Page 75 of Lust & Lies

NOELANI

I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT about how important memories were. Not until I was lying in bed with Aiden, clearing up misunderstandings and revealing things he’d never known about. I’d lain in bed with him this way just a couple of days ago.

And I’d loved it. Yet, with my memory back, it felt different. I kept tearing up, making him worry about me and ask if I was in pain. I was sore, of course. The pain pills Gertrude had left for me hadn’t fully kicked in yet.

However, that pain wasn’t the reason I was tearing up. I teared up because I’d been waiting for this day for so long. The day I could return to his arms. The day I could stop keeping my distance from the man I loved.

The day I could stop pretending to hate him and emotionally punishing him for a crime he hadn’t committed. As we lay side by side with my head resting on his chest, I couldn’t help but cry for all the time we’d lost.

For all the mean things I’d said to him to keep him away from me. With his arm wrapped around me, he was careful not to touch my bandaged side. But his fingers trailed up and down my arm. That simple touch felt like a dream come true to me.

Likewise, I couldn’t stop touching him either. My hand was on his chest, fingers walking up and down his torso, careful not to dip to the bandage on his stomach, where he’d been cut during the fight.

We’d been talking for hours and still there was so much to say, so much to discuss. It would take time to clear the air about everything. For now, we had to focus on the more pressing matters.

“I can’t believe my grandfather threatened the Hatfields,” Aiden stated.

“I take that back. Yes, I can. It’s still shocking, though.

I shouldn’t be surprised by anything he does, considering he’d threatened to kill you back then.

I hadn’t believed him. So I’d resisted his demands.

I only gave in after he threatened to send you far away with Seo-Jin’s weak ass. ”

I held back my smile. Poor Seo-Jin. Aiden still hated him even after I explained that the Leader and I were never truly a couple. Even after I told him that Seo-Jin had suffered because of his grandfather, he continued to call the man names.

“That was the only way he’d gotten me to marry Ellie,” Aiden continued. “And I never touched her. She tried everything to get me to sleep with her. Even drugging me once.”

“She drugged you? Was it an aphrodisiac drug?”

“Yeah, it was. Luckily, Ethan was on his way to the bar that night when she had the bartender slip something in my drink. He took me home after realizing something was wrong. She’d knocked on the door all night, begging me to let her in.”

“Those aphrodisiac drugs are strong. How did you endure it without going to the hospital?” I asked.

“A few cold showers and jacking off while thinking about you did the trick. I still have that video we made...”

“Aiden!” I exclaimed, thinking he’d thrown that sex tape away.

“What? When you left, you left me wounded. Your old messages and videos were the only things that kept me going. That night, our sexy video was my medicine. It took hours for the drug to wear off.”

Damn. That had to be a whole lot of jacking off. I needed to try that drug. Of course, I would get his permission before I used it on him. I would take it too. That sounded like a weekend of naughty fun.

“The next day, after it wore off,” he told me. “I visited her place for the first time and held a gun to her head.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, smiling, wishing I’d been there to see it.

“Yes. I told her if she came near me again, I would blow her brains out. She’d made my life a living hell.

But I think that was her wake-up call to stay the hell away from me.

A few months later, the security guard I’d assigned to watch her and ensure she stayed away reported that she was dating someone. ”

“You should’ve put a gun to her head sooner.”

“Yeah, I should’ve.” He chuckled. “Hearing about her boyfriend was the best news I’d had in a long time. I had my guard follow them and take pictures of her and the guy for a few weeks. Once I had enough proof, I met up with her and showed it to her.”

“Let me guess, she started crying.”

Aiden chuckled. “The way she turns those tears on and off is a skill.”

“Yes! It always amazes me. What happened after the crying didn’t sway you?”

“She insisted that they were just friends. Then, I threatened to show those photos to grandpa if she didn’t divorce me.

That’s when she finally changed her tune.

She agreed to the divorce after telling me how much she hated me and how her boyfriend was a real man, and I was just a little boy that only you would like. ”

Typical Ellie.

“How did you keep your grandpa from finding out about the divorce?” I asked.

“He never checked. He was preoccupied a lot around that time. You say you believe he’s the one behind the leaks in your mission. I think he was too busy plotting that to focus on me as much as he used to.”

