Love & Lies

by Jessica Wood

  After he finished his story, I no longer felt anger toward him. While I was upset that he hadn’t told me sooner, my anger was directed toward Katherine and fate for putting us into this situation.

  I finally opened the door to the bathroom and saw Ben stumped against the other side of it. He nearly fell backwards as the door opened.

  He got up immediately and grabbed my hands. “Blair, I’m so sorry. I fucked up. I should have told you sooner. I…I just didn’t want to lose you. You had just met your long-lost sister, someone you’re connected to by blood. I guess…I guess I was worried that at the end of the day, you’d pick her over me.”

  “Ben,” I began softly. “I want to be honest with you…”

  I saw his body tense at my words.

  “I really need time to think through all this. My head is spinning at everything I found out tonight. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  I met his gaze and saw the pain on his face—it was the same pain I had in my heart. How had everything between us gone so wrong? How was it possible that my long-lost sister was Ben’s ex-girlfriend, the one that had broken his heart years ago?

  “Blair,” he begged. “This changes nothing about how I feel about you. I want you in my life, not her. I’ll do anything to make it right. Please.”

  I shook my head as tears streamed down my face. “That’s just it, Ben. There’s nothing you can do to change things. There are some hard, cold facts that we have to face. Katherine is my biological sister and will probably be around in my life. Katherine was your first love, the one you were going to propose to, and the one that broke your heart. You can’t deny the fact that you haven’t dated anyone since her. She had hurt you that much. I…” I looked away from him and whispered, “I don’t know how to reconcile these two facets of my life. I don’t know how we can coexist.”

  “But how can you think about letting her into your life after what I’ve told you about her?” Confused and pain fought for space upon his face.

  I sighed. “I’m not ready to give up on her yet. She’s my sister, my real sister. Everything she’d done that hurt you is in the past and that was over ten years ago, Ben. People grow up. People change.”

  “She hasn’t changed!” he cut in.

  “You don’t know that. When you look at her, all you see is the person that hurt you the most in life. I remember the day I met her, she mentioned you during lunch. She told me you were the love of her life, and she had taken you for granted. She told me that she was young and stupid, and letting you go was the biggest mistake of her life. And from what she told me, after things ended with you two, she had a pretty rough life.” Tears cascaded down my cheeks as I tried to imagine how it would have been like to have to go through everything Katherine had.

  Ben shook his head. “You’re too kind and forgiving of a person, baby. She doesn’t deserve that from you.”

  “Ben, she’s my sister. She doesn’t just deserve it, but I owe it to her.”

  “Baby, don’t think like that.”

  “Stop,” I raised my hand to motion for him to stop talking. “Ben, I’m really tired. I have a lot to think about.” I paused. “I don’t think we should see each other right now.” My heart lurched as I heard the words come out of my mouth.

  Ben didn’t say a word, but simply looked at me in shock. The torment and despair across his face was more than I could bear.

  I walked him to my door and hugged him goodbye.

  “Can I call you?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked away, trying to hide the tears in my eyes.

  “Please.” There was an unnerving desperation in his voice that broke my heart all over again.

  I finally nodded but added, “But if I’m not ready to talk, I might not pick up. I hope you can forgive me if that happens.”

  “I’ll really miss you, Blair.” He hugged me.

  “Me too,” I managed to choke out.

  As soon as I closed the door behind him, I slid down to the cold, hard floor. I grabbed my knees tightly and hugged myself, trying to somehow numb out the ache I felt in my heart.

  I wasn’t sure how long I had stayed in that position, but at some point, I had cried myself to sleep. I didn’t get up from that floor until the next morning when my phone buzzed to life in my pocket. I jolted awake, half-hoping that it was Ben who was calling me.

  But it wasn’t.

  “Hi, Trent. What time is it?”

  “Hey, Blair. I’m sorry, it’s 8:15 a.m. Did I wake you?”

  “No, it’s fine. What’s up?”

  “I need you to come over as soon as possible.”

  “Why?” I sat up in full alert. I could hear a sense of urgency in his voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m at Dad’s house right now.”

  Fear washed over me. “Is Dad okay?”

  “Yes, he’s fine. I didn’t mean to startle you. I have good news. He seems to have regained a large part of his mobility and speech ability in the past two weeks.”

  “Oh, my God, that’s great news, Trent!” I beamed at the news, and for that moment, I forgot about Ben and Katherine’s betrayal.

  “Yeah. So, Blair, I think it’s time we told him about me and Katherine.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Trent

  “Looks like I missed a lot recently.” Bill looked between me and Blair as we sat on adjacent couches in the living room.

  We had spent the last hour recounting everything that’d happened recently. Blair had tried to sugar coat the part where I tried to sabotage her position at Parker, Inc., but I hadn’t felt right about it. As much as I wanted to be a part of Parker, Inc., I couldn’t find any glory in being reaccepted as a part of the family, or even a part of Parker, Inc., if the man who I once thought was my father—the man who I looked up to, the man who I worked so hard to impress—didn’t know the whole truth of what had happened and the grave errors in judgment I’d made along the way.

