her heart broken, leaving Liam feeling abandoned once again and catching Tristan just staring at the door sometimes, maybe waiting for him to just walk in, saying he was home.
~~~
I sighed and I sank back to the comfort that the tree near the football field was giving me. It was a huge tree that gave enough shade and it felt comfortable, just sitting here and looking at the empty field. I hugged my jacket closer to myself and I sighed once more.
"You know, you could always talk to me," a familiar voice said from above me and I didn't need to look up to know that it was Julienne. She sat close to me and she just leaned back on the tree as well. "I'm always here," she said softly.
We were just silent for a few minutes until I sighed and told her everything. At the end of it, she was hugging me tight and I was crying on her shoulders, releasing my pent up emotions and we just sat there, with her hugging me and with me hugging her back.
She never said a word.
The only thing she did was to rub my back and listen to me cry and that's honestly what I needed.
"Do you want me to drive you?" Blade asked, worry etched in his face after I told him and West everything, including my plan.
I shook my head and smiled at his request. "I should do this by myself," I told him they both nodded. West stepped forward and gave me a warm, bone-crushing hug, that type of hug that only West could give.
Blade, however, just squeeze my hand briefly before he took his phone out and waved it for me to see. "Phone's always ready if you need to call," he smiled and I nodded to them. I said a quick goodbye before getting into my car and driving out to the high way, already memorizing the address I found in my Mum's e-mail last night.
I was finally standing outside of his door. I rang the doorbell once and I heard someone rushing over to the door and he opened it, eyes widening at the shock of seeing me. "Can we talk?" I asked softly and he nodded before giving way for me and shutting the door once I was in.
He put a glass of lemonade in front of me and he sat opposite me in the living room. "Tiana, how did you find me?" he asked.
"I kinda snuck into Mum's room last night and you know how she is, always leaving her computer on. I scanned through her email and I found yours dated a month back. I read it and I saw the address, gambled and drove here," I told him.
He nodded in understanding. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked.
"I just need to know why you left so many years ago," I said straightforwardly.
We were quiet for a while until he broke the silence. "My parents were and still are one of the wealthiest family you can ever meet, and they were very controlling. It took them so much persuation to let me go to a College that was far away from home, but they still agreed. I met your Mum there. We fell in love and we got married right after graduation, with the money I saved up for so many years. We bought the house and we were happy for so many years, that was until Mother came and demanded I tell her everything.
"I kept everything from my parents, not so much my siblings. I kept my marriage, Liam and you a secret from them, but they found out when Liam was four and you were two. They told me that I was engaged to the daughter of one of their business partners and they demanded I leave your Mum. I refused and I thought they left the matter alone, seeing that I already had a family, with two children. I never thought Mother would turn to Elise.
"I got home from work and I found suitcases in the living room. I found Elise in the kitchen and I asked her what it was all about and all she said was 'Leave.' I asked for an explanation and she yelled at me, accusing me of cheating on her with another woman and having a family other than what we had and she demanded I left, so, I did." he finished.
I took everything in and I turned to look at him. "Why did you only look for us now?" I asked.
"Elise hid with the three of you. She only settled down in that house six years ago, and that was when you were still in Middle School. Mother helped her by hiding your location for so many years, but three months ago, I was in that area for a case and I saw her shopping. I immediately found out where she worked and sent her an email and I did a lot of explaining. She cried, Tiana. She said she was sorry and that she wanted to start over as a family," he said, looking straight at me.
I looked elsewhere. "Where did you get all these photos?" I motioned to the ones in the living room.
"I had some of them before I left and Mother would just send me some photos of you, to remind me that I was going against her will of marrying somebody else." he said.
"You know, I'm really kind of starting to hate my own grandmother," I told him honestly and he chuckled.
"I think she's changed," he shrugged.
I gave him a look that said 'are you kidding?' and he shrugged again. "I'm sorry," I said after a long period of silence. "I heard Mum crying three nights ago and I should've given you a chance to prove yourself. I know I didn't have any clue as to what was going on, but I shouldn't have lashed out on you like that, you were still my Dad," I muttered the last part.
He gave me a pained smile, "Thank you, Tiana. You should probably head back, it's really late and your Mum might be worried sick," he said.
"I was kind of thinking of sticking to my plan of not going anywhere unless you get up and follow me to my car."
After two hours, we pulled up to the driveway of our house and Mum came out, looking very furious. "Where the hell have you been," she stopped when the both of us got out of the car, her eyes widening.
"I went to fetch Dad," I stated the obvious.
"Dad, huh?" he asked, giving me an amused look.
"Seriously?" I turned to him and he chuckled before going over to my Mum to hug her. I smiled at the sight of them and went in from the back door, seeing Liam leaning against the counter, a bottle of water in his hands, a smile playing on his lips.
He turned to me and he motioned for me to go over to his side. I complied and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and he closed on the space between us, hugging me sideways tightly. "You really are cool sometimes, huh," he wondered aloud and I rolled my eyes before punching his side and walking away, leaving him there, whispering curses to himself.
