He Didn’t Know She Was The Heiress Chapter 06
A video blared from Mia’s phone. She didn’t hear Julian come out of his office.
Before Aiden could move, she caught his hair and pulled his head back.
“You little bastard. I told you everything in this house belongs to Lily and me. Try taking something from her again and see what happens.”
She gave him a shove. “Go stand by the front door. Don’t move.”
Aiden’s eyes filled. Since Chloe had left, Aunt Mia had stopped smiling at him when his father wasn’t around. The woman he’d wanted as his mother didn’t even like him.
He thought of his mom’s voice, of the games she’d played with him and the books she used to read aloud. He began to cry.
Mia clamped a hand over his mouth. “Keep crying and I’ll smother you.”
He went still. When she let go, he pressed his lips together, trying to keep the sobs inside.
“And don’t you tell your dad,” she said. “Or I’ll make you drink that peanut butter shake. Want to end up back in the ER?”
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “Please, Aunt Mia. I’ll be good. Lily can have everything. I won’t touch her things.”
“That’s better.” Lily folded her arms. “You’re my dog now, Aiden. Got it?”
He stared at the little sister he’d begged to have in the house. Then he lowered his eyes.
“Okay.”
“Get on your knees. Bark.”
Still crying, Aiden knelt. The first sound caught in his throat. When he tried again, Mia and Lily laughed.
A crash cut through their laughter.
Julian had kicked over the trash can on the landing. He was already coming down the stairs.
Mia went pale. “Honey, wait. Let me explain—”
He slapped her before she could finish.
“You bitch. How dare you do that to my son?”
He had trusted her with Aiden. He’d told himself she loved the boy as much as Chloe did. Now he could still hear his son trying to bark through his tears.
Lily ran to him and clutched his waist. “Daddy, we’re sorry. We were just playing with him.”
Julian kicked her away. She fell to the floor.
“Don’t lie to me. Is this what your mother taught you?”
Lily was his daughter, but Aiden was his son. To Julian, that had always counted for more.
Aiden stumbled into his father’s arms. “Dad, I want Mom.”
He could barely get the words out. “I shouldn’t have listened to Aunt Mia. I shouldn’t have said those things. I hit Mom, Dad. I hit her.”
Julian held him tighter.
“She’s the only one who loves me,” Aiden sobbed. “They lied to me. I want my mom.”
Julian looked at Mia over his son’s head. “Was any of it real? You said you didn’t need a ring. You said you couldn’t bear to hurt Chloe.”
“You wanted her gone. You wanted her house, her husband, her life.”
Mia shook her head. “How can you say that? I never wanted to hurt her.”
He gave a harsh laugh. “Then why the hell did you sleep with me?”
Mia’s face drained of color.
The first time they’d slept together, Julian had panicked. He’d felt sick with guilt. Mia had been the one to ask him to keep it secret, saying Chloe would be devastated, that she couldn’t bear to lose her best friend.
He had actually admired her for it. He’d believed she was protecting Chloe. Her tears made him feel he’d wronged Mia, too.
Then she got pregnant. She didn’t tell him. She planned to end the pregnancy without him ever knowing.
Chloe mentioned it to him, unaware that the baby was his.
He reached the clinic before the procedure. Mia was trembling, and all he could think about was how frightened and alone she looked. He begged her to keep the baby.
For years afterward, she had been everything he wanted in a mistress. She never challenged him, never demanded too much. In bed, she was eager to try things Chloe wasn’t comfortable with. He could always count on Mia to make him feel wanted.
Still, he had never planned to marry her. That only changed when she told him Lily was being bullied for not having a father.
Now he remembered how quickly Mia had stopped saying she didn’t want to hurt Chloe and started telling him Lily needed a real family. He had gone home and repeated those words to his wife, as though the family she’d spent ten years caring for meant nothing.
Chloe had stood there with his handprint on her face, and he’d still defended Mia. Had any of Mia’s tears been real?