a woman scorned. Never in my life had I seen her behave like this before. But the more I heard Dad yell, and the more I heard my brother beg her to stop, the more it became painfully real. Through blurry eyes, I watched them struggle.
"Ah, I see you put two and two together." She looked directly at me. "You're a little whore, just like your real mother was, trying to seduce men who aren't yours, take what's not yours. It's bad enough this family is a lie, a mockery, but I refuse to be shamed and disgraced in front of the world any longer. I went to the ends of the earth to cover up your father’s accident seventeen years ago because I loved him, but I refuse to do it for you."
His accident…meaning me. My accident…meaning my affair with my coach.
She did it because she loved him, but she wouldn't lie any longer.
She wouldn’t go to ends of the earth for me because she didn't love me.
She had never loved me.
And the worst part of all, after all these years, deep down I had never felt like I had a mother's love either.
"Mom…" Xavier said softly, heartbroken. He let go of her arms and stood as shocked as I was.
My heart dropped into my gut. Air seized my lungs. I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle. Her cruelness knew no bounds. The woman I knew only as my mother was a monster clothed in Chanel and draped in diamonds.
I was going to be sick. I gripped the arm of the chair and held my stomach with my other hand. Nausea spun like a tornado through me, the vomit climbing up my throat. Any second I was going to lose it.
"How dare you hurt her like that," Dad said, danger coating his every word. "She's our daughter."
"She's not my daughter and she never will be. I never wanted her. I can't stand her! She was your assistant's daughter! Your assistant who was a fucking loser, worthless, and no good. All she had to do was spread her little virgin legs and you went running." She sneered and continued. "A loser who you paid off to keep her mouth shut and disappear. But I'm the loser, too, because you paid me to play house and pretend that Adrianna was mine, didn't you?"
I couldn't take anymore, I needed to get away.
"Mom…" Xavier's voice cracked, but his eyes were a fury of rage. My gaze dropped to his hands. They were balled into fists, the whites of his cracked knuckles showing. "This isn't Adrianna's fault. Why are you doing this to her?"
"Adrianna," she chewed out, disgust laced in the four syllables of my name. "Adrianna is a prostitute's name. I wanted to change it, but your dear old father wouldn't let me change his precious daughter’s name. His whore of an assistant picked it out. That southern country bumpkin teenage trash that she was and her bible thumping parents."
It happened so fast. I didn't see it, but I heard it. The loud, cracking sound that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than a backhanded blow. There was not one ounce of guilt or remorse that came with it.
I wasn't sure what stunned me more—Dad hitting mom right across the face, or when Xavier grabbed him by the collar of his Robert Cavalli shirt and shoved him hard and fast up against the wall.
"Dad," Xavier said low and quiet. Anger poured off him in waves. "You should never hit a woman. Ever." I shot a glance at Mom. She cupped her cheek, her jaw aghast, tears floating in her eyes. "You taught me from a young age to always protect my sister," he said. My heart soared for my brother. I was thankful I had him in my corner. "I don't give a shit if what Mom claims is true. Adrianna is my sister, and she always will be my sister. She's good and doesn't deserve to be called vile names and attacked, but hitting Mom because of that? What does that make you? I will not stand to see a woman hit, especially my mother."
Dad’s eyes narrowed at my brother. "Xavier, stay out of it," he ordered, grabbing my brother's wrists. "You don't know the half of it." Xavier pulled Dad and shoved him against the wall again. The fury radiating off him scared me. He could unravel at any given moment and I didn't have the power in me