Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 434: The Game
"I guess I missed out on so much," Anthony said with clear regret.
"I’m not sure how to explain this, but it seemed that my relationship with Bradon started long before we stood in for you and Diana at the wedding," I said before pressing my lips into a thin line.
"What do you mean?" Anthony asked.
I could tell that he was suspicious and I knew that it was time that I revealed to him the truth. Everyone had been playing their own games. In fact, the four of us had been at it ever since we were kids.
"I finally figured out that Bradon took your place many times in the past. Just like he had assumed your identity and acted perfectly like you while you were unconscious in the hospital, I found out that he did the same thing many times when we were younger. When we were kids and when we were teenagers," I said.
It took quite a lot of effort for me to pour the truth out to him. Anthony looked shocked, and although his lips moved as if he wanted to say so many things at the same time, he didn’t end up saying anything. All I could sense was his shock, and then his hesitation as he battled with himself over what he wanted to say.
"You don’t have to feel defensive about it. I’m not blaming you for swapping places with your brother at all. After all, you two weren’t the only ones doing it. Diana and I did pretty much the same. Maybe more often than you think," I said before shrugging my shoulders.
"When did you figure it out?" Anthony asked.
"After spending some time married to Bradon. I feel a little shameful to say this, but I had no idea that he was subbing in for you when we were younger. So, I guess I always had a misunderstanding that everything that happened between us was all you," I said in a small voice.
"Then how do you know that you’re in love with Bradon and not with me? You couldn’t even tell the two of us apart and you just admitted that you thought that it was all me all along," Anthony quickly interjected.
I could understand why he would feel that way. He must have felt frustrated and confused about what I had just told me. It was a fact that I was under the wrong impression and misunderstood everything until very recently.
"Many things happened after Bradon and I were thrown together. We went through many things, and my safety was compromised more than once. Everytime, Bradon would come and save me. It made me feel safe, and it make me remember how the Anthony that I admire would do the same for me," I explained slowly, yet hesitantly.
It felt difficult at first, as if I didn’t quite now what I wanted to say. However, as each words slipped past my lips, I felt my confidence growing. I sat up a little straighter when I felt like I could hold my ground. Every word that I uttered was sincere, and they also made me understand myself and my feelings in a more crystal clear way.
"I ran off to hide away from everything, and it was Bradon who came looking for me and finally found me. Everything unfolded just the way that it did that time that I ran away when I was younger and Anthony came to find me. That was when I knew that the Anthony that I liked so much and wanted to be with was him and wasn’t you,’ I continued with my story before taking a pause.
Anthony looked dumbfounded, but I could tell that my words had made some kind of connection with him. I nodded my head slowly to confirm that everything that I had just told him was true.
"It had always been him for me. I’m really so sorry if I ever gave you the wrong idea," I quickly apologized.
Anthony stared at me with a blank and unreadable expression on his face. It felt like he had composed himself all too well on the surface so that I could not see what kind of storm was raging war inside of his head and his heart. Although I appreciated his calm and preferred it to his episode of outburst that had happened earlier at the hospital, I also felt a different kind of pressure.
"I understand. Don’t worry about it," Anthony replied in short.
He didn’t quite meet my eyes when he tried to smile everything away. The way that he had sealed everything away from me, told me that I was probably a little more than a stranger to him now. Anthony was no longer showing me his honest self, he had seal everything away. It felt like I had lost a friend, and my worst fear had come to life.
I gulped before trying my best to put on a smile. If Anthony could put up a calm front, then so could I. It felt very unfortunate that we arrived at this uncomfortable standoff between us. There was no going further, and yet, there was also no going back to how we once were.
"I know that things between you and Bradon is a little...strained right now, but it would mean the world to me if you would attend our wedding," I said before showing him a hopeful smile.
Instead of a joyful invitation to a pleasant wedding, it felt like I was trying to offer him a peace treaty between us that would hopefully help to mend the relationship between him and Bradon as well. It was then that I truly realized that I cared more about the brothers’ relationship more than my friendship with Anthony. That was undeniably because of the bond that I shared with my sister that I value so much. It would kill me from the inside out if I were to lose the love that I shared with my sister, and I feared that that was exactly what Bradon and Anthony were going through.