  “Dad, we really wanted to tell you sooner, but we wanted to make sure you were in good health and could voice your thoughts and opinions once you knew everything.”

  “That was very thoughtful of you, Blair.”

  I watched Bill look at his daughter with pride and love, and a dull ache inside my chest reminded me of what I did have, and what I would never have—a father who’d look at me in that same way.

  “Trent played an instrumental part, too,” Blair tried to share some of the credit. This was something she’d often done when we were growing up. While I appreciated it, I always wished that she would just take complete ownership over something great she’d done.

  “Don’t listen to Blair, Bill. I probably did more harm than good.”

  Bill looked at me and smiled. “Son, you know I never thought it was polite to call your old man by his first name.”

  What was implied in his words stung me to a halt, and the word “son” rang in my ears like a beautiful melody.

  “Sorry, Dad.” We shared a knowing look and I saw Blair beam at us from the corner of my eyes.

  “So I’m glad you guys decided to tell me about what you recently discovered about Trent and Katherine because there’s something that I’ve been waiting for a long time to tell you.”

  “What is it?” My eyes grew wide as I looked at Bill. Blair and I exchanged a quick glance before we looked back to Bill.

  “I knew about Katherine before you guys told me today.”

  I heard Blair let out an audible gasp, mirroring the same surprise I felt inside. This revelation was the last thing I’d expected from Bill. If he already knew, why did he keep me around?

  “When? How? Why didn’t you say anything?” I heard myself ask in quick intervals.

  Bill chuckled. “Slow down, Son. I’m going to tell you everything.”

  “Dad, you must know this is quite a shock for both me and Trent.” The shocked expression hadn’t left Blair’s face. “Can you start from the beginning?”

  “So when you were about ten,
Trent, I had my tax account do an audit of all my financial accounts. It was when I was thinking of taking Parker, Inc. public, and I wanted to make sure all my financial records and transactions would pass scrutiny by the SEC. Anyway, my accountant notified me that in the bank account I had set up for you and your mother, there was a monthly check payment for a substantial amount of money that went back as far as three years. The accountant knew that I paid for your mother’s house and car, so the monthly payments to a random individual I’ve never heard of raised some red flags. I had it looked into and found out that your mother was sending money to a family on a monthly basis. I confronted her, and that was when she told me what she had discovered three years earlier—that you were accidentally switched at birth with our biological daughter. Your mother told me that she couldn’t bear to give you up so she started paying them off monthly to keep quiet.”

  “But,” I couldn’t help but interrupt his story, “My mom said in one of her letters that what happened was a secret and you didn’t know. Why would she tell me that if it wasn’t true?”

  “Your mother and I disagreed on whether or not to tell you. She went back and forth on whether or not to tell you. At the time, I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell you. I thought it’d affect you and your relationship with your mom, Blair, and me. I had told your mother that if she wanted to continue to pay the monthly payments to the other family, she couldn’t get me involved or tell anyone that I knew about the payoffs. I didn’t want this to cause legal issues for the company if it was discovered that the CEO was not only involved in the scandal but used the company profits to fund the monthly payoffs.”

  “Oh.”

  “But now that you know a lot of what happened, there’s no longer a reason to keep it from you.”

  “What do you mean ‘a lot of what happened’? What else is there?”

  “That’s the part I wanted to tell you today. A few years after I discovered the secret your mother was hiding, I talked with your mother and we made a decision.”

  “What was it?” Blair’s eager voice cut in. I could tell she was just as eager to find out everything as I was.

  “Your mother and I decided to legally adopt you, and the other family had legally adopted Katherine. We had promised that they would continue receiving their monthly payments for the rest of their lives. I also created a separate living trust for Katherine so that she would be well provided for once she reached the age of twenty-five. However, she would not have entitlement to Parker, Inc.”

  “A living trust?” Blair’s voice piped up again. “So she’d get monthly payments sent directly to her, not her parents, when she reached twenty-five?”

  “Exactly. Even though she wasn’t a part of my life, she was still my flesh and blood. I set up a multi-million-dollar trust fund for her, and made sure she received a sizable monthly allowance so that she could live comfortably even if she never worked a day in her life.”

  “But?”

  I saw the confusion on Blair’s face and wondered what she thinking. But before I could ask, her expression changed and she dropped her question.

  “Dad?” I looked at Bill, my mind full of questions I wanted to ask him.

  “Yes, son?”

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Why did you and mom decide to adopt me?”

  “Son, what are you getting at?” He furrowed his brows in confusion.

  “What I mean is, when you found out Katherine was your biological child, why didn’t you use the money you probably had to use on the formal adoption to get her back? You wouldn’t have had to create that trust fund for her, and all those monthly payments to her parents would have stopped.”

  “Oh, Trent. You still don’t get it, do you? After all these years, I thought you’d eventually understand.”

  “Understand what?” I glanced at Blair for answers, who shrugged in response.

  “You’re my child, not Katherine.”

