Chapter 249

[ 1,032 words ]

Emilia’s POV

“How dare you! Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Titus shot to his feet, his face darkening with a fury.

“I’m talking to both of you!” Sebastian roared back, his eyes burning with a rage that filled the whole room.

I stood frozen near the doorway, my chest tightening. This was spiraling out of control fast.

“What happened?” Mila demanded, her voice sharp with confusion. “Why are you shouting at us like this?”

Her eyes darted to me, hoping I’d explain, but I couldn’t find the words. What was I supposed to say?

“What did you do to Abigail’s parents?” Sebastian’s voice dropped low, each word hard and deliberate.

“Tell me the truth. Three years ago, did you destroy my relationship with her?”

He was fighting to hold himself together, but his hands shook, and his jaw clenched so hard the muscle stood out.

The instant the question left his lips, both Titus and Mila went pale. The color drained from their faces in seconds.

And that was all the confirmation Sebastian needed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Titus said, but his voice lacked conviction.

“Don’t even try it.” Sebastian’s laugh was bitter and broken. “Are you really going to stand there and pretend? Do you think you can bury the truth forever? Do you honestly believe no one would find out you killed people?”

The words burst out of him, and in one violent motion, he swept his arm across the coffee table. Teacups shattered against the floor, porcelain scattering everywhere.

I flinched. I’d seen Sebastian angry before, but this was different. This wasn’t just anger. It was heartbreak, and he was burying it under the shouting.

“Say something!” he bellowed. “Why aren’t you denying it? Go on, lie to my face!”

Titus and Mila stood there, stunned into silence. Maybe they’d always known this day would come. They just hadn’t expected it tonight.

“I did it,” Titus said finally, his voice rough. “All of it. Your mother had nothing to do with this.”

“Don’t you dare.” Mila turned on him sharply. “I’m the one who killed Pearl Haymitch and Derek Tanner. This has nothing to do with your father.”

My stomach dropped.

They were both confessing. But the way they looked at each other, shock plain on both their faces, told me the awful truth.

Neither of them had known what the other had done.

“One of you schemed to break me and Abigail apart,” Sebastian said, his voice shaking now. “The other one murdered her parents. So tell me, are you still the same people who raised me? Because right now, you look like strangers. You look like monsters.”

“Don’t you dare speak to us that way,” Mila snapped, her own anger flaring. “Abigail left you for money. Your father never—”

“Your mother didn’t kill anyone,” Titus cut in, his voice rising. “She never even met Pearl Haymitch.”

Sebastian let out a hollow, bitter laugh. “So you didn’t even know what the other was doing behind your back? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Mila and Titus turned and stared at each other, stunned. They’d each been keeping secrets, even from one another.

“Guess your love isn’t as solid as everyone thought,” Sebastian said coldly. “Since neither of you wants to come clean, I’ll do it for you.”

He turned to Titus, his voice dropping to something deadly quiet. “Did you hire a man with a terminal illness and pay him a million dollars to throw himself in front of Derek Tanner’s truck? Did you stage a hit-and-run just to have leverage over Abigail? Did you lure Pearl into gambling, then send loan sharks to tear her house apart when she couldn’t pay? Did you have them threaten Abigail, tell her that if she didn’t leave me, worse would come?”

Mila’s eyes went wide. She truly hadn’t known.

“And you,” Sebastian turned to his mother, his voice cracking now. “You hated Pearl for being with your husband once, didn’t you? So you had someone tamper with their car. Made it look like an accident. Made sure no one would ever call it murder.”

Titus stared at Mila, his face stricken. “Mila, you—”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

I stood there and watched the three people I cared about most turn on each other, and something in my chest split down the middle. This wasn’t just anger. This was betrayal. A family taking itself apart from the inside.

And the worst part? I could see it now. The misunderstanding. The secrets they’d kept even from each other. The way they’d each acted out of love, or fear, or desperation, and ended up building a disaster neither of them fully understood.

“It seems I was right,” Sebastian said quietly, and his voice was heavy with pain.

He crossed the room and grabbed the phone off the table.

“What are you doing?” I rushed forward.

“Murderers go to prison,” he said flatly.

“Are you out of your mind?” I grabbed his arm. “They’re your parents.”

“And what about Abigail’s parents?” he shot back. “Don’t they matter?”

“You can’t turn them in with your own hands. You need to hear their side. Everything you know right now is just Abigail’s version. You haven’t even given them a chance to explain. I know Titus and Mila. They’re not cold-blooded killers. If they did this, there has to be a reason.”

“If they’re not denying it, what’s left to say?” His voice was hollow. “Murder is murder. There’s no justification for that.”

“There’s always a reason,” Mila said quietly, and when I turned to look at her, tears were streaming down her face. “Just because we’re not shouting it from the rooftops doesn’t mean we don’t have one. Your father and I aren’t monsters, Sebastian. We did what we did because we had no other choice.”

“Then tell me.” Sebastian slammed the phone back onto the table. “Give me one reason I can accept.”

Mila sank back onto the couch, tears falling silently.

And I stood in the middle of it, unable to stop any of it, watching the people I loved tear each other apart piece by piece.

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