Page 69 of Lust & Lies

NOELANI

MY MEMORIES LIKED RETURNING to me when my mind was quiet. The problem was that they returned in fragmented scenes, bits and pieces, never revealing the whole story to me. But some of those pieces were beginning to meld together.

The picture they painted shocked me. My dreams carried me back to the night my twin told me she was going to discuss her wedding with Aiden. My Aiden.

“I’ll soon be Mrs. Park. Mrs. Noelle Park,” Ellie said, smiling cruelly. “It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it, sis?”

Laughing, she left the house, leaving me staring after her, wondering which one of us would really walk down the aisle with Aiden.

“Noe!” Grandpa Park yelled again.

I glanced toward the staircase to see him glaring at me. Standing next to him was Seo-Jin. I hated that the Leader was seeing me like this, seeing me weak. Though he knew my real identity, he still expected me to be in Mist Mode at all times.

Never weak. Never showing my vulnerable side. I’d never seen the Leader cry. I’d never seen him let his emotions take over him. That was why Grandpa Park wanted Seo-Jin and me to be together.

The Leader and his right-hand lady, Mist. He wanted us two killing machines to have an emotionless relationship and focus solely on The Watchdogs.

Probably wanted us to breed future Watchdogs to take our places when we died, like I was taking my father’s place and Seo-Jin was taking his parents’ place.

“Noe! My office now. Or you will be punished.” Grandpa Park turned and headed toward his office, expecting me to follow.

I swallowed down my tears. I didn’t have to go after Ellie. I would trust Aiden. I trusted him not to choose my sister. His heart belonged to me. Together, we could defy all odds. I turned and headed toward the stairs.

When I brushed past Seo-Jin, he tried to grab my hand, surprising me, because he’d never done that before.

“What are you doing?” I asked, glaring up at him.

“Stop. For just a second.” He reached for me again.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.

“Why can’t you see me? Why is Aiden the only person you see?

I met Seo-Jin’s gaze, wondering what the hell had gotten into him. I took in his appearance. He looked tired, ragged. His dark hair, which was usually pulled back into a ponytail, was down, dropping to his shoulders. His usually clean-shaven face now had goatee fuzz growing.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

“Nothing.”

“Something's wrong,” I said, not believing him. “What’s up?”

“You. You and your inability to follow the rules. Is being with me that damn horrible?” he whispered.

“It has nothing to do with you, Leader. Aiden is and will forever be the only person in my heart.”

“But you can’t be with him. It’s forbidden,” he told me.

“No one gets to tell me who I can love.”

He shook his head. “If you keep being defiant, you’ll end up hurting the people close to you.”

The way he said that sent a chill down my spine.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Go to the office, you’ll find out. And remember this, choose wisely, because Aiden has already made his choice, and it wasn’t you.”

Those tears I’d been trying to hold back trickled down my face.

“Do not cry for him,” Seo-Jin told me. “He’s not worth your tears. No one is. You are Mist, the strongest person I know. Stop letting Aiden and Noelle treat you like this. If you were mine, I wouldn’t let you shed one tear.”

I quickly wiped my cheeks. “But I’m not yours. And keep Aiden’s name out of your mouth if you want to keep that tongue of yours.”

I turned to go talk to Grandpa Park.

“Why don’t you talk to your sister like that?” Seo-Jin said from behind me.

I stopped and stared at him over my shoulder. “Because she’s the only blood relative I have left in this world. But if she goes through with this marriage, she’ll be an enemy to me. And I’ll treat her the way I treat all of my enemies.”

“Am I an enemy?” Seo-Jin asked.

“No. We trained together. We’ve fought in life-or-death situations together. You’re my colleague. My friend. I’d die for you.”

“But that’s the difference between you and me. We’re comrades, so we’d both die for each other. But I want to live for you, Noe.”

“Stop it,” I told him. “You know I love Aiden. If you say anything else, I’ll no longer see you as a friend.”

With that said, I turned and headed into Grandpa Park’s office. I found him seated behind his desk, with a security pad turned in my direction. The image on the small screen was of Aiden in bed, sleeping.

There was a bottle of whiskey on his nightstand. I sighed. He must’ve started drinking as soon as I left his place after our argument. The bottle was more than half empty. With how much he’d drank, he’d be knocked out until morning. Maybe I should’ve stayed there with him instead of storming out.