  I stared at him blankly.

  He shook his head. “I was the one that suggested to your mother that we should legally adopt you. We talked and both agreed that, to be fair to everyone involved, we could only pick one child between the two of you to call our own, and to love unconditionally as our own.”

  I felt a swarm of emotions evade me as I took in his words. “And you picked me?”

  He smiled and nodded.

  Tears welled up in my eyes. “But…I thought you never cared for me.”

  “And why would you think that?”

  I saw the genuine hurt on his face in response to my words, and I was overcome by a wave of guilt. “You were always so tough on me. Blair seemed to be the perfect child in your eyes, but you never really acknowledged any of my accomplishments. I grew up trying so hard to make you proud of me.” I blinked violently as tears fell from my eyes.

  “Son,” he beamed at me, “I wish you wouldn’t be so hard on yourself. I wish you could see what I see. I’ve always loved you like you were my own. I was always tough on you because I wanted to cultivate you into the future CEO of Parker, Inc. when I officially step down. I am proud of you, so much so that I feel so confident leaving you in charge of our family company.”

  I looked into his eyes. Even though he gave me the same look he’d always given, it looked different now. For the first time in my life, I saw the same look of pride and love that I’d always seen him give to Blair—that same look that I’d craved my entire life. It wasn’t until now that I realized my father had always looked at me that way. It was me who had been the one to shut him out.

  “I love you, Dad.” I wiped away the tears from my eyes. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me through the years. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make you proud.”

  “I have no doubt, son.”

  For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged. I felt loved. I felt like a real Parker.

  ***

  “I’m glad to have you back, big brother,” Blair giggled as we walked toward our cars that were parked along Dad’s circular driveway.

  I laughed, feeling the dark clouds that’d surrounded me throughout my life had finally disappeared. “Well, technically, I’ve been legally your big brother since we were young.”

  She joined in my laughter. “I’m glad you’ve always been there.”

  Just then, I recalled something that had bothered me earlier. “Hey, Blair?”

  “Yeah?”

  “When Dad was talking about the living trust fund for Katherine, why did you seem confused?”

  She frowned. “Well, on the first day I’d met Katherine a week or so ago, she told me that after her parents died, she had to deal with the mortgage and funeral expenses. She ended up swimming in debt ever since.” She shook her head in confusion. “I even wrote her a check for $5,000 to help her out…but now, I don’t know why she lied. If she was getting more than enough from the trust fund, why did she need me to think she was poor? Why did she cash the $5,000?”

  “Hmm. That is strange behavior. So why didn’t you bring this up earlier?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess I didn’t want to break Dad’s heart if he knew Katherine was lying to me about money and how bad her life had been. I didn’t want Dad to worry.”

  “Blair, sometimes you’re too selfless. I know you want to get to know your biological sister, but from everything that you’ve told me, please be careful with her.”

  Her face suddenly fell, and I suddenly noticed the pain and heartache in her sad emerald eyes, and I knew that something had happened that I wasn’t aware of.

  “What happened, Blair?”

  Tears immediately streamed down her face. “Ben and I broke up,” she sobbed.

  “What? How did that happen?” I couldn’t believe my ears. From what I had seen between the two of them, I thought they were meant for one another.

  “I…God, this just sounds too crazy to believe.”

  I’d never seen Blair fall apart like this befo
re. “Start from the beginning, Blair.”

  I was shell-shocked by Blair’s account of what had happened and what Ben had told her. I’d met people like Katherine, the cold, manipulative type who preyed on others to get what she wanted.

  “Blair, I once promised you when we were kids that I’d protect you forever.”

  A small smile appeared on her lips as she blinked back her tears. “You remember that?”

  I nodded. “I never told you this, but my happiest moments in childhood were with you. Outside of my mom, you were the closest family to me—you always loved me unconditionally, and you always giggled and looked at me like I was the most important thing in your life. You were the only person that seemed to look at me like that. Even though I hadn’t known then that I was switched at birth, I had always felt like an outsider. But you were always there to love me. I want to be always there to protect you.”

  “Thank you, Trent. That means a lot to me.”

  I smiled at her, “The big brother in me is dying to give you some advice.”

  She chuckled lightly. “Okay, lay it on me.”

  “Okay, I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s clear to me that Katherine’s intentions aren’t genuine. She lied about not having money. She lied about not knowing Ben. And from what you told me, she was the one in the wrong when she cheated on him.”

  “I’ll be more careful with her.”

  “Good. And for my second, and more important, advice.”

  She laughed. “You’re on a roll.”

  “You betcha.” I winked. “But in all seriousness, from the interactions I’ve had with Ben, I can tell he’s a good guy. I also know that he cares about you a lot. Six months ago, the temporarily-insane Trent tried to recruit him to help me get you kicked out of the company.”

  “I remember that.” She shot me a knowing look.

  “Sorry again,” I said sheepishly. “Anyway, he wouldn’t do it. He said he cared about you and wouldn’t do that to you. I knew then that he loved you.”

  Tears returned to her eyes.