Mr. I Don't Smile

28. empty apologies

28. empty apologies

Ciera

"We can explain, Ciera," My uncle starts.

"I doubt you can but go ahead anyway. I already know you two are my aunt and uncle."

"Can we talk to Ciera alone?" I nod to Camila and Clara as they look for my answer. The three exit the room leaving me alone with two people who have lied to me for eighteen years.

They sit down at the table across from me. "Where should we start?"

"The beginning."

"Your father was my brother," my dad—uncle starts. "We were so close that we even created our own business together. When he met Olivia he was truly happy. When they got married they went to have their honeymoon in Montpellier, France. They fell in love with the city and decided to buy a vacation home there. On the vacation there, your dad got hurt. When he returned to the States he had to get pain medication. He got addicted."

"Drug overdose," I murmur.

"When the doctor stopped prescribing the medicine to him, he kept asking me for money. I didn't know what for but I gave it to him. He didn't want to take money from his own bank account and have Olivia find out. When I realized what he was doing, I stopped giving him money."

"And then he went to get money somewhere else," my aunt says.

"Our business. He stole it without me noticing and kept buying the drug. He overdosed soon after, leaving us in debt and he owed a bunch of people money. And Olivia, she was pregnant with you. She tried to stay strong after you were born. But three months after she died of a broken heart. She left us with you. We already had Clara and now we had to take care of another child, while still reeling from the debt your dad left us in."

"But we found a way to build ourselves back up with hard work, but we were still left with you. A memory of what your dad and mom did to us. And we hated you for it."

"It's not my fault I was born! I didn't tell my dad to steal money from you," I reason.

"It doesn't matter. You're still a piece of that wench. And your mom, she just had to go and die. Couldn't even be strong for her own daughter and left us with you."

I feel the tears and coming and try to hold them back. "Why? Why pretend to be my parents? You couldn't have just told me what happened? Our relationship didn't have to end up like this."

"We were going to, but again you were only three months old when Olivia died. You grew up calling me Mom, and I didn't have the energy to argue."

"That's not true! You wanted me to feel pain. You knew that this day would come some day and you wanted to see the pain in my eyes as you told me the truth. For something that's not even my fault."

"We deserve that money your parents left you! Do you know how much debt Michael left us in?"

"Screw you! This whole family is a toxic mess. When I graduate I'm leaving here and never want to hear from you again."

"Good. This house has been contaminated for too long anyway."

"Tell me the truth," I still found myself saying. "There has to be a reason you did this. Beyond wanting to make me feel pain for something my parents did."