Mated To My Stepbrother-Chapter 74

Aria pov

My mind was consumed with thoughts of my father, with memories of him flashing through my head.

Mary noticed my distant expression and nudged me on the shoulder. "What’s wrong, Aria?" she whispered. I smiled awkwardly, struggling to focus as my mother’s voice echoed through the phone. "Aria, talk to me. Why don’t you want anyone to find out who did this to you? You could easily go to the police and with the evidence, they’ll catch the perpetrator." I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. "I want to ask you something important, Mom," I said. "Go ahead and ask," she replied immediately. "When was the last time you heard from Daddy?" The car suddenly fell silent as Jaxon slammed on the brakes.

It seemed like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for an answer.

I waited a few minutes for my mom to reply, but she was still silent. I could even hear on the call my dad trying to bring her back to reality as he asked her what was wrong. I knew it was a difficult question for her to answer, but it was time she answered it.

I wanted to know everything. I would not let this person slip off so easily.

"Mother, you are not saying anything I said on the phone, and I could hear her coughing as she had returned to reality.

"I did not know what to say to you, but I want you to know one thing. I don’t know where he is." My mom said to me and even though I doubted her I could sense the sincerity in what she had just said to me

I no longer know what to believe anymore. I could sense the sincerity in her voice. I knew when my mom was lying or faking things to me and the way she sounded.

That was clearly why she delayed, but that was not what I wanted to hear. I had always anticipated that she would tell me where exactly he is or why he is alive and not that he is dead, just as she always told me, but instead, she ended it this way.

Even though I did not want to get emotional, tears couldn’t help but pour out of my eyes. I felt sad. Who could this man be? Would he be my father or just an imposter? I did not even know what to believe. I never asked for a life like this. All I wanted was just a peaceful life for myself.

"If you did not know where he was, why did you then tell me he has been dead all these years, why would you do something like that to me when I haven’t wronged you in any way." I said to her as she also started crying from the sound of her voice I could

Tell.

"I didn’t do it intentionally please believe me, I just thought If I told you that then you would never think about knowing him or knowing whether he is alive or not." She said to me,

"You do not have to apologize or say anything to me, Mother; I know where you are heading. If you wanted me to know, you would have told me, and then I would have processed everything and not this way." I said to her, but then she asked the one question I did not think she would ask me before questioning her angrily like this,

"How did you even get to find out your father is not dead?"She said to me, and Jaxon stared at me with a smirk, clearly letting me know that I should have been careful before asking my mother all these questions, but I looked away, thinking of an excuse or a lie to give.

I cleared my throat before speaking to Mom.

" I asked you a simple question, and you answered me without asking how I got to know you or if I was even saying something I heard. I only guess because I wanted to hear from you whenever I asked about him. He always told me that he was dead, so I decided to bring the question from a different perspective, and I caught you right there." I said to her with a wide smile on my face Jaxon also smiled before starting the car as we continued going. Even Mary had a wide smile because she did not expect me to twist the question that way.

"Aria, Let’s not discuss this on the phone. When I return, we will have a mother-daughter discussion". My mom told me, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes internally. That was something she would never do when she arrived. She would be so busy being the loving wife to my stepfather that she would not have my time.

Just as she was about to say another thing due to the anger of her fake promises, I ended the call and placed the phone inside my bag. Then I recalled. I did not put the phone in silent, brought it out, and then placed it silent before offing it.

Mary stared at me in shock. "Your mother is not done talking yet. What if she wants to tell you something important about your father?" Mary said but I scoffed.

"There is nothing important she is telling me, so do me a favor and just forget about it,"I said to her.

With those words from me? Everyone was silent. Just then, as we passed a mall, I saw a figure that shocked me. I almost jacked up in fear and stared out the window, making Mary surprised.

"What is wrong?" She asked, but I did not say anything and stared at that figure until I looked closely and realized it was my father. But that was not what scared me the most. He had a bear a weird smirk on his face, looking directly at me.

"You can’t run away from me," he mouthed to me and I almost fainted.