Page 123 of Whispered Sins

“Hi, Mom.”

“Addison? I didn’t think I would be hearing from you again,” she said coolly.

“And you won’t again. Not after this.”

“Oh?” she asked coolly.

“Yeah, I wanted to tell you that I don’tneedyou. I don’t need one thing from you. Not money. Not love. Not approval.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m going to be just fine on my own.”

“I very much doubt that,” she muttered.

“Doubt all you want. You see, I don’t care anymore. I don’t need you to believe in me because I believe in me. I’m going to be a great mother to my baby. And he or she will grow up knowing they are loved and supported in whatever they choose to do. They’ll always be more than enough for me.”

“Addison…”

“Goodbye, Mother.”

I hit the red button and set my phone on the counter. I noticed my hands shook as I took a deep breath. It felt good to get that off my chest, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of sadness that was creeping in.

That was enough goodbyes for one day.

Chapter 44

Daniel

I decided to walk home from work, which was something I rarely did. Armand was following close behind, even though I told him he could head home early. I had no plans that night. I had every intention of holing up in my living room and ordering takeout, which was something that was becoming more and more common for me.

Ever since the tabloid came out with the story about Kiera and me enjoying a tropical vacation together, I felt more exposed than ever. I had dealt with paparazzi and lies from the press in the past, but this time it might have hurt the one woman I cared about.

Or maybe it didn’t hurt her at all. That was even more crushing.

There was no way she had avoided seeing the story, or the spins that came afterward. There were several photos that came out over the following week. Photos where Kiera and I weren’t even together, but the press cleverly pieced them together to look as if we were.

The night she came to my room, we almost were. I had almost let it get too far. It still went further than it probably should have, which was eating away at me. I felt like I had been unfaithful in some way, even though I knew I hadn’t. Heart and I weren’t together anymore, if we ever even were.

The press had placed a photo of my leaving the restaurant days before Kiera had arrived next to a photo of Kiera leaving the same restaurant after I had left back to New York. A photo of me at the beach surfing was placed next to a photo of Kiera lying topless on a beach chair and looking out at the ocean. It was all so predictable. I knew how it looked, even though I knew what was true. To anyone else, we did look like a happy couple.

Stupid me didn’t even notice any photos being taken. The damn paparazzi were sneaky. It felt eerie looking back to know I was being watched, maybe from behind a bush or from a long lens from a boat. I should have been used to it.

I wondered what Heart thought when she saw the photos.Ifshe saw them. Again, they were hard to avoid.

I figured it was better to stay home than risk being photographed and having those photos comprised into a story that fit the narrative of someone else. It was a risk just walking these few blocks home, but I had to get fresh air. I had to clear my head, which was covered with a Mets baseball cap in hopes it would help conceal me.

When I arrived home, I opened the drawer of takeout menus and blindly selected one. I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, so I left it up to fate. It looked like fate had chosen Chinese. I dialed the number and placed an order for Mongolian beef, fried rice, egg rolls, steamed vegetables, and honey shrimp. They said it would be about forty-five minutes.

I decided to take a shower and wash away the day, which had been spent mostly in my office, avoiding my brother. Thankfully, most of my meetings were video calls with our associates in London as we moved forward with our deal. The deal that Brody had landed on his own, while I was dropping the ball. I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever. He was my CFO, after all. And my brother.

I knew my anger and resentment was wrongly placed on him, but he was the closest one to me right now. And for being the closest one to me, he knew absolutely nothing about me or the mess of my life.

After my shower, I threw on some black sweats and a large Mets tee. I sunk into my couch and scrolled through my phone to see if my nights at home had paid off. I didn’t see any new photos of me, and the story of Kiera and my engagement seemed to be dying down. All they had were recycled photos from Bora Bora or photos from years back of Kiera and me at certain engagements when we were actually dating.

The buzzer on my intercom rang. The Chinese food must have gotten here early. I buzzed them up and listened to the whir of the elevator beginning to descend. I grabbed my wallet from the entry table and fished out some cash for a tip.

The doors opened and I was surprised to see Brody standing there with a pack of beer in his hands.

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