The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 34 Part 2

I get the feeling that sometimes, I have to assert this. My parents love me. They do. We don't see eye to eye on everything but overall evaluation puts them on "great parents" still.

Unraveling

I wasn't sure how my mother pulled me out of that place. My whole body was shaking due to the racking sobs I couldn't stop. The next thing I knew, I was back in my suite.

My hand clutched at my chest. It hurt there— it hurt so much and I didn't know how to alleviate the pain that transcended both my mental and physical state.

The clawing feeling wouldn't subside.

I knew I was gasping for breath and my head spun with the lack of oxygen. And my brain repeatedly tried to set fire to the thoughts it was rejecting. I couldn't accept them yet they wouldn't go away.

My mother spoke words my ears refused to listen to. My body collapsed in a crumpled heap of immaculate gold cloth on the cold marble flooring. My eyes were awash with tears. But I saw my mother's arms try to wrap me in a hug and I stumbled away from them.

"Don't touch me!" My shout was shrill. How I wished what I saw made me feel better, but the utter devastation in her eyes broke me all the more.

All my thoughts were a losing battle and she adds these actions to the list. Her words from earlier rang in my head.

I'm sure I wasn't the best mother and I never tried hard enough. But I promise that while it never showed, I only had your best interest in mind.

Thinking hurt. Trying to make sense of everything happening hurt. Saltwater raced down blotched cheeks as my mind bled.

"I can't understand it," My hands went to my temples. "What kind of best is this?! How could you tell me this is the best?!"

Was that actual pity in her eyes? How could she direct that at me? How dare she after all this time—

"Isla—"

"I tried to be a daughter you could be proud of! I excelled in school, I worked my head off at Prestigio, I had never behaved improperly, never questioned your authority—" I was going insane and I just knew it—"And the one time my name gets caught in a mess that I didn't create..." I glared at my mother with all the animosity I was feeling, "And you dare to call this your best? How? How could you say that after conning me into this situation?!"

Amelia Porter was silenced. Even as I knew I would hate what she would say, I wished her to say something. My mind desperately needed something to hang on to. It had to hear something that would magically connect all the dots. But they weren't coming.

Anything, my mind gasped as my eyes continued to look into hers. Anything, Mom!

A loud banging on the door ensued.

"Amelia! Isla! Get back out here right this second!"

Dad.

And like that, the harsh tone of my father made my heart drop. My stomach twisted painfully and I doubled over. I was scared of him all of a sudden... of what he would do.

My mind was registering how hopeless my situation really was.

From anger, my consciousness shifted to another tactic.

And I started to beg. With my eyes. Grasping suddenly on the hands of my mother that I'd earlier pushed away, I was weeping, the tears tiny waterfalls that ruined my blotched crumpled face.