Page 29 of Shattered Reign

My father gave a curt nod in my general direction before leaving the room. He didn’t even look at me as he passed by.

I shifted my gaze back to my mother, who was now standing in front of me. Everything about her seemed to show she was broken and defeated.

She and I rarely got along, but I opened my arms and allowed her to step into them. She immediately broke down, sobbing into my coat. I didn’t say a word, letting her have the opportunity to express her emotions instead of trying to start a conversation.

Part of me wanted to be as vicious to her as she was to me, but right now, I couldn’t be. For some reason, I wanted to be there for her, even if it was temporary, because of the pain she was currently living with.

It took her some time before she was able to calm down. When she pulled away from me to wipe her tears away, I said, “Let me help you clean up this mess.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I promise.”

My mom nodded, and together, we started picking up the pieces of the shattered vase. I left the room briefly to get a broom, a dustpan, and a garbage bag. We worked mostly in silence, choosing to stay transfixed in our thoughts versus making conversation with one another. Once the mess was cleaned up, I walked over to one of the windows in the living room and looked outside. Easton was still sitting there in his SUV.

He hadn’t left.

“Bianca,” my mom said as I quickly turned toward her when she called my name. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for things to end up this way.”

“We never expect things to go wrong when we’re flying high… but they do,” I said. “And now there’s no going back.”

No response came for a few moments, and I hoped that was her taking the time to truly listen to the words I’d said.

So, I kept talking. “Mom, I came home to talk to you.”

“Oh really? What’s going on? I am glad you did come over, although I’m not happy you had to see your parents fighting. I assume Tristan has kept you informed about what is going on?”

This was it. The moment of truth.

“I knew about it, and it had nothing to do with Tristan.”

Mom’s eyes widened at my admission. “Did the press come to you for comment? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“No one came to me. I went to them.”

My mother blinked at me once and then twice as she tried to process what I’d said.

“You went to the press? Without telling us first!?” Her voice rose with each word.

I cringed at the sound. However, this was what I was expecting would happen.

I took a deep breath before I replied. “Yes, I did. I didn’t have a choice because I refused to marry Tristan.”

“But why didn’t you come to me first?” she asked me. “We could have found another way to handle it. We could have thought of a solution before going to the press.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Would you have listened to me if I had told you the truth? I think you would have doubled down on me marrying Tristan to keep it quiet. This family was built on everyone only looking out for themselves. I just carried on the tradition.”

The silence that followed was deafening. I could see the emotion playing across my mom’s face, and I wondered if she finally understood why I’d done what I had done.

I could see my mom’s face soften as she thought about what I had said. What my father had done was horrible, and my mom shouldn’t be blamed for him cheating on her. But she’d played a role in creating this monster by cosigning this fake engagement.

My mom rubbed a hand down her face as I saw that tears were starting to form again. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

Her revelation slammed into me as if she’d slapped me.

She let out a deep breath and said, “This family has enough secrets that have been buried for far too long.”

I could agree with her about that. When my phone vibrated in my coat pocket, I took it out and noticed a text from Easton.

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