Tristan’s POV
I stood up behind the kitchen counter, sipping my coffee as my mother and father were seated at the dinner table. I was not in the mood for this day. I wanted to confront Luca about this situation but then my mother called him last night to invite him over to my fucking house. I remained quiet because at least this situation would be spoken about with all four of us present at the table.
“You should really smile more,” my mother said as she looked at me.
“Mom, please do not start with me this morning.” I set my mug on the kitchen counter. Annoyed.
“Just leave him alone,” my father told her.
There was a knock on the front door, “That must be him,” my mother said softly as I walked around the counter, all the way to the door, and opened it.
Anger boiled within me as I looked at the man I loathed. He looked at me with a smirk on his face, “Great seeing you again,” he said.
I stepped out of the way, not saying a word, and then he entered. I closed the door behind him as he walked further into the lounge. I walked past him towards the kitchen as my mother stood up from her seat at the dinner table. He followed behind me as I took my seat at the end of the table.
“Austin,” my mother gushed.
“Please, don’t,” he said with bitterness in his tone as he kept a hand out so that my mother wouldn’t embrace him. I don’t blame him for that though. I would’ve been just as mad if it were me. My father remained in his seat just staring at Luca with a weary look on his face.
My mother didn’t know what to do as she sat back down, and I gestured to a chair with my hand. He pulled it out and took a seat. “So, what do I owe the pleasure of being invited to this meeting?” he looked smug.
“We just wanted to talk to you about the past,” my mother said hesitantly as she looked at Luca. “Your father and I are sorry how things turned out when Tristan came into the picture.” I shifted my gaze to Luca, he was staring at the table, tapping his index finger on it as he remained silent. “I feel like Tristan needs to know these things because we kept it all away from him. We really wanted our own baby. We thought that we couldn’t conceive, and then we adopted you. You were this precious little boy who stole our hearts and I didn’t want to leave you behind, I had to have you. Finally, when we did have you, we loved you. You were our everything, and then I fell pregnant by some miracle, everything revolved around Tristan, and we hadn’t noticed that you had just left, and we found you, paid the person who was willing to look after you because you just didn’t want to return. Your father and I failed you, and we are sorry.” My mother’s eyes glazed over.
“You are not my parents, you never were, so don’t even mention that.” He finally looked up at her and stopped tapping his finger on the table. He was calm, but bitterness laced his voice. “I had a great time when I was the only child, but then you both threw me away as if I was dirt.” He sucked in a breath. “I worked hard to get to where I am today. The thing is, I was better off in foster care because, after leaving this family, I felt worse. Tristan had the life and family I wanted to be in, but you both ruined that.”
“That doesn’t mean that you can ruin my own company because of what happened to you in the past. I didn’t know you even existed, so just because my mother and father pushed you away doesn’t mean that I was part of their mistakes in life. You think you could just take some sort of revenge on me, but I won’t have it. You hacked into my company and stole half of my money, and you didn’t stop.” I glared at him and I felt this urge to lash out at him, but I was keeping my anger at bay.
“Well, I can do whatever I want.” Luca scoffed at me. I clenched my jaw. He was really testing me at this point.
“Austin, I think you should pay Tristan back. Every little penny that you took from him.” My father said sternly.
“No,” I chimed in, “I don’t want any of it back. I don’t want his dirty money back into my company that I also worked hard to build. I poured my blood, sweat and tears into that company and that building he has his modeling studio in after Estelle, my deceased wife, passed away, burying my soul into every fiber of the company. He stole from a company that is precious to me.” I was reminded of all the hours I had spent working after Estelle died, burying my grief in working day and night, and he stole that money.
“Well, my dirty money pays Elona.” He smirked, and then he shrugged, “I guess that doesn’t bother you.” He shifted comfortably in his seat. I clenched my fists as I tried my best not to jump over the table and beat the sh^t out of him.
“Who is Elona? Isn’t she Cris’ friend that I can recall?” my mother asked curiously.
“She seems to be more than that with him,” Luca looked at me, still smirking.
“So...”
“I won’t be having this conversation. She was Cris’ friend and that’s it.” I cut in before my mother could inquire more about her. She still had this curious look on her face.
“Well, if this meeting is done, I do have things to do. I feel as if this was a complete waste of my time,” Luca said.
“You’re free to leave.” My mother said, but my father didn’t say anything, he just watched.
“Great.” Luca stood up. ” Well, thanks for having me and I wish not to see you both again.” He said to my mother and father and then walked into the lounge.
I stood up, “I will see him out.” I said, and then I followed after him, he turned around as he reached the front door, smirking.
“I must say this was a fancy meeting having this happy family,” he said, and I scowled at him.
“I’m glad you’re leaving. If you ever touch my company again, I will come after you this time.” I warned him.
He scoffed as if happy with himself. “I just wanted to see you suffer a little, but it was more than that I realized. My condolences to you on your deceased wife.”
“I don’t want your condolences, you don’t deserve to talk about her.” I hissed, my blood was boiling.
“Well, I’m sure you will suffer even more after this. Elona is fucking hot and-”
“Watch it,” I said through clenched teeth, stepping closer to him.
“What? You can’t share a woman? She was great in bed yesterday. She wanted all of me. We did a photoshoot together and one thing led to another. Now... I had a taste of your woman too.”
“Stop your fucking lies,” I hissed.
“Why would I?” He reached into his pants pocket and took his phone out, he scrolled through it and then turned the phone towards me so that I could see the screen. “Does this look like I’m lying?”
My heart was crushed into millions of pieces as I looked at a picture that I assume was from the photoshoot. Elona’s eyes were closed, her hands on his chest, his hand cupped the back of her head, his eyes were closed too, as their lips brushed in an intimate way.
I saw red, and gripped his collar, shoving him against the wall beside the door, “Don’t you ever fucking touch her again!” I barked at him.
“Too bad, because I did more than that. I was inside of her and she wanted me. She begged me not to stop.” He taunted.
“Tristan, let go of him,” my mother said gently behind me as I scowled at him.
I let go, not bothering to say another word. “I will see you around,” Luca said, opening the door and left, leaving the door open.
I just stood there like a statue staring at my front steps, taking in what he said and seeing that image. Imagining him...f^cking her and she enjoying it. Did she really want that? She clearly seemed like she enjoyed his touch in the image. I broke further inside just thinking about it. I was feeling a mixture of anger and heartache as my eyes glazed over.
“Tristan...” my mother said softly.
I turned around and walked past her. I ignored her completely as I walked towards the hallway. I wanted to be alone. All this was my fault when I chose Maggie. I hurt her. She is moving on, and now I’m the one who is hurting. I thought I could fight for her, but she doesn’t want me anymore. Now, I have to glue my pieces back together again, pieces that I spent three years trying to put back together again, she just shattered me. Now I can feel my walls going back up as before when I used to look at her in an innocent light... before I fell dangerously for her.