Not siblings


    I sit next to Rowan frozen. My mind unable toprehend what Ethan just told me. First of all


    James and Kate Sharp weren’t my parents. Second, he imed to be my brother.


    “What?” I scream as the impact of his words finally sink in. “You slept with me knowing you’re my


    brother? That’s fucking disgusting“. <


    “You slept with him? Why would you sleep with him?” Rowan boom, a dangerous aura filling the


    room. Suffocating the atmosphere around us.


    I give him a withering look. “That’s none of your business“.


    My thoughts were upied with Ethan’s revtion. If what he said was the truth, then it meant I


    had sex with my brother, and he had sex with me knowing the truth.


    I felt bile rising up at that thought. Feeling utterly disgusted. What kind of a sick bastard does


    that? Why would you sleep with someone knowing very well that you were blood rted?


    The more I got to know about Ethan, the more I wondered if he had been acting all along.


    “You aren’t my sister” Ethan speaks up.


    “But you just said that Nora and Theo are your parents” I point out.


    “I told you I was adapted. That part was true. They did adapt me after my father was killed. We


    aren’t blood rted, so we didn’tmit incest.” He smirks then winks “I can however say, I loved


    it every time you screamed my name”


    I am mortified. My cheeks turn pink, and I look down.


    Even if we weren’t blood rted, it didn’t make what he did right. If he’s telling the truth then he


    shouldn’t have slept with me at all.


    I feel Rowan tense beside me, but I ignore him. It didn’t make sense why his hands were fisted and


    his jaw clenched.


    Brian clears his throat. The sound cuts through the tense and awkward atmosphere.


    “If you said Nora’s baby died, why then are you iming Ava is that baby?” Brian asks, bringing me


    back to the present.,


    “Yeah it makes no sense Gabe adds


    It was true. There is no way Nora and Theo are my parents. If the doctors told them that the baby


    died then that’s probably true. Besides, he did say that the baby wasn’t responsive after birth, and


    Nora witnessed this herself before she passed cut


    “That’s what they she believed. She even held a small ceremony and buried the baby. It was


    months of heartache for the two of them, especially Nora. She fell into depression and had to be


    admitted to a psychiatric facility Ethan exined


    “She wasn’t the same after that news. It’s like she lost the will to live and wanted to follow her


    baby to the grave. Years passed and still she was struggling. Her grades dropped and she


    graduatedte because she failed her sses. Theo was with her throughout, but it was killing


    him to see the gurl he loved suffer”


    I don’t know the woman, but I was a mother, and I knew how painful it would be for me to lose


    Noah. I can’t imagine the pain of anticipating the arrival of your baby only to have them taken


    away from you. It would have killed me


    “It took time, but with the love and support of Theo and his parents, she was able to pull through


    They got married when they were twenty two. Everything was falling into ce. She was ready to


    try for another baby. Her hopes were dashed when she was told she couldn’t get pregnant. The


    doctors from when she was a teen failed to tell her that the difficulties of herbour at such a


    young age had caused permanent damage to her womb.”


    “After knowing she couldn’t have children, it broke her, but she decided to adapt. That’s when


    they got me. They gave me everything including theirst name”


    I remember when he talked fondly about his parents. The love he had was immeasurable.


    “So how does Ava fall into all these?” Rowan asks, his eyes ring at Ethan


    “My grandparents died in a ne crash, but I came to know that they had been looking into the


    matter about their granddaughter. Turns out they believed there was foul y. They didn’t tell


    Nora and Theo in case their belief turned out to be nothing. It was around that time I came to


    know that they had a hidden use in their will. One that Theo didn’t know about. Everything.


    including theirpany was left to their granddaughter in the event Theo retired or God forbid,


    died. The familywyer knew about their search and the use.”


    He continues. “I couldn’t allow that. I had worked for thatpany since I was twenty five. I rose


    search and imagine my shock when I found out that they were right. There was foul y. Nora’s


    parents paid the doctors and nurses to fake everything, including the death of Nora’s baby”


    I just continue watching him. Listening to him as everything unfolded.


