This is book 2 in the "Beautiful Destruction" series. You MUST READ "Theirs to Claim" first in order to understand this one.
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When I was ten, my father told me that all of my dreams would one day come true. Naively, I believed him.
I may have gr...
Content Warning: Discussion about suicide and child abuse. Sexual Content Warning 🌶
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Chapter 31 : Madelyn Sunday, December 4th, 2022
"Caleb—" I quickly begin to protest because I knew what he was saying simply wasn't true, but I recognized the expression of self-loathing on his face.
I didn't even know his brother had passed, however I'm starting to realize there's a lot about him that I haven't learned.
"We were always so unalike. Of course I still loved him, but I always chose to ignore it when I saw how much pain he was in. That lifestyle..." Caleb pauses, silently telling me he was referring to the world of the upper class. "It had slowly been killing him, but he'd always done his best to hide it as my big brother. Austin and Keith were practically my idols growing up, but I failed them both when the time came that they needed me."
Even though he didn't meet my gaze, I saw the grief in his eyes as he appeared distant, reciting these memories as though he were entirely detached from them.
I listened and held onto every word he spoke, but I already knew there was nothing he could say to make me believe he was in the wrong here. I barely even knew the details, but I knew that much without a second thought.
"How old were you when he died, Caleb?" The question spills out in a way I hoped wasn't accusatory or invasive, wanting to know everything now that he'd opened up. Maybe it made me a hypocrite to want to learn more about him when I haven't offered much of the same in return. Still, I don't regret asking.
Leaning slightly into him as a show of trust, I knew I would accept him no matter his response. For these few moments, I let myself go back to the way I used to be, and Caleb felt it too.
"Seventeen." He rasped quietly. "I was the one who found him in his bed. Thought he was sleeping. Turns out the pills in my mom's bathroom cabinet could lead to an OD pretty quickly when you down the entire bottle at once."
All I could do was listen as he spoke, not understanding why we've all been dealt such unbearably cruel cards within our lives. None of us deserved this, most certainly not a scared seventeen year old kid who was already neglected from birth.
Based on the little I knew, Caleb would've run away shortly after that. I just wish we could've met each other so much sooner in life.
Kieth's death had been the exact way I'd tried to take my own life when I was sixteen, and the parallels were just too much to think about. That could've been me.
"Austin left almost instantly after. I know he was struggling, but he... he never said goodbye." I wanted to turn around to comfort him, but I knew Caleb just needed to talk right now. This was the most we've said to each other since I've gotten back, and I wasn't about to break the little security we'd rediscovered within each other now.
