HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 172

Meadow’s POV:

Once when we were younger, Juniper wanted to beat me up about something-couldn’t remember what. But I stood up to her. The moment I did, Juniper went crying to our mother and went on to concoct a story of something that had never happened. I didn’t even try to defend myself or say that it was a lie, because I already knew my mother would never believe me.

She called me into the kitchen, and then she told Juniper to slap me.

Thirty times.

For no damn reason.

I had no idea why my parents hated me so much, why they would care more about one child than the other, especially when we were literally twins.

All I did was exist. That was all I did.

And they punished me for that.

Het Juniper walk ahead of me. There was no way I was going to walk in front of her.

Juniper’s heels clicked against the floor as she stalked into the living room, back rigid and her entire demeanor resentful.A smile threatened to blossom and I didn’t fight it.

I had slapped her. Me.

There was nothing more satisfying than the look on her face as she did what I asked her to do instead of it being the other way around.

She sat down on one of the sofas, crossed her legs, lifted her chin and glared at me hotly.

“Fucking talk,” she gritted out. “Maybe start with how the hell you married the man who put our own father in prison.”

You’re not going to tell me where to start from, Juniper,” I said softly, leaning against the seat opposite her. “I owe you no explanation. updated by jobnib.com And my decision to remain married to Alaric is valid, don’t you think? I mean, Clint Russell was only a father to you. Never to me.”

She parted her lips but I beat her to the punch. “You know what I’m failing to understand right now?” Slowly, I lowered myself into the chair. “Why the hell are you focused on the fact that Alaric put your father in prison and not the fact that Clint killed his father?”

That was a lie. A full-on, blatant lie. Alaric killed his own father, and I knew it.

No one else did, though. And if there was anything I was going to do, it was to defend and protect the man I loved.

Not that he needed my help protecting him anyway.Juniper scowled at me, but she didn’t say a word.

“You’re not saying anything,” I murmured. “Which means you know he did it, don’t you? You know our father was a killer-is, I mean. And you also know that Alaric’s father wasn’t the first man he kitled.”

She paled, looking away from me.

We both knew. We knew the things our beloved father had always been capable of. A powerful man who scammed and conned people out of their money, sometimes without the victims even being aware of it.

It wasn’t a clean business. People always got hurt in the process.

Innocent people.

As kids, we had both been eavesdropping on one of his private conversations through the door of his study. We both heard things we weren’t supposed to hear, but was the one who was punished for it after Juniper ratted me out.

“Yeah, there it is,” I drawled, narrowing my gaze at her.” That damn look. You always think you’re in charge of everything. Like you have the upper hand, meanwhile you have nothing going for you, Juniper. Nothing. And it’s because you have nothing that you feel the need to follow me around and strive to make my life miserable. You have no life of your own-“”Shut up,” she spat, gripping the edge of the seat. “You’re the one who has no life.”

I hummed, gesturing around the large-as-hell living room. “Am I?” Rising to my feet, I made my way toward her. “You’re deluded, Juniper. Completely delusional. And it’s time for you to start seeing outside that little bubble of yours. I’m not miserable. Not anymore. My life is on track, which is more than I can say for you.”

Juniper sprung to her feet, letting out a loud shriek. ” You’re a fucking miserable bitch, Meadow. That’s all you are, and that’s all you deserve to be. You killed her…” she trailed off, voice cracking. “You killed our mother and you have the nerve to—”

“Oh, don’t start pretending you didn’t already loathe me before Mother died.” I moved closer so we were only a few inches apart. “And I didn’t kill her. Her love for Clint and unwillingness to be alone for eternity killed her! Don’t you see that, Juniper? Our mother knew she was alone. We weren’t worth the fight. None of us were. Have you ever stopped to think that if she did love you, she wouldn’t have tried to kill herself?”

Juniper gasped, eyes wide and shining with tears.

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