Home / Romance / My Godfather is my Soulmate / 4. Trapped in the middle

Share

4. Trapped in the middle

Author: Sommy Nuela
last update Last Updated: 2024-07-07 09:42:22

Alexa's POV

The hot water cascaded down my back, but it didn't wash away the lingering ache in my chest. It was the same ache I felt every time I remembered what happened to Mom. How Dad stole her rightful place and gave it to his new wife. 

I was fifteen when Dad decided to trade her in for a younger model. The divorce ripped our family apart. The pain of it was a gaping wound that never quite healed.

Dad's new wife, Claire, was everything Mom wasn't. Blonde, bubbly, and with a smile that never seemed to falter. She was twenty years younger than him, and she'd sneaked her way into our lives with a charm that Mom never possessed.

I hated Claire. I hated how easily she'd won Dad over. How she seemed to fit into his life so effortlessly. And how she'd used her beauty and cunning to get everything she wanted.

Mom had been a mess after the divorce. She was always anxious, always on edge. She had these episodes, these sudden bursts of anger, and she'd lash out at everything and everyone. She lost herself, her confidence, and eventually, her sanity. 

I was trapped in the middle. I loved Dad, but I hated what he did to Mom. He was supposed to be her rock, her support system. But he’d chosen a younger, more attractive woman.

He made her give up the company. "It's for your own good," he'd said, his voice a hollow echo of the man I'd once known. "You're not well enough to handle it."

But Mom had always been a strong woman. She was the one who built the company from the ground up. She was the one who had the vision, the passion, the drive. She started the company way before she met Dad.

Claire, however, was a master manipulator. She saw the company as her ticket to a lavish lifestyle, and she convinced Dad to take over. She was supposed to be just a model hired for the runway show, but she somehow left her catwalk and slipped her way into Dad's heart,  causing chaos in our family. 

I blamed myself for not doing more. I blamed myself for being too young, too naive, too afraid to fight for Mom. 

I hated Claire for stealing Mom's life, her identity, her legacy. And I hated Dad for letting her do it.

I'd been working on a plan to take back the company and give it back to Mom once she was well enough. But it had all gone to hell when Dad  gave Elsie the new CEO. I was so sure that Claire was behind that move. Having her daughter take over meant more control in the company. 

My mind raced, searching for a solution as I prepared for bedtime. There had to be something I could do. But I was just a 25-year-old with a business degree and a lot of anger.

I found Mom watching one of those soap operas she was obsessed with in the living room. 

"Hey, Mom," I said, as I joined her on the couch, "I wanted to talk about something important."

"Sure. Once the soap opera ends."

I watched with her, and once they started showing the end credits, I told her about Elsie and how she’d taken over the company.  Mom was silent for a while, the only sound was the gentle hum of the TV. 

"You need to be careful, Alexa," she said, her voice laced with concern. "Claire and that evil daughter of hers are not to be trusted."

"I know," I said, "but I have a plan."

I told her about my godfather. About how he could teach me everything I needed to know about the company, about business, about how to beat Elsie at her own game.

"He's not the right person, Alexa," she said, her voice a little stronger. "He's just like your father. Even though he never supported your father from divorcing me, he also didn't try to stop him when he went after that cunning Claire." 

"What?" I asked, my heart sinking, "But he had always been nice to me."

"Nice to you but numb to everything your father did to us? It's complicated, Alexa," she said. "You will not understand."

I sighed, the tension building in my chest.  I didn’t want to argue. 

“I’m going to do it, Mom,” I said. “I have to. Dad asked him to teach me. If I learn, he will give me back the CEO position.”

"But Alexa…" she began. 

"It's the only way to get the company back to you," I said, cutting her off. 

"Elsie or your father are not the problem," she whispered. "I am. You don't think I would have fought for what was mine if I had wanted it so bad? You need to let it go, Alexa. It's over."

Even if Mom had assured me that it was over, I know it isn't. 

I went to bed resolved to let my godfather teach me everything I needed to know. What to do about our attraction to each other is what I didn't know. 

He was charming, intelligent, and undeniably handsome. Even as a kid, I’d felt a pull toward him, a strange mix of respect and longing.

But the attraction had intensified over the years. We had grown closer, especially after Mom’s breakdown. He had become a constant presence in my life, a source of strength and support. He was the one who'd encouraged me to pursue my business degree, the one who'd listened patiently to my anxieties about Mom.

I still couldn’t stop thinking about the way he looked at me. His gorgeous gray eyes had me mesmerized for minutes. His touch had sent shivers down my spine. What he said about not teasing him unless I wanted to please him had remained at the forefront of my mind.

I knew I had to be careful. I couldn’t let my feelings get in the way and complicate things more, especially with my father.

But it was hard. It was damn hard.

