Page 145 of Lust & Lies
It was my job to protect her, or at least, that’s what I’d been taught. But who protected me? Whenever she fell down, she was pampered and helped up. When I fell, I was told to get up and dust myself off.
I was tired of living in her shadow. I was tired of giving in to her. I’d given her everything. She couldn’t have Aiden, too.Other than my father, he was the only person who’d ever helped me up, who’d ever dusted me off.
Other than my father, he was the only person who called me pretty when I was younger. Who treated me like I was a girl, even when I was running wild like a boy. He opened doors for me, pulled out chairs for me.
He showed me what being cherished was even before I knew it was something a man should do for the woman he loved. How could I possibly let Ellie come between us just because she considered us to be too different?
“Just because our career paths are different doesn’t mean Aiden and I can’t make this work,” I told her.
“It’s not just that your career paths are different. You two are too different to work out in the long term. You don’t belong in his world,” she said with her back still to me.
I knew she was doing it on purpose, trying to show me that I didn’t even deserve her full attention, like it was beneath her to actually look at me when she talked to me. She had her subtle ways of being nasty to me. Most didn’t see it. I never missed it.
“He’s building something with his Korean-inspired hotels,” she continued. “He needs someone who can stand beside him at corporate meetings, at social events, someone who can smile for the cameras and handle the pressure that comes with being in our world. Someone with a clean background who won't bring shame to his name or cause a scandal. That someone isn’t you.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. Okay, so no, I couldn’t pass a criminal background check. But not because I actually had a criminal background, which I did; it was more because if they looked up the name I used, that would raise suspicions.
“That’s why Grandpa Park wants Aiden to marry me,” Ellie continued in that sarcastically sweet tone of hers. “He raised me for this. Had me schooled and groomed to be the perfectwife for one of his grandsons. As for you, you were raised to do exactly what you’re doing, handling the trash his grandsons can’t deal with because it would ruin their image in the public eye. There are two sides to the Park family, the professional side and the criminal side. I was meant for the professional side. And, you’re exactly where you were meant to be. Where do you think Aiden is meant to be?”
I stepped forward, the pain in my chest growing stronger, her words nudging that sore spot in my heart. I’d thought that same thing dozens of times over the years. But it hurt worse when she pointed it out.
“If you want to be with one of his grandsons that badly, then be with one. You can be with Tristan or Ethan,” I told her, feeling guilty for throwing them under the bus like that. “Why does it have to be Aiden?”
“Because I don’t like the way he looks at you,” she confessed. “He’s always ignored me, treating me like I was nothing. Yet, he smiles whenever he sees you. Even when you’re dressed like that,” she sneered without looking at me.
I knew it. She was only doing this out of spite and jealousy.
“Plus, he’s the most handsome out of all the brothers. So, of course, he’s the only one who matches me. I can’t let Grandpa Park’s training go to waste, can I?”
“Grandpa Park trained me, too,” I told her. “He made sure I had the best tutors...”
“You’ve been homeschooled your entire life, not allowed to go to a regular school because you’re legally dead. A tutor is nothing like going to an academy and being trained in education and etiquette.”
“He also trained me in the family business. He trained me himself. He said I was more suited to be a CEO than Tristan, and he said that he wished I were...” I paused, realizing I was proving her point for her.
“Finish your sentence. He wishes you were one of his grandsons.” She laughed. “To Grandpa Park, you’re just one of the boys. Either with the business or the Watchdogs, you’re just the help, the backup. I’m the one worthy of being a wife for Aiden. Why can’t you see that Grandpa Park only values you as a servant, nothing more?”
“I know how to fit into Aiden’s world. And what I don’t know, I can learn. I’ll figure it out. I can get a new identity, start over. The organization that was after my dad has already been brought down. It’s safe for me to live my life any way I want to now.”
Ellie laughed. “Stop being delusional. It’s been safe for you to come out of the shadows for a long time. Grandpa doesn’t want you to come out. That’s why he won’t break your contract. If he cared for you the way you think he does, why wouldn’t he free you? Why make you sign a contract and join the Watchdogs in the first place? Noe, stop being stupid and see things for what they truly are. You are nothing to him. And to Aiden, you were just someone fun to have around. But now it’s time to grow up and do grown-up things. It’s time for Aiden and me to step into the roles prepared for us. It’s time for you to get out of the way before you anger Grandpa Park. And you know what happens to people who anger Grandpa Park.”
Yes, I did. He sent people like me after those who angered him.
“He wouldn’t do that to me,” I protested.
“Try him.”
I swallowed. Grandpa Park wouldn’t hurt me. He’d raised me. I was like family to him. But being like family wasn’t the same as being family.
I sighed. “I’m done arguing with you over this,” I told Ellie.
“I don’t consider this an argument. I’m simply stating facts, trying to help you back off before you get your heart broken.Because that’s what’s going to happen in the end. Aiden will toy with you until Grandpa Park finally puts his foot down, and then he’ll choose me like he’s supposed to. The same thing happened with Tristan and the girl he liked. They weren’t a good fit, and Tristan tried to rebel. But as soon as Grandpa Park put his foot down, Tristan broke up with the girl, breaking her heart. And you’re worse off than she was. At least she had some redeeming qualities. There are so many reasons why you’re not fit for Aiden. I mean, first of all, you were raised as siblings. To even be attracted to each other should feel wrong to you. And, you’re so boyish, what’s there to be attracted to? Men like women who are feminine and sweet. You’re rough and vulgar. Do you even own perfume? I swear it smells like you use the same cologne Tristan uses.”
It was Sandalwood. And I used it because it masked the smell of blood. Lately, no matter how much I scrubbed or cleaned, I smelled blood and death wherever I went. It was a part of me now, my natural scent.
Though Aiden claimed it was all in my head, it still bothered me. I hated it. I hated smelling it all the time. I used to love being a part of the Watchdog Organization. My father had been a part of it.
I was close to his colleagues, who were also Watchdogs: Gertrude and Samuel. Although some in the organization were jealous of me because they claimed I had risen through the ranks due to favoritism, I still loved what I did.
