Chapter 96
EMILY
This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t let my son back out of the engagement now. We had come too far, and I refused to let him ruin his future just because he was suddenly infatuated with that Lana girl.
She was nothing more than a fleeting distraction in our lives. Deep down, I knew he didn’t genuinely want to be with her. It was clear she was toying with his head, playing the vulnerable damsel to manipulate him into doing her bidding. I noticed the way she tried to touch him while he slept, thinking no one was watching. I couldn’t allow Apollo to be ensnared by her deceit.
“How did I betray you?” my son asks, genuinely confused. Did he really think I would overlook the fact that he had crossed a line with the daughter of the woman who had taken my husband from me? That woman completely destroyed our family, I could never accept her daughter for my son.
“You really have to ask?” I demand, this was the perfect opportunity to remind him of everything I had endured when his father left me for Lana’s mother, This was exactly why I never wanted him to live with that family in the first place! All those signals, telling me to keep my son with me instead of letting him go live with his father was finally making sense now.
“Again, mother-”
“I’m talking,” I interrupt him sharply. “You were supposed to steer clear of that family. Tlet you stay here with your father, even though I had doubts all along. I knew staying with me was the better choice for your life, but I gave you the freedom to make your own decisions. I have done so much to support you. And this is how you repay me?”
I could see that my words were starting to get to him, but not enough to create the impact I needed.
“Why would you get involved with that girl, Apollo?” I demand. “And don’t even think of saying I’m lying or that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m fully aware of the relationship you have with her–something no one in this house will ever tolerate! Your father will go crazy, so will that girl’s mother, and you know fully well that she is someone I can never accept.”
The moment he grasped what I was implying, I knew I had made my point clear. He had been hoping all along that I was oblivious to his affair with Lana. He should have known me better by now.
“How do you know about us?” he asks, panic creeping into his voice. He didn’t want to admit it to me but now that he realizes I knew plenty, he had no
choice but to come clean.
Hopefully, he would never find out how I knew about him and Lana, That was a card I intended to keep close to my chest, far away from him.
I already had the proper response in my head for this question. When I knocked on the door and saw Lana in the room with him, the second thing I noticed was the bright, shiny diamond on her finger.
It was even more stunning than the one I’d picked out for my son to give to Jada. He provided me with a budget, and I was more than happy to stick to it. Yet, when it came to his step–sister, he went completely overboard. I was certain she had a hand in this; she likely complained about him getting a ring for Jada and insisted he get one for her too. However, Jada rightfully deserved that ring since she was set to be my son’s wife. This girl, on the other hand, held no significance in our family.
The fact that Apollo had gotten a ring for Lana and was now refusing to marry Jada was proof that I needed to get rid of Lana as quickly as possible.
I had to act fast before I lost my son to her just like I lost my husband to her mother. The women in this family were thieves and I would never sit back and
allow something like this to happen to me twice.
“I saw the ring on her finger,” I inform him. “There’s no way someone like her could afford a ring like that.”
His eyebrows arch slightly, and for just a heartbeat, the corners of his mouth twitch.
A flicker of surprise flashes across his eyes, a brief glimpse of defenselessness that he swiftly attempts to conceal.
“Anyone could have given her that ring,” he countered.
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D.UU
Chapter 96
It was too late for him to try and hide his real reaction from me. I knew I was right and he was simply trying to keep the truth from me for fear of what my response would be like.
Why was he trying to play me for a fool? He knew he’d gotten caught but still he wanted to pretend like I was the crazy one.
This wasn’t the Apollo I raised from a child. This woman was changing him and I didn’t like it at all. If he’d chosen someone like Jada, I wouldn’t have to be dealing with something like this.
“Then why did you react so strongly when I spoke rudely to her?” I ask. “You may not know it but I deliberately singled her out to gauge the tension between you two. When you went as far as to threaten to call off your engagement to Jada because of the things I’d said to your stepsister, I knew without a doubt that something was definitely going on between you and her.”
His eyes tell me that he knows he’s been caught, cornered really. He couldn’t get out of this one even if he tried.
“So what if I have feelings for her?” he asks me, his voice breaking a little. “Would that be so bad?”
His question sends my blood boiling and I can feel myself losing control.
“You cannot!” I say, raising my voice a little. “She is not the one for you. I have already chosen your bride and you have promised me to marry her! You cannot go back on your promise to me Apollo. You simply cannot.”
His jaw clenched, “she is the one that I want-”
“What you are feeling is a little something called lust, you are excited because the relationship between the both of you is prohibited.” I explain to him. “That excitement will die down and you will quickly lose all your feelings for her. Believe me son. I know what I am talking about. You do not truly want her. You are my son, I can tell!”
His eyes turn somber as he whispers, “what will you do if I choose to be with her?”
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