Page 162 of Lust & Lies

This wasn’t only unfair to me, but it was unfair to him as well. He didn’t deserve this. And to have this betrayal come from his own grandpa made it worse. I swear, family could hurt you in a way no one else ever could.

“It won’t take much for her to replace you in his heart over time,” Grandpa Park stated. “I’ve told you over and over again that love is an illusion. It’s not real. It’s a feeling that comes and goes depending on the situation and sometimes, even a person’s mood. You can’t depend on love. But you can depend on power, on skills. Focus on your skills and let Ellie focus on hers.”

“I guess the skills you’re speaking of for me are my ability to complete a mission. What are Ellie’s skills? What makes her the perfect granddaughter-in-law candidate?”

“She’s obedient. You hate small talk, but she can work a room as the perfect hostess. Aiden needs someone like that, since he’s like you and doesn’t enjoy being around too many people. She can engage with the wives of his associates. You find those wives to be clueless decorations for their men. And you find their husbands to be hypocritical bastards who only think with their privates. Isn’t that what you called them?”

I swallowed, knowing he was referring to that one time I went to an event in place of Ellie. He’d told me to mingle with the guests. But one of the women saw her husband flirting with me and got upset with me, not him.

To embarrass me, she waited until he walked away, then she and her coven of brainless bitches approached me. The woman tried to pour her champagne on me after I told her that it was her husband flirting with me, not the other way around.

I hadn’t meant to break her wrist. It was a reflex. I swear it was. Yet, she’d acted like I’d damn near killed her. I’d had my wrist broken before, and I’d never cried that loud. My actions had only proven to Grandpa Park that I couldn’t handle being by Aiden’s side.

“I can learn to mingle with those people,” I said, knowing that I would hate every second of my life if I had to do that.

“No, you can’t because that isn’t you. And there’s more that you’d have to do. The bottom line is that you’re just not the one for Aiden. Ellie is. Under the right circumstances, Aiden could come to like Ellie. I don’t expect him to love her. I don’t want his judgment to be clouded by fleeting emotions. I just want him to have her by his side, to have a helpmate. You saw the way he held her. It won’t be long before he accepts his fate.”

“Never. Right now, he’s drunk and confused. He thinks it’s me. But if I called and told him it wasn’t me, he’d kick her out. Hell, he may even try to kill her for doing this.”

I rose from my seat, pulling my phone from my pocket. I needed to call him before he truly made a mistake.

“Make that call and you’ll regret it,” Grandpa Park told me.

“No, I won’t.”

“Noe, if you make that call, Aiden won’t be the only person you lose today.”

I froze, staring down at Aiden’s name in my phone. I had him listed under My Heart. Right now, my heart was breaking.

“What do you mean?” I murmured, unable to look away from those words.

My Heart.

“Sit down, Noah.”

“You know I no longer use that name,” I hissed.

“Sit down, Mist.”

“That’s not my name either,” I yelled.

Grandpa Park sighed. “You can never be Noelani Cartwright again. You know that. She died a long time ago. And that’s the main reason you can never be Aiden’s wife. Under what secret identity would you use to marry him? Even your driver’s license and your passport are under a name I allowed you to have once you were no longer able to pretend to be a boy. Noa Pierce is a name I gifted you. And you used that name to try to run away from your obligations, away from the Watchdogs. You want to use the identity I gave you to disobey me and marry my grandson. I cannot allow that to happen. If his competitors were to do a background check on Noa Pierce, if they dug deep enough, eventually they’d find a flaw. That flaw could ruin Aiden and our companies. Ellie doesn’t have a flaw. She’s perfect for him.”

“So, because of you, I’m supposed to live a life I don’t want? Because of you, I can never be Noelani. Because of you, I had to be Noah until I was a teen who could no longer pretend to be a boy. Then I was #325 of the Watchdog trainees. Then I graduated to Mist. Now, I have to go by Noa Pierce, just so I can live as a woman. But no matter who I am, no matter what name I use, I’m not good enough to be Mrs. Park, right?”

“I never said you weren’t good enough...” he started.

“You say it every time you tell me Ellie would be perfect for him, and I wouldn’t.”

“We all have our roles to play,” he yelled.

“Yeah, in the story you’re crafting. I’m tired of having a role in your story. I want to write my own story, live my own truth.”

“You know who probably wished they could have a role in my story, or any story for that matter? Layla Hatfield.”

I took a step back, his words feeling like a dagger to my heart, to my soul.

“What?” I rasped. “Why would you say that? Why bring her into this?”