He Used My Money, I Left Him

Chapter 6

Elara was direct. The moment we sat down, she got straight to the point. "Selene and Damian were already involved back in high school. They never actually broke it off. All these years."

Every word she said landed squarely in my ears. My brow tightened. It took me a long moment to find my voice. "And why should I believe you?"

Elara smiled a little. "Good. You haven't completely lost your head. Selene is my sister, yes, but we don't share the same mother. Hers was the mistress. She showed up at our door again and again, making scenes, forcing my father to divorce my mom. I have never felt anything warm toward her. Disgust is more accurate. My family isn't the wealthiest around, but there's a sizable estate at stake. A lot of it came from my mother's side. My father is getting old, and those assets should be coming to me. That cheap man and that cheap woman don't deserve a thing. And the mistress's daughter deserves even less. So yes, you can trust me completely."

With that, Elara pulled out a thick stack of documents and photos.

I looked at the smile on the face of a boy in a familiar school uniform. I could almost hear him laughing with the girl beside him.

My mind went blank for a moment. When the truth finally hit, I didn't know what to do with myself.

In the photos, the boy was still wearing the matching engraved necklace we had. The couple's necklace. In the later shots, that same necklace was in Selene's hands.

You could see it clear as day in the pictures. Selene hated that necklace. In one shot, she was even trying to toss it away.

So that was what happened to my first anniversary gift. Selene threw it out.

Damian didn't keep it safe at home because he was afraid of losing it, the way he'd told me.

The color drained from my face. I stared at the photos in silence. The longer I looked, the more tangled everything inside me became.

Elara cleared her throat. "Are you okay? Can you handle this? Should I keep going?"

I looked up at her, and the panic only deepened. I could feel the black veil about to be ripped off the truth.

I opened my mouth, desperate to run. I didn't want to know. I was terrified of how ugly the truth might be. I wanted to leave it covered.

Elara didn't give me that choice.

"After Selene was brought back to the family, her health was always fragile. My father and her mother fussed over her way more than anyone would a normal child. I was too young back then to understand what was really going on. Not until I got into a car accident and nearly died in the hospital. The injuries I came in with weren't that severe, but everyone in the family kept saying they were. They made me sign a pile of documents and said I needed surgery. My mother was away on a business trip at the time. When she heard the news, she rushed back overnight and arrived just before I was wheeled in. My mother has always been protective of me. She went through every document I had signed, line by line. That was when she found an organ donation consent form buried in the stack. A heart donation consent form. I had just turned eighteen. The signature was legally valid. Do you know whose name was on that form as the recipient?"

I ground my teeth. "Whose?"

"Selene's. She has a heart condition. It got worse as she got older, to the point where she needed a transplant. She'd been on a waiting list for a compatible heart for years. As it happens, mine was a match. And so was yours. Your blood type and physical condition both fit her profile. After that incident, my mother went on a rampage. She stormed home and nearly killed my father and that woman. Later, during a school-wide health screening at your high school, they discovered your blood type and physical condition were a perfect match for Selene. You were flagged as a person of interest. You got lucky, though. Not long after that, they found someone brain-dead from a car accident. Selene got her new heart. That's the only reason you were never touched."

My voice was ice cold. "And what does any of that have to do with me?"