Page 40 of Overdosed: Her Dark Side
“She will come.” I sent Aaliyah a teasing wink, my lip tweaking into a smile.
I stood with a coffee cup in my hands, leaning against a wall opposite a wooden table and leather chairs surrounding it. Melanie and Aaliyah sat, chatting, casually sipping the green tea they both preferred. Behind them was an open area where Karl and Elena played with Hope on a plush cream carpet put over a dark oak floor. I fought a smile from curling up my lips whenever I glanced at the picture—my family together. Karl playing with his granddaughter. I could see the pride in his eyes. Love, perhaps. For a fleeting moment, it seemed like we were a typical family, that the past rifts and pain between us had never existed, that Melanie and I hadn’t separated. But, of course, this bliss couldn’t last forever. Not in my family.
“She has every trait worth of my heiress. One day, my granddaughter will take my place and become the Mafia Queen the world has never seen before.” Karl’s eyes shone with pride as he looked at Hope.
It didn’t take even a fracture of a second for Melanie to react and say, “Excuse me?” She looked at Karl with anger that terrified even me. Her hand clenched into a fist as if she meant to punch him.
“My daughter will never have anything to do with the… mafia,” she whispered the last word through her gritted teeth.
She ran to take Hope away from Karl as if he were a predator and she was a lioness fearfully protecting her lion cub. “She’s just a child, for God’s sake. And you will never mention that word around my daughter, understood?”
Her eyes stuck onto Karl’s. I couldn’t lie. I enjoyed seeing her fierce side. She’d always had it in her. It was one of the reasons I fell for her. I fell hard.
“She’s my granddaughter, Melanie. She deserves to know her heritage.” Karl remained firm. “What did you expect? Having a child with someone like my son entails some consequences.”
“I didn’t expect anything, Karl,” Melanie hissed, perturbed. “I didn’t plan any of this; it just happened, and it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly, so excuse me that I don’t have everything figured out.”
“But it did already happen,” Karl stated, his head tilting. “Now we’ll have to find a middle ground.”
“Well, well, well.” Anders’ mocking tone broke through the tension, and everyone’s gazes diverted toward him. He clapped his hands mockingly as he walked toward us through the hall, merging the living room area with the entrance. “Seems I wasn’t invited to the family dinner.” He flashed a wry grin.
And there I was, thinking this evening couldn’t get any worse. I exchanged glances with Melanie. No words were needed.
“You know, Shane, I can’t help but sympathize,” Anders said, his gaze pointed. “Now I know how it feels like to see your ex with another man.”
My jaw clenched.
“But to think you’ll always have it at the forefront of your mind that the woman you call yours, the mother of your child, was once your brother’s. Now, that’s a tough pill to swallow. I’m truly sad for you, Shane.”
I bristled slightly, but he kept my composure. “There’s one thing you seem to forget, Anders,” I hissed in a low tone, approaching him with steady steps. “Melanie was never yours to begin with. It was all just in your head.” I leaned to whisper in his ear, “She was always only mine.”
I pulled back, setting my gaze on his. My eyes fleetingly fixed on the vein pulsing in his temples, and then back on his eyes. He stretched his neck as if regaining his composure. The wickedness in him.
“Let’s not pretend things aren’t going to be awkward for us at family gatherings.” A twisted smirk curled up his lips.
“Enough, Anders,” Karl interfered, his voice brooking no argument.
We both turned to face our father, but his intervention seemed to only rattle Anders. His anger seemed to radiate from miles away.
“Goddammit!” Anders hissed. “Could you for once stop protecting your beloved fucking firstborn, the fucking heir!”
My brow raised and I couldn’t help but scoff. From the corner of my eye, I saw Melanie hugging Hope in her arms as if trying to protect her from what was about to unleash. Elena seemed to pick up on that too as she quickly led the female part of the meeting out of the room, which I was thankful for.
“What are you talking about, Anders?” Karl growled.
“Are you blind or what?” Anders continued, not minding anything around him. He’d always been self-centered. He believed the world revolved around him. He paced back and forth, his movements agitated. It seemed as if a torrent of rage unleashed inside him.
“Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always heard ‘Shane this’ or ‘Shane that,’ you should be more like Shane! You always put him above me!” he shouted in a frenzy.
I didn’t want to intervene because I knew it was between them, father and son. I also knew it was an issue Anders had in his head and he had to deal with. Karl had never treated me better. In fact, he had given so much love to Aaliyah and Anders. A different kind of love. Pure, fatherly. The kind of love I had never experienced. He saw me solely as a means to his vendetta. He saw the woman he lost in me. My mother.
“I’ve never been good enough! And you’ve never given me as much attention as you’ve been giving him!” Anders's eyes blazed with resentment.
“That’s not true, son. I always treated you both the same.” Karl’s brows knitted. “Anders, you know that’s nonsense.”
“Nonsense?” he scoffed. “Then why are you playing a happy family with Melanie now? Knowing that she was my fiancée.”
“We both know it was just a game of yours to get back at Shane,” Karl yelled, which surprised us all. At last, Anders managed to put our father off the balance. “You don’t love Melanie, Anders.”
