You Are My Addiction - #3 [18+ UNEDITED]

Chapter Twenty Four - Taking Back Control

Something in the darkness that fell over his features told me he was talking about Chris. I could feel the hatred Aaron harboured for the man and it had me gripping onto him tighter. I refused to lose the man I loved to this hate, this darkness. Kissing into his arm, I gently urged him to continue. "Before he left, she was different. He broke her and on his departure he stole what was left of her heart." Grinding his molars together he silently seethed, disgusted in the man he was unfortunate enough to call his father.

Standing, he slipped away from my hold. Reluctantly, I allowed him the space he needed. Walking towards the large window opposite us and bracing his forearm against the glass, he stared outside. Silence echoed around the large room and only then did I actually take in its size. The large bed seemed almost like two large mattresses stitched together, decorated with expensive Egyptian sheets— it appeared untouched. In fact every item in the room appeared undisturbed, as though having occupied its position for years.

Slowly standing, I moved towards the vanity. Swiping my fingers over the porcelain surface, I studied the three wavy lines left behind in the thick layer of dust. I remembered back to a conversation I'd had with Archie where he'd told me about Aaron one condition to sign over the property to him. Aaron had forbade anyone from coming inside this room or shifting any of its possessions. He'd demanded everything remain the way it had before his mother's death.

Turning to face him, I dug my nails into my thighs— hoping the pain would keep me rooted when all I wanted to do was hold him. "Despite being the successful entrepreneur she was, my mother never failed to give me the love and attention any child would be lucky to have." Smiling at his admission, I took a few steps towards him. Having read Maddison's regrets in her diary, I knew how much she loved Aaron and wished above all she could turn back time and show him that love and adoration. "She would come into my room early in the morning and leave me a hand drawn map. The steps on it would lead me to a room in the mansion where she'd hidden a surprise for me." His deep voice carried across the room as he lost himself in a fond memory of his mother.

Shifting I watched him from a distance. "One morning she was really excited, she was smiling the way she used in photos. She left me a map and went to work early. Archie was taking Rachel to the doctors and brought me with them so I didn't get to find my surprise in the morning. After finding out that Rachel was pregnant, Archie wanted to celebrate. We went to the zoo, then to Rachel's favourite Italian restaurant for dinner. By the time we got home I'd forgotten about the map. When Rachel put me to bed I saw it under my pillow and waited for her to leave so I could find the surprise before my mother got home."

His voice cracked with something inexplainable, an ache that the innocence within him had harboured for a long time. "I followed the drawings to her bedroom and into the wardrobe. I heard footsteps and hid behind the row of dresses. I wanted to surprise my mother. But then I heard my father, he was screaming at her. I watched them through the gap between the wardrobe doors." Looking at the two frosted sliding doors adjacent to me, I winced at the image of a small boy witnessing any of this. "She was crying, trying to calm him down but that only made him angrier. He grabbed her and she kept saying that he was hurting her. He didn't care." Closing my eyes, I wiped at the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"He shoved her so hard, I heard her body crash into the wall. He kept saying that she was trying to embarrass him, to prove that he's pathetic-that she was trying to remind him that  he wasn't rich." Watching his frame tense I sucked in a sharp breath. Turning his head to the side he closed his eyes— his features straining with anguish. "He grabbed her again, before she could collapse to the floor and hit her. He kept swearing at her and hitting her. She wouldn't fight back, all she did was plead. She begged him to listen, she apologised continuously but he didn't listen." His voice all but disappeared.