Page 33 of Unapologetic Obsession
“It sucks,” I mumbled distractedly, to which she chuckled. “He thinks we are idiots, makes us clean his lab, and makes fun of how I dress.” Well, not really. More like he looked down on how I dressed.
Now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure he had done that, either. It was more like an observation. I had no idea why his opinion had bothered me enough to ransack my closet.
Sophie took a drag of her cigarette, her cheeks hollowing slightly. “Ignore Caden. He was born a grouch.”
Her words concocted an image of a young Professor Maxwell in a serious-looking outfit, doing math on a whiteboard twice his size. The visual made me smile, but it also sparked my curiosity. “What was he like as a kid? I’m guessing he was super serious and never laughed.”
“Hm. Kind of,” she replied thoughtfully.
My smile dropped when her face contorted at the thought of Professor Maxwell’s childhood. “What was that look?”
“What look?”
“You made a face when I asked about his childhood.”
“That’s just what my face looks like.”
I pinned her with afess upexpression, and Sophie relented with an eye roll.
“If you must know, Caden didn’t have the best childhood. It’s a weird thing to say since his twin had a great childhood and a set of loving parents. But Caden had different parents from Damon.”
I knitted my brows. “Now I’m confused because twins have the same parents. Biology and all.”
The terrace of the Banquet Center appeared blurry since I was officially tipsy. But I saw Sophie make another face. This time, it was closer to a grimace. “Technically.” She weighed the word as if wondering how to approach the topic. “But their parents acted completely differently around Caden. The way they ignored him.” She shook her head. “If they weren’t twins, I’d think he was adopted.”
I stared at her curiously. “Why would their parents be indifferent only to one child?”
The end of her cigarette slowly burned out, and she put the stub out on a nearby ashtray. “Did you know Caden and Damon were born on different days?” she asked, sidestepping my question.
I nodded. “Damon was born first. By the time Professor Maxwell was born, it was after midnight, so their birthdays fall on different days.”
Sophie appeared perplexed over the extent of my knowledge of Damon’s childhood. Thankfully, she didn’t read too much into it. “When they were born, labor lasted less than an hour for Damon. He was the golden child right from the start, and growing up, he was the perfect angel.” She inhaled deeply, parking her butt against the ledge of the terrace railing. “He still is.”
Once more, I nodded knowingly. Damon was a renowned philanthropist with various charities to his name. Was it any wonder I fell in love with the man?
“But.” Her tongue darted out and pressed against her bottom lip. “Caden’s birth was difficult, and the doctor opted for an emergency C-section. There were a ton of complications and blood loss, and Mrs. Maxwell nearly died. After regainingconsciousness, she treated Caden like her nemesis and only wanted to hold Damon.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I blurted defensively. “It wasn’t his fault that his birth was difficult.” I had never heard this version of the story and was shocked by what Sophie had disclosed. I couldn’t believe a mother would refuse to hold her newborn. To face a mother’s rejection on the day you were born was downright sadistic.
Sophie lifted her right shoulder. “He had offended her just by being born, and she never forgave him for it. From what I heard, she refused to nurse him. Everyone thought her attitude would change with time, but she only seemed to dislike him more. Growing up, she’d beg him not to appear before her. It didn’t help that he wasn’t as easygoing as Damon.” She slanted her head. “My parents are pretty close with the Maxwells, and we used to vacation together in the Hamptons. Every time we went away together, Mrs. Maxwell would make all of Damon’s favorite treats and write little notes telling him he was the best son ever. She never did that for Caden. I think she was scared of him, and that fear stopped her from loving him.”
Something in my chest twisted so sharply that standing became physically painful. How could a mother not love her child? What Sophie shared was too sad.
Suddenly, my absentee parents didn’t seem so bad. At least I didn’t witness them showering another child with love while I was actively deprived of it.
Sophie lifted her eyelids, pensively deliberating something. If I had to guess, she was considering whether she would share the next bit.
I waited.
“Not many people know this, so keep this between us.”
I nodded.
“Mrs. Maxwell was addicted to painkillers. She insisted it was because she needed a crutch to deal with a difficult child such as Caden.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I couldn’t help repeating. It was preposterous to not only blame a child for being born but for her addiction, too. “She turned him into the fall guy for everything that went wrong in her life.”
She held up a hand. “I know. I know. She said his eyes were cold, and it unsettled her. One time, she caught him experimenting on rats and lost her shit. Caden was a gifted kid with endless curiosity. She didn’t see it that way and decided he was evil from the get-go. Nothing could convince her otherwise. After hearing it so many times, I think Caden started believing it, too.”