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   100. Love, Revisited

    Alexa's POVMy question hung in the stale hospital air, sharp and accusatory: "Is it because she's awake, Dad? Is that why you're finally apologizing? Because she's here to hear it?" The words had pierced through Dad's performative grief, leaving him speechless, a man caught in his own lie, or so I believed. His face was a mask of wounded surprise, tears welling again, but I couldn't discern their true source.My mom who had been quietly absorbing the fragmented reality around her, now turned her gaze fully to Dad. There was no immediate outrage in her eyes, no sudden burst of anger. Just a deep, unsettling stillness, a weary assessment that seemed to see right through him.Dad regaining his voice, although it was still raw with emotion, spoke. He didn't answer my question directly, but his words were meant for Mom, a desperate plea for her understanding, or perhaps, for his own vindication."Babe," he choked out, pushing himself back onto his knees by her bedside. His voice was thick

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   99. Mother's Embrace

    Alexa's POVThe word "Alexa?" hung in the air, a fragile, impossible gift. It was a sound I hadn't dared to dream of, a voice I thought was lost to me forever. My mother's eyes, though still hazy with the lingering effects of her long illness, were open, and they were looking at me. They knew me.My heart, which had been a lead weight in my chest for so long, suddenly soared. The world tilted, not in a dizzying spin of confusion, but in a sudden, overwhelming rush of pure, unadulterated joy. The bitter taste of revenge, the complex understanding of my father's brokenness, the heavy weight of Don Antonio's war – all of it, for that singular, miraculous moment, vanished into thin air.I moved without thinking, propelled by an instinct stronger than any calculated plan. My father, still frozen in his chair, seemed to fade from my view. I leaned over the bed, gently, so gently, as if she were a delicate bird that might fly away. My arms, trembling with emotion, wrapped around her frail s

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   98. Calculated Risk

    Don Antonio's POVThe weak whisper, her calling of Alexa's name, had frozen me mid-step. The raw power of that moment, the impossible miracle of her voice, had sliced through the tension like a knife. Donald, too, had bolted upright, his tear-streaked face etched with disbelief, mirroring my own.My first instinct, honed by decades of ruthless strategy, was to seize the moment. To secure Alexa, to remove her from Donald's presence, to reassert control over the chaotic scene. But as I turned, my eyes locked on Alexa's face. Her expression, a mixture of overwhelming shock and radiant, fragile hope, stopped me cold. Her world, which had been in shattered pieces for so long, had just been given an unimaginable, unexpected gift.This wasn't about strategy now. It was about something far more primal. Her mother is alive and speaking.I knew it was a risky move leaving the trio alone. Leaving Alexa with Donald, especially after his manipulative confession and his current display of what appe

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   97. A Daughter's Plea

    Alexa's POVThe air in the hospital room was thick enough to choke on. Don Antonio remained just inside the door, his eyes locked on my father. Dad, still slumped by my mother's bedside, met Don Antonio's gaze with a mixture of raw pain and a flicker of the old defiance. My mother lay between them, oblivious, her steady breathing the only calm sound in the storm.I was trapped in the middle, a silent spectator to a tension that felt like it could explode at any second. My head spun with the whirlwind of emotions – my own grief for my mother, the shocking revelations from my father, and now the terrifying presence of Don Antonio, who seemed ready to unleash a lifetime of suppressed rage.What was I supposed to do? My carefully constructed purpose, my clear path of vengeance with Don Antonio, had shattered into a million pieces the moment I saw my father's tears, and then even more so as I listened to his broken confession. The lines between right and wrong, hero and villain, had blurre

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   96. Unraveling the Past

    Alexa's POVThe moment Don Antonio pushed open the door, the air in the hospital room thickened. The heavy silence was replaced by a palpable tension, a clash of forces. My father, still tear-streaked and vulnerable, snapped his head up, his eyes wide with surprise and a flicker of the old defiance, quickly overshadowed by a raw, naked pain. Don Antonio's gaze, usually impenetrable, was a mixture of shock and cold fury as it swept from my father to me, then to my mother's still form.I sat motionless in the armchair, caught between three powerful entities. My mother, oblivious, a silent testament to the wreckage. My father, unexpectedly human in his grief. And Don Antonio, the embodiment of my vengeance, now standing witness to a scene that defied all his rigid calculations.The confrontation I'd initiated last night at the club felt like a distant, childish tantrum compared to the gravity of this moment. My father's tears had already shaken my carefully constructed world, and now Don

  • My Godfather is my Soulmate   95. Unforgiving Echoes

    Don Antonio's POVI had spent the night in a restless doze, the simulated conversation with Mark J. replaying in my mind. The deception had been well-executed, I was sure of it. Mark would carry the message of my supposed reconsideration straight to Donald, giving him a false sense of security.Yet, despite the satisfaction of the strategic play, Mark's words lingered. He had spoken of our shared history, of decades of friendship, of times when Donald and I were practically brothers. These were echoes from a past I had meticulously buried, images I had fought to erase from my memory.I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee, the rich aroma doing little to dispel the faint chill that had settled in my chest. I sat by the window, gazing out at the sprawling city skyline. I thought about everything Mark J. said. The early days, the forging of our empires, the loyalty, even the times I'd stood by Donald when others turned away. There were moments, fleeting and unwelcome, where a phantom pang

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status