If Only

C H A P T E R 30

BEAR FAMILY

RAVEN

For the next weeks, I have not left my brother's side and I was growing restless. Galvin noticed and asked why it was.

"She's itching to see Miranda," Harriette answered for me.

"Miranda? A girlfriend?" he asked me.

"More like the forced bride." Harriette was not giving me a break. She has been snarky and relentless at making it known just how horrible I was.

"Forced bride?" My brother was wide-eyed and tongue-tied.

In the end, I had to tell him everything about Miranda and what I did. Galvin hit me with a newspaper and an apple.

"That was the stupidest thing you have ever done! That head isn't working right!" Automatically moving his wheelchair, he moved up to me and hit me more.

"If you're looking for someone to blame, you should blame our uncle because he was the real offender."

"I fired him, Vin."

"Good!"

"Our company would have suffered more if it was revealed that our own high-ranking personnel took the money. You should be grateful to this Miranda for doing what she did. Forcing our uncle to falsify evidence of Stouffer's fraud and pinning everything on him. "

"I never thought of it that way," I admitted.

"You didn't do much thinking at all!" Harriette butted in. "Did you know Raven thought Evelyn was cheating on you that's why you fought and got into an accident. Oh, she also thought Aileen to be not yours."

"Thank you so much, Harriette," I said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"She thought what?" Galvin was downright pissed which made him hit me harder and harder, "you, dipshit!"

"Ow... owww... Ease up, Vin."

"How dare you tarnish my wife's memory like that! What would you have done to my daughter thinking she wasn't mine?" He passed the rolled newspaper to Harriette and signaled her to hit me with it because he has grown tired.

"Owwww! Now I know why Aaron was so scared of you." She hit me one hard swat on my arm. She hit me again, "Poor man! Ow... enough... enough!"

"Evelyn found out about our uncle stealing money from us. She was an accountant remember? She saw the figures and worked two and two together. Alfred has worked on discrediting her. That was what you saw."

"How could you be so sure?" Harriette has stopped hitting me and listened in.

"There's a camera at my study office, idiot!" He only needed to watch the video to know the full story.

I really am an idiot!

"I already knew about Alfred's activities but I could not tell you because you idolized the man!"

I practically worshipped the ground Alfred Deschanel walked on. He was the closest to a father figure me and Galvin could have.

"In case that malfunctioning brain of yours still hasn't processed things, Ai is my biological daughter!"

Finally, it has dawned on me that I truly, greatly and madly fucked everything up, bigtime!

My dreams of begging for my wife's forgiveness has gone up in flames. "She would never forgive me."

"Of course she wouldn't!" Harriette popped every bubble of hope I had.

"Again, thank you for being the second voice, Harry!"