The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

~CLARA~

"I don't have to tell you anything about my life," I whisper. "I don't care what you do to me. My heart has been broken to the point that nothing you do can possibly hurt me anymore than I've been hurt these past few months."

I could feel the tears begin to form in my eyes once more.

His gaze softens, and he looks surprised by my words. Opening up to my kidnapper was not something I wanted to do, but for some reason, I couldn't stop talking. Maybe I needed someone to discuss this with; my sister wasn't here, and there was no telling if I'd ever be able to see her again.

"Someone must have truly broken your heart." He notes, "Care to tell me about it?"

"Are you sure that's something you want to hear about?" I ask him. "You aren't exactly my friend, and your father seems like he wants to kill me. Why would you listen to my troubles?"

His jaw clenched, "maybe because I never had someone to listen to me when I was younger. I guess I have my brothers to speak to, but I am always so busy looking out for them that I try not to burden them with my own problems."

I frown, "you don't seem like the type that needs to speak to anyone."

He shrugs his shoulders, "I've learned to deal with my problems alone. It doesn't bother me as much as it did when I was younger."

He's lying. I could tell that he's lying.

"So tell me." He says suddenly. "What has happened to you these past few months that is possibly worse than getting kidnapped by a Blackner?"

I sigh, "I was in what I thought was the perfect relationship with someone named Carter. Almost everyone at the academy looked up to our relationship; we were even considered the golden couple at one point. We matched each other perfectly. But Carter was never in love with me. He cared about me like he would a sister, and I only learned about that after he broke my heart. I saw pictures of him and another woman, and she apparently wasn't the only one he'd been sleeping around with."

He looks angry, pissed even. "He sounds like an asshole."

I smile, "I thought the same at first. I tried to hate him. But I couldn't." I say. "It gets worse, though."

"Worse?" he asks in surprise.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I nod, "it turns out that Carter was in love with my sister the entire time."

He frowns, "What?"

"It was truly my fault at first. My sister hated Carter's guts for what he did to me. But then I asked her to flirt with him; I wanted him to fall for her, and then I wanted her to break his heart like he broke mine. Of course, that was a foolish plan from the start. I should have never asked my sister to do something like that for me." I inform him.

He looks even more shocked. "You asked your sister to flirt with your ex-boyfriend and didn't think that would backfire on you?"

I smiled at the reminder; I couldn't believe that I could smile under these circumstances. "I know you think Carter is an asshole, but he isn't. He had his own problems that I can't speak about. He was only trying to protect me. I can't force someone to love me, and the truth was that I didn't love him the same way I thought I did, either. He was perfect for my sister; they were perfect for each other. They're expecting a baby soon, and I'm more than happy for them."

He folds his arms over his chest with a look of displeasure on his face, "I don't think I would have been able to forgive them if I were you."

He wasn't there. He doesn't know the full story. If he knew every detail, he would have been able to be happy for them as well.

"And there is more to this story," I tell him.

"More?" he asks with a raised brow.

"This is the part where you might be interested since it concerns Nicole," I tell him.

He doesn't look happy at the mention of her name. It reminds me of Alaric; whenever I mentioned her, he also became unhappy. Did she make everyone around her unhappy?

"Go on." he encourages me.

"After things ended between Carter and me, I realized that I was developing feelings for his older brother, Alaric," I say. "But he was still married to Nicole even though he seemed to be very unhappy in the marriage. He cared deeply for her, but she mistreated him throughout their entire marriage. Eventually, as he got closer to me, he realized that his marriage with Nicole didn't make any sense, and he asked for a divorce, which she eventually gave to him."

"Did he make you happy?" he asks through gritted teeth.

I nod, "Very happy until I found out that he got Nicole pregnant."

There is a complete silence. There's a knowing look on his face, and his mind seems to be racing with thoughts.

"Did he tell you that he got her pregnant?" he asks me gently.

"No," I answer him. "Nicole was the one to break the news to me in the parking lot. That's why you saw me crying there."

As I observe him closely, I notice a muscle incessantly twitching in his jaw. My words have definitely upset him. Suddenly, he appears to be overcome with frustration as he strides towards the door with a sense of urgency, his footsteps echoing through the room. With an angry expression on his face, he forcefully slams the door shut and storms out.