Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed By My Boyfriend's Father : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

: I called Jamie from the car. No answer.I called again. And again.Nothing.The drive from Westbrook to the apartment took forty minutes. I made it in twenty-five.The door was unlocked.I pushed it open slowly. "Jamie?"Silence.Then I saw him. On the couch. Hands zip-tied behind his back. Blood trickling from his temple.A woman stood behind him, knife pressed to his throat.Rachel Summers was beautiful even in her rage. Mid-thirties, dark hair, eyes that had seen too much."You must be Lilith," she said. "The girl who stole my life.""I never stole anything from you. That was ten years ago. You and Jamie are ancient history.""Ancient history?" Rachel laughed. "Is that what he told you? That I was just some affair? Some mistake he moved past?""That's what you were.""I was the woman he promised to leave Elena for. The woman he said he loved. The woman who got pregnant with his child." Her hand tightened on the knife. "And then he paid me a hundred thousand dollars to get an abo

Elena's gun dropped. "That's impossible. You're in prison.""I was never in prison, Mom." Aiden stepped fully into the light. "The man you visited? The one who wrote you letters? That was Daniel Price, my cellmate. I paid him to take my place. Paid the guards to look the other way. Been free for three weeks.""You faked your own incarceration?" Jamie's voice was hollow."The trial was real. The conviction was real. But the prison transfer?" Aiden smiled. "I switched places with Daniel during transport. He's serving my sentence. I'm here.""Why?" Elena demanded. "Why let me think you were locked up?""Because I needed you desperate. Needed you angry enough to hire someone to kill Dad and Lilith. Needed you to become the monster everyone thinks I am." Aiden raised his gun, pointing it at Elena now. "Needed you to finally take responsibility for creating me."Elena's face went white. "I protected you.""You destroyed me. Every time you covered up what I did, every time you paid someone o

Jamie stared at the signature. At my name written in ink that hadn't dried yet."You signed it," he said. "You actually signed it.""I'm sorry.""Sorry?" He laughed, but it sounded like choking. "You're marrying my son and you're sorry?""I don't expect you to understand—""I understand perfectly. You chose him. The man who killed three women. The man who tried to kill us both. You chose him over me." He crumpled the license in his fist. "I came back for you. I was ready to fight for us. And you already signed away our future.""It doesn't have to mean anything. I can still—""Still what? Pretend you didn't mean it? Take it back?" He threw the paper at me. "You meant it. I can see it in your face. You want him.""I want both of you. That's the problem.""No. The problem is you think you can have both of us. That I'll just accept sharing you with my own son." Jamie moved to the door. "I won't. I can't. If you marry him, you lose me forever.""Jamie, wait—"He left. This time I knew he

1The gun went off.I screamed.But Jamie was still standing.The bullet had gone wide, hitting the wall behind us. Aiden's hand was shaking."I can't," Aiden whispered, lowering the gun. "I can't do it. I can't kill you."Jamie stood frozen. "Then let us go.""No. I just—I can't shoot you. But I can't let her go either." Aiden's composure cracked completely. "Don't you understand? She's all I have. She's the only thing that makes sense. If she leaves, I have nothing.""You have your freedom. Your life. A chance to actually get help.""Help doesn't fix what's broken in me. Nothing does." Aiden looked at me. "Tell him. Tell him you don't want to go.""I want to go, Aiden. This isn't love. This isn't marriage. It's captivity.""It's the only way I know how to love." His eyes filled with tears. "My mother taught me that love means control. That if you let people make their own choices, they'll leave. So you take away the choice. You make them stay.""That's not love," Jamie said. "That's

Jamie moved in front of me. "Put the knife down, Adrian.""Why? I'm just holding it. Not threatening anyone." Adrian examined the blade. "It's from your kitchen. I took it while you were on the phone. Wanted to see if you'd notice.""We noticed. Now put it down.""No." Adrian's smile widened. "I want to show you something first."He pressed the blade to his own palm. Drew it across slowly. Blood welled up."Adrian, stop—" I started forward."Don't move." He held up his bleeding hand. "See? I can hurt myself and not even flinch. Dad wrote about it in his journal. Said pain is just information. That if you process it correctly, it becomes power.""You read his journals," Jamie said."Every single one. Mom tried to hide them but I found them when I was eight. Been studying ever since." He wrapped his hand in his shirt. "He was brilliant. Damaged, but brilliant. And he left me a roadmap.""A roadmap to what?""To understanding what I am. What I'm capable of. What I'm supposed to become."