Saving Brownie | ✔

Chapter 61 : My First Heartbreak

[A/N : GOOD NEWS! This book is now at 1st rank in the humor genre!]

One week later

"George," my dad called out and I shut the front door of my house.

"What, now?" I grumbled while removing my sneakers and he emerged from the kitchen.

"You can't do this, George. Either you're in the bed the whole day or you're out till late night doing God knows what. This behaviour is not acceptable in my house," he said staunchly and I snorted.

I had been out all day to comfort and support Ian who's mother had passed away just two days ago, but my dear dad didn't need to know that.

"You know what behaviour is not acceptable?" I stormed in the kitchen and brought out the plastic bags filled with liquor bottles. "This!" I threw it right in front of him causing the glass bottles to smash and break. The alcohol inside it pooled around the ruins of the bottles and the plastic bag.

"This is what is not acceptable! This is what that needs to be stopped right this moment!" I snapped, emphasizing on 'this,' which made my dad's eyes widen in shock.

"Exactly, this was my reaction to your sudden drinking," I whispered harshly and paused. "You never drank after mum died or even when mum was alive! You were always sober because of your duty as a cop and you didn't want to risk it. And now-now this! You know mum would be so upset at you and at us! To see our family falling apart . . . You started drinking, I'm lying on the bed all day and Zach barely calls us now because he's busy fucking perfect Ally!"

"George," dad said cautiously while gently grabbing my arm, but I wrenched it free.

"No! I'm going to pull my shit together and I expect you to do the same. No more drinking in this house, do you understand?" I asked like I was the dad here, but he just stood frozen.

"Do you understand?" I repeated firmly and he slowly yet obediently nodded.

"Good," I said and patted his head to which he glared at me, indicating that I was crossing the line there.

I sighed and was just about to go back to my room when the door bell rang. It would be one of those gossip girls of the town prying for the juicy stuff. People still didn't know that Clark was Clark Aiden Brown, aka a billionaire. I wanted everybody to know that he was a billionaire and now, no less than a murderer. I wanted to destroy him just like he destroyed me, I wanted to avenge my mum's death.

Clark knew that my mum died because of him and still he kept quiet like there was nothing wrong to mess with the daughter of the person he killed. I hated a part of myself for still loving him, a heartless murderer, because deep down the memories of us was still there. The memories which I wanted to erase desperately because all that was, was a complete lie. That was what we were, that was what he was, a fucking lie.

I took a sharp breath and opened the door, ready to yell at the pestering people. Instead, I saw a frail Greta looking remorseful and my mind went blank. She bit her bottom lip and asked, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, but before that tell me if in any way you knew what Clark had done to my mum?" I quirked an eyebrow in question and aggressively tapped my feet on the carpet.

"Uh, no," she replied nervously and I let her in. She smiled sadly at my father and followed me to the dining table while continuing to talk, "I always knew there was something wrong with Clark when it came to you."

"What are you implying?" I asked while pouring coffee in two mugs which was already made earlier by my father. I set the mugs on the table and she gladly took it. "The coffee is not very warm, but it should be okay."

"What happened to the George I used to know? You wouldn't even bother offering a glass of water and let alone all these formalities. I can see you're suffering, but don't change because of him," she said quietly and took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm not changing because of him or anybody!" I snapped causing her to flinch and slammed my fist against the table. "I'm grieving! I'm grieving and let me grieve for fuck's sake! I'm a human too! So let me!"

Tears started rolling down my cheeks, my chest heaving up and down, my breathing uneven and I harshly wiped my tears, disgusted by myself.

She didn't say anything for a while allowing me to calm down and then apologised softly, "I'm sorry, George--- "

"All cool," I mumbled while cutting her off and rubbed my temples tiredly. "What were you saying earlier? And get to the point please, I can't deal with all this nonsense right now."

"Okay so erm I was saying earlier that Clark always hesitated when anything was related to you. You remember when I first came knocking at your door to ask you to be the caretaker of Clark?" she asked and I faintly nodded. "Yeah, so I was genuinely surprised to find out that you were a girl. Clark had asked me to find George Brooks and assign him this job, but you were actually a girl. Clark had done a vague background check on you so I don't know how something as simple as gender went unnoticed."

"And your point is?" I asked flippantly while trying to sink in all the information she just revealed. Thinking back, there were many clues which should have made Clark a prime suspect in the case, but I was too blind in love to see what was right in front of me. His sudden appearance in my life right after my mum's death and his generous salary for my simple work as a caretaker . . .

"Erm---"

"So I was his charity case?" My voice cracked and I hated myself to be hurt by something as small as that.

"To be honest, yes," Greta said formally without any hesitation. "Clark has been under my care for quite a few years and knowing him, I knew that he was hiding something from me, but I couldn't force him to confess. Maybe as an act out of guilt, he wanted to ensure that you had enough money to go about since your mother who was a surgeon had passed away because of him. He didn't know who your brother was, but he knew enough that he was well off studying in a prestigious college and had good college fund. He wasn't sure about you because you were the second child and usually the parents as young as yours would be still working to provide for the second child's college fees. And with your father's salary of a police officer, he didn't expect . . . "

"Oh well, throw his fucking money on his fucking face because I don't need it! My parents thankfully have more than enough savings to provide everything for me, so thank you," I snarled and flashed a tight smile.

"Yes, he realized about this later so he tried to distance himself from you, but he couldn't get rid of you," she said and laughed dryly. My lips twitched upwards, but I shook my head. I was appalled by my behaviour. Greta cleared her throat and continued softly, "Maybe he didn't actually want you to leave."

"Of course he wouldn't, after all, I was one of the pawns in his sick little game!" I hissed through gritted teeth and my fingers twitched in vexation. "Or maybe, he wanted to keep his enemy closer so that I could never suspect him. And I fell for it so easily, so fucking easily. I bet he must be finally happy to see me fall for him hopelessly and completely. I bet he must be very happy . . . "