Chapter 14
Aaron stared at his phone, pinching the bridge of his nose. Staring at the name on his phone screen. He inhaled loudly; he needed to do this. For himself and for Katherine.
He dialed the number on his screen.
First ring.
Then second ring.
"Hello."
"Hello, my son, how are you?" his mother's cheerful voice came from the other side.
"I'm—" he was about to respond before Brenda cut in.
"How is your vacation? How is my Amanda? I hope both of you are getting along," she tutted over the phone.
Aaron grunted in response. This wasn't why he called his mother.
He heard his mother sigh dramatically through the phone. "Aiyo! When are you going to give me grandkids? All my friends had their grandchildren come to greet them during the holiday."
"Ma," he called softly, diverting his mom's attention back before she started another rant again. But a smile made its way to his lips when he remembered the twins.
"Ma, how are you?"
"I'm okay, my son. Why is your voice down? Are you sick? What happened? Is Amanda not taking care of you? Should I come down there?"
"Mom! I'm fine," he lowered his voice, rolling his eyes at her dramatic antics. "I just want to ask you something."
"What?"
"About Katherine—" he continued, keeping his voice casual. "You said… she ran away. Got pregnant. Left town."
"Yes. That's what happened."
"That's what happened," Aaron repeated, like he was chewing the words. "You said she was sleeping around."
"Yes, she was behind your back," Brenda said firmly. "You might've been too blind to see it. Whenever you travelled with the team, she talked to men, seduced them. I even tried to warn you, you didn't listen. Son," his mother accused, shifting the blame.
Aaron let out a short breath through his nose, nodding once. "Right."
"She got pregnant," Brenda added. "Likely for one of the men she was fooling around with. And then she ran off when she couldn't cover it up anymore," she reiterated. "That ungrateful girl!"
"Why are you asking again?" Brenda asked, her voice drowned with suspicion. "What did you hear?"
"Nothing much. Just asking."
.
Federal City
"Okay, bye bye, son."
Brenda squinted her eyes suspiciously as she dropped her phone on the table. The alarm in her head blaring in emergency, her lips in a thin line.
That name.
That mistake.
Something must have happened for her son to just mention or talk about that girl.
It had been long since she heard that bitch's name. Not in this house. Not in this family—because the name was forbidden in the Knights family—no one spoke or talked about it.
The bitch was a misfortune and a mistake.
The name that had once dragged their family through the mud. That cursed girl.
Brenda pushed herself up from her recliner, her silk robe swishing around her ankles as she paced through the living room. Her heels clicked sharply against the marble floor, each step echoing the urgency and how spiral her thoughts were going.
Why now? The one her son was asking—was he investigating something?
Brenda had made sure the bitch never lived to speak the tale, but was she alive?
Should she travel down to the hotel?
Brenda clenched her jaw, her temples pounding. She did everything to separate her glorious son from that girl—that bitch. It was a mistake allowing the girl in their house and she always regretted it.
That bitch was a seductress—Brenda rubbed her face, breathing out.
Her son must never find out what she did six years ago—the lies, the manipulation, the betrayal.
The memory of her deed still vivid in her head. When Brenda caught the whiff of the bitch being pregnant for her son, she couldn't accept it. If it was from any other lady, she would be happy, but that bitch was a no. And so she acted.
She had called Eleanor, the snake of a friend Katherine trusted, and made her spread lies in the college.
"Help me," she'd said sweetly, "and I'll help you get to my son."
She remembered clearly how the news spread like wildfire, exactly as she intended. In a community where everyone knew everyone, it didn't take much. One whisper and it became a tale.
Being the center of the social circle in the community, she slandered the bitch too by fake crying to evoke pity—saying the bitch was trying to pin the child on Aaron because she was after their money.
Brenda even made sure the bitch was isolated. And when her son came back from the team training session, she used the opportunity to show him the fake pictures. The pictures she paid a large sum of money to edit and back her claim up. Because seeing is believing.
She showed her son that the bitch was sleeping around.
Brenda's lips curled into a bitter, satisfied smirk at the memory. She remembered the bitch's tears. Her cries inside the rain, trying to prove her innocence. Then Brenda saw her son break, her heart tugged, yet she couldn't do anything but watch. Because it was needed for them to be separated.
Her son couldn't handle it and ran into the street. She used the opportunity to finally kick her out.
She thought it was over then when she kicked her out—until her son came back from his 'space', asking for the bitch. Searching for her like a madman.
But her precious son.
Her Aaron.
Her sweet boy got into an accident because of that unfortunate bitch.
Brenda's fist clenched and she stopped pacing as she remembered how her son was frail on the hospital bed. Anger washed over her all over again.
Had the bitch not been sent away that day when the accident happened, she would have killed her with her own hands.
After that, Brenda made sure there was no chance of that bitch returning. She pulled strings, did dirty things to make the bitch pay for what her son went through. Even if it meant silencing her.
The pain, torment, shallowness, and sadness her son went through—it was all because of that girl! That damn girl! She gritted her teeth, shaking her head in anger.
Then her son stopped asking. Stopped mentioning that cursed name. Any mention of that bitch's name made her son flare up, which she liked. Her plan was successful, which made her happy—but—
Her son spoke of that bitch today. Even after all these years.
Aaron must not—and cannot—find out what she had done.
She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself as her lips were pressed in a thin line—and that moment, her phone rang. In a lightning speed, she checked the dialer.
Amanda!