Enemy Beloved

53 | the other woman

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C L A I R E

Present:

"LIAR!"

Mom is the first one to break the silence after Vaughn finishes his story. I am startled when she pushes me toward Dad before stalking Vaughn, her knuckles white as she digs her nails into her palms.

"Isabelle..." Vaughn says when she walks up to him but to everyone's horror, she doesn't give him any chance to speak as she lifts a hand and hits Vaughn hard across his cheek. His head turns to a side at the impact but he doesn't react.

The sound echoes through the hall, making even the guards gasp. Vaughn doesn't lift his eyes back up to her as he stands looking at the floor. I see Doris's jaw clench, and she shoves Rose away from her, walking towards her son briskly.

"How dare you do that!" she speaks up, standing in front of Vaughn as she faces Mom. Both women look at each other with hatred and anger in their eyes.

"Your son is a liar!" Mom yells while Vaughn takes a step away from both of them, his face crestfallen as he keeps staring at the floor in a daze. "I have been quiet all these years but enough is enough! How could you lie to everyone?" She looks at Vaughn as she speaks. "You're putting all the blame on my son! My dead son! Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"My son is not a liar!" Doris shouts too, pushing Mom by her shoulders and Dad instantly runs towards them, catching Mom when she falls backward.

"Mind your tongue with my wife," Dad warns Doris.

"Tell your wife to mind hers first. How dare she call my son a liar!?" Doris's eyes start filling with tears. "All these years, I was blaming my child for something he didn't even do, and all because of your dual-minded son!"

"My son was not like that!" Dad booms. "Vaughn is lying. Christopher was the perfect boy. He wasn't bipolar. He's doing these to save his ass."

"He was sick," Vaughn says suddenly, without looking up. All the heads in the hall turn to him, Noah Striker's being the most oblivious one among them. "Chris never told you because he knew that you thought of him as being perfect. He didn't want to make you believe anything else. He was diagnosed at twenty and he asked me never to tell anyone—"

"SHUT UP!" Mom screams, shutting her ears with her hands. "You're lying! He wasn't like that. He was my son..." She starts to sob loudly and Dad holds her in his arms, giving Vaughn a hateful glare.

"What makes you think we'll believe your stories, Jackson?" Dad chides. "You couldn't even tell the truth about your kid to your family."

Vaughn jerks his head to look at Dad, his lips parting, and then his eyes meet mine. I swallow a gulp, avoiding his gaze as his stare burns me. From the corner of my eye, I see Doris looking startled at the new information and she looks at her son in disbelief.

"What?" she gasps.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Dad says to Doris. "He has a child, you know? With his ex-girlfriend."

"No, that can't be true..." Doris muses, shaking her head.

"It is," Mom interrupts. "Ask Claire how he told her that he still loves that other girl. That's the reason my daughter left and that's the reason we would never believe anything that leaves your son's mouth. He's a bloody liar!"

All the while, my heart drums loudly in my ears as I think over and over about Vaughn's story.

Suicide. Chris committed suicide.