Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 182

182- Mothers and meltdowns

Megan does notice my suspicious glare at Darrien’s back. For a moment she’s confused and I canpractically see her replaying the last several minutes in her head to see what bothered me. When shefigures it out, she smiles at me.

“Did you know that Darrien is very close with his mother. They speak or the phone pretty much everynight, even if it’s only for a few seconds. It’s very sweet.” She confides. Oooohhhhh he was talking tohis mum. That makes so much sense. I didn’t really think that he would be seeing someone else, butmaybe that he had some close female friends that he is kind to. Not that it would be a problem, as longas it was clear that’s all they are. Either way, it’s far better.

“He’s never mentioned his mother to me.” I admit. Megan shrugs.

“He usually waits until he is alone to talk to her. But I’ve seen him texting her sometimes.” She sayswith a small smile.

“Does she live around her?” I ask and Megan shakes her head.

“Nah, Darrien moved down here a few years ago, but she was already well settled in her communityand didn’t want to leave her home.”

4

“Oh, then why did he leave?” I think out loud with my head tilted. Darrien descends the stairs in thatmoment and I blush realising I’ve been talking about him behind his back.

“That’s easy, I left because I needed a challenge. The town I grew up in is a tiny farm town. Not a lot ofcareer opportunities outside of farming, and that never really appealed to me.” He answers mecheerfