fucking life.
“You’re going to tell us what happened this morning. And soon after you’re going to fucking tell us what happened two weeks ago.”
“Well, there isn’t much to say,” Courtney says with a shrug. “I just knew Mia would have a plan and I was right.”
“Oh, don’t tell me that when you were scheming with Nathan you failed to make a contingency plan,” Liam mocks.
“I did have one,” she says silently. “It’s just that Nathan… that bastard saw it and destroyed it.”
“Aww did he betray you?” Dad seethes. “You partnered with that imbecile to hurt our sons and you thought it wouldn’t fucking backfire in your plastic face?”
“I wasn’t gunning for Julian; I was aiming for you and this bitch!”
“Because you couldn’t deal with it yourself, you stupid bitch and now my daughter has been taken!” Nicky spits, her face red, tears and snot running down her face.
“How could you do this, Courtney?” Dad demands. “All because you wanted to fucking teach me a lesson as if what you did to my baby boy, Aiden wasn’t enough.”
“He wasn’t my child!” Courtney says, her voice low.
“I never said he was yours! I fucking never asked you to take care of him or raise him as your own because I knew you were too fucked up and twisted!” Dad seethes. “I should’ve never married you.”
“And yet you fucking did,” Courtney says. “You signed on the dotted lines, just like Julian is going to sign on those fucking papers to marry into the Bishop family.”
I glance at my brother as soon as she says those words, but he’s already staring at me, a murderous look in his eyes.
“What’s Nathan’s end goal in all of this?” Cole says, effectively stepping in before my brother can blow up. “What deal did he make?”
“I hardly think that’s…”
“Just fucking answer the question!” I snap. “Make no mistake, I don’t respect you. I don’t see you as my mother. You’re nothing but an abuser, a liar, a manipulator and right now, the obstacle standing in my fucking way!”
“Julian…”
“Answer the fucking question!”
She looks away, tears in her eyes, but knowing my mother, those are definitely fake too, just to garner sympathy. What she will soon realize is without Mia, I’m nothing but a category five nightmare where even waking up won’t help.
“We planned it all,” Courtney starts, her voice low. “The allegations against you. The media frenzy, the rumors of kidnapping, rape and assault… Nathan had it all planned and I… I helped.”
I stand there stoically, listening to the confession of a mother that has been the villain in my life since day fucking one. It wasn’t Nathan like I thought. It was her all along.
“You have to understand, Julian, I just wanted her out of your life, she isn’t good for you—”
“What happened next?” I demand silently. She sniffles, wiping the tears away.
“Nathan’s plan was to get Mia back, but he also has a bone to pick with your father,” she says, turning to look at John. “I might be a manipulative bitch but have any of you asked your saintly, caring father who Aiden’s mother is?”
“Courtney…” Dad grits out. “I’m warning you.”
And I’m all but ready to snap. My knuckles are bleeding anew and fear my new friend has decided to throw one hell of a party out of me. I can feel my anxiety rising with all this continuous run around.
“No one fucking cares!” Liam blows up. “Aiden was our brother! He was caring, kind and so fucking sweet and you hated him!”
Courtney blinks rapidly, stepping back as she regards Liam’s anger. “I thought you at least would want to know who his mother—”
“The only one hung up over who his biological mother was is you!”
“And I’m going to ask you one more fucking time,” I say, keeping my voice low. “What did Nathan want with Mia?”
“To use her,” Nicky says, her voice nothing but a whisper. “Nathan is a chronic gambler, a very bad one at that and he’s broke. He lost everything a year or so ago. The house. My sister’s money, everything he squandered and now… just like Nancy warned, he’s going after Mia to use her.”
“And the award for the best mother is…” Courtney mocks.
“I will rearrange that plastic face, bitch!”
“You can try but I’m not the one who left my sick sister and that monster to raise my child in his fucking image. You did that. You made that poor girl a puppet that’s been reporting to her father all her