“Why do you have a camera in Aiden’s place?” I asked Grandpa Park. “That’s weird.”

“I only put it there yesterday while the two of you were out planning your escape. And I wouldn’t have had to put it there if I didn’t suspect the two of you of keeping secrets from me.”

I swallowed, wanting to ask how he’d known we’d been planning our escape. But there were eyes and ears everywhere. He’d probably already bugged my place and Aiden’s long ago. I checked my place for bugs every week. I now needed to make it a daily check.

“What do you want me to see?” I asked. “Do you want me to watch him sleep?”

“Sit down. You’ll see soon.” He nodded at the chair across from him.

I reluctantly sat down. Ten minutes later, I sighed.

“If this is all you wanted me for, I would like to leave. There are other things I could be doing.”

“Patience, Mist,” Grandpa Park said, smirking at me.

The Old Man had something up his sleeve. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. For me. Or Aiden.

“Do you hate me?” I asked, surprising even myself.

His eyes widened. “Don’t ever ask such a foolish question again.”

“Sometimes... it feels like it,” I told him.

“I raised you. How could I hate you? Though you’re not of my blood, I’ve always treated you like you were one of my grandsons.”

His words were telling. To him, I was just one of the boys, not fit to marry his precious grandson. Only fit to kill and handle the business disagreements his grandsons fumbled. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

I’ve long known how he saw me. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. I continued staring at the screen, watching the man I love rest. I yawned, growing sleepy myself. I should stop by his place and climb into bed with him after I left here.

About fifteen minutes later, I realized I wouldn’t be able to do that because someone else was climbing into bed with him. My sister stepped into Aiden’s bedroom. How the hell had she gotten in? My gaze jerked to Grandpa Park.

“How did she get into his house?”

“I gave her the code,” he told me, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t wrong as fuck.

“Why?” I whispered, hating how broken that word sounded when it emerged from me.

“Because of how you’re responding, Mist. You love him too much. It clouds your judgment.”

“I’m not Mist right now,” I yelled.

“You’re always Mist. Yet, you fail to realize that.

You and Aiden both fail to realize it. He cannot marry Mist. And Mist cannot marry a CEO and live out in the open with him.

Life doesn’t work that way. I’ve tried telling you both that for a long time.

Now, the two of you have forced my hand,” he yelled, banging his cane on the floor.

My gaze dropped to the screen just in time to see my sister undressing.

“He’s your grandson,” I whispered.

“And she’s the woman I’ve raised for him. She understands her place. Understands her tasks. She’ll always do as I say. And when she has kids with Aiden, she’ll make sure she raises them the way I and Ji-an taught her.”

Grooming. That’s what that was called. Why hadn’t I realized it before? All these years, he’d been grooming my sister and me. I watched my naked twin sister climb into bed with the man I loved and begin touching him. Oh. My. God. She was about to touch his cock.

“This is sexual assault,” I snapped.

“This is what will lead to their marriage. She knows not to go too far. He only needs to believe he slept with her. He doesn’t have to truly sleep with her tonight. But eventually, nature will take its course.”

I watched Ellie press a kiss to Aiden’s chest. He stirred and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. My heart cracked, the ache damn near making me double over.

“Noe, you came back,” Aiden groaned, still half asleep.

“I did,” Ellie murmured, pretending to be me as she snuggled up against him.

“I was going to come find you,” Aiden whispered. “Don’t run off like that again. You know I can’t lose you.”

“I know, Aiden,” Ellie whispered. “I’ve always loved you. I’ll never leave you.”

Aiden drifted back to sleep, holding her close. I wanted to kill this bitch. And that hurt because how could I want to kill my only blood relative? But how could my only blood relative do something like this to me?

We were sisters. Not cousins. Not friends. Not associates. Sisters! Twins! We’d shared a womb. How could she hurt me this way?

“It won’t be hard for her to take your place,” Grandpa Park told me.

“We may have the same face, but she can never replace me,” I replied. “He’s drunk. But when he wakes up, he’ll realize it’s her and have a fit.”

“That’s where you come in at, Mist,” Grandpa Park said as he turned the feed off and folded his hands together on the desk.

A wave of uneasiness crept over me. He claimed Ellie wouldn’t go too far. But how far was too far? She was already in bed with him. Naked! I needed to get to Aiden. Needed to rip Ellie’s ass out of his bed right now.

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.