    “They thought it would be an embarrassment if their congregation found out that Nora had gotten


    pregnant out of wedlock. When she was pregnant it was easy to hide ‘the sin‘ their daughter


    isn’t easy hiding a baby, so they paid to have the death of their granddaughter faked and then


    offered her up for adoption”


    “My search led me to you. I knew I had to take you out. If you didn’t exist, then the use was null


    and void. I came here and after asking about you, I got a whole lot of information. Given how


    people hated you including your husband and family, I thought I would be doing them a favour.


    After all, a woman who would steal and trap her sisters boyfriend couldn’t be someone worth


    knowing or good for that matter”


    My breath catches at that. I still can’t believe that same man that assured me that the night with


    Rowan nine years ago wasn’t my fault, is the same man that thought just for that I didn’t deserve


    to live.


    I try to breath in through the pain, but it’s fucking hard.


    “I have to rify that the first attempt on your life wasn’t on me, but I took the opportunity. I saw a


    chance to get close to you and I took it. What better way than to be a hero to get you to trust me. It


    worked and you opened your door to me.”


    Fuck, it hurts so much. To know he yed me from the beginning and I was too blind to see it, just


    tears me apart.


    “Why would you need to get close to me if you had already hired goons to kill me?” I whisper.


    That’s what I wanted answers to. Why get to know me if he wanted me dead.


    He shrugs. “I thought it would be fun to toy around with you and pay you back for being a terrible


    person. You were so trusting and gullible, it made things easy for me. Besides that, getting to know was


    my my n B. In case those I hired failed, then it would be easier to kill you myself if I


    was close to you.”


    I look down and clench my hands. I felt like a fucking fool. Here I was developing feelings for him


    while all the while he was nning to destroy me.


    “It was supposed to be easy, get to know you then destroy you. I didn’t count on he stops before


    he can finish the sentence. His eyes roaming the room beforending on me.


    For the first time since we found the truth, something passes in his eyes Guilt? Love? I can’t tell


    because it was too quick for me to read into it. He soon after shuts down. Turning cold once more.


    I wanted to know what he stopped himself from saying, but I’m too much of a coward to ask.


    Besides, in light of everything he has done, does it even matter?


    “But even if Ava had died, wouldn’t thepany have fallen into Noah’s hands?” Letty asks after a


    while


    “Not really. First of all, I deleted every evidence of her existence just so the familywyer wasn’t


    able to track her and second, the will doesn’t mention anything about the children Ava would


    have”


    “This is insane, you know that? You’re telling us that not only is Ava not rted to us, but our


    parents probably knew and never said anything this whole time” Travis says standing up.


    Ethan sighs before throwing Travis a hateful look. “That’s exactly what I’m saying and after


    getting to know the kind of woman she is, I’m fucking d that she’s isn’t rted to such a


    disgusting and hateful family”


    Travisunches himself at Ethan, but Ethan easily gets out of the way and Travis ends up


    sprawled on the table.


    Rowan scoffs his eyes burning a hole into Ethan’s forehead. “That’s riching from the man


    that wanted her dead”


    Ethan res back at Rowan before his eyes turn to me. “I was going to terminate the hitman’s


    services, but he went underground. I didn’t know what he was nning, by the time I did it was


    toote and he’d already taken you.” he breathes. “If you don’t believe anything I say, at least


    believe me on that”


    I couldn’t stand his intense gaze, so like the coward I am, I stood up and ran out of the room. I


    found myself outside the station. My heart squeezing in my chest like someone had grabbed it


    and was squeezing.


    I try to control the tears, but I can’t. They fall down my cheek and I let them. A sob tears from deep


    inside my soul as I let the depth of his betrayal wash over me.


    Someone pulls me into the chest. I know from the cologne that it’s Rowan. He has a unique scent


    made specifically for him.


    “It’s okay Angel, let it all out” his deep voice rumblesfortingly.


    I pull away from him and look up at him. I let him see my tear stained face. Right now, I don’t care.


    “It’s okay, you can say it. You can tell me how much of I fool I was. You can tell me you told me so” I


    hup through my cries.


    His grey eyes soften before his arms wrap around me once again. Pulling me back to his warmth and


    comfort.


    “Shh” he whispers “I will never tell you that, Ava. Never!” 3


    I continue to cry. Wishing the pain away.


    I cry in my ex–husband’s arms after the man I was dating broke me with his betrayal.