The bastard!

“Back then, you wouldn’t tell me anything,” Aiden said, voice barely above a whisper.

But I could hear the pain lacing his words. Guilt threaded through me as he continued talking.

“I wouldn’t have known about those leaks if Gertrude hadn’t told me.”

Damn it, Gertrude. I thought you were on my side.

“I nearly lost my mind when she told me you’d had two failed missions and they both seemed suspicious, like someone had leaked your information to the enemy. It was then that I knew I had to do something to get you out of my grandfather’s clutches.”

“So, that’s when you put your big plan together?” I asked.

“I had no choice. You’d almost died twice...”

“I’ve almost died a lot of times. It’s just that those two times felt like set-ups.”

“Either way, you’d almost died. I wasn’t about to let it happen again. Since I couldn’t go to you without you trying to kill me, I sent Ellie to you.”

“You sent the person I truly wanted to kill to me. Smart choice!” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“Hey, I had a plan. She was supposed to show up with her boyfriend and tell you the truth about what happened back then. Then she was supposed to tell you that I wanted you to come with me so I could keep you safe while we figured out who was out to kill you. I never expected her boyfriend to drug you and for you all to get into a wreck. And then she lied and said you caused the wreck.”

“Nope. I was still too out of it to cause the wreck.”

“The fact that someone ran you off the road means someone knew you’d be on that road.”

“Exactly.”

“When Ellie called and told me about the wreck, she said it was the people in the car behind them who called 911. She and her boyfriend were gone by the time the ambulance got there.”

Damn, she hadn’t even stayed to make sure her sister was okay. That didn’t surprise me. What bothered me was how much it stung to hear that.

“I’m guessing the arrival of that good Samaritan is what drove the killer away. If I’d known about the killer earlier, I could’ve had someone looking into them all this time. Fucking Ellie!” Aiden hissed.

“Calm down,” I said, rubbing his chest. “We’ll find out who they are. The only way they could know we were on that road was if they’d tapped into Ellie’s phone.”

My sister wasn’t as suspicious of others as Aiden and I were. She probably never checked her phone for spyware or her home for cameras, which was why I never discussed things with her over the phone.

“I remember my sister being antsy that night,” I told Aiden.

“I think she thought someone was after her. Before I passed out, I remember her boyfriend asking if she thought you were behind the wreck. She said it was possible because you were just as cruel as your grandfather. That makes me believe she and your grandfather had fallen out or something. Something happened to make her realize he wasn’t as kind as she thought he was.

Perhaps that’s why she and her boyfriend wanted new identities, because they were trying to escape him. ”

“It all comes back to my grandfather,” Aiden stated, staring up at the ceiling. “He’s my grandfather. My blood. Yet, I feel no bond with him. It was there when I was younger. But over the years, it started to fade. I started to see him more clearly.”

Same!

“At the same time, I started to fully understand what love is,” Aiden continued.

“Now it’s clear to me that the old man isn’t capable of loving anyone.

I don’t even think he loved his wife. I don’t remember my grandma.

As you know, she died before I was born.

There are no pictures of her in the house.

My dad doesn’t remember her much either.

All my dad remembers is grandpa getting upset whenever Aunt Ji-An cried, wanting her mother as a kid.

I’m sure there’s a story there, but we may never know it. ”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Park had her killed because she wouldn’t do things his way. Or, maybe he sent her far away so she wouldn’t influence their kids. With that man, anything was possible.

“Since my parents fled the estate to escape my grandfather, I never had the opportunity to experience a mother’s love or a father’s love.

All my brothers and I had was our grandfather.

He raised us. He ensured that we received the best education.

He made sure we trained in martial arts and weapons and knew how to protect ourselves.

He instilled family-first values in us. He taught us that only the powerful could protect their family. ”

Or betray and manipulate their family.

“To us, that was love. That’s why I trained you so hard when we were younger. I thought I was showing you that I loved you,” Aiden confessed. “But in truth, it was you who showed me and my brothers how to love. I believe my brothers and I are close today, and know how to love because of you.”

I lifted my head to stare down at him, ignoring the slight wave of dizziness that came over me as I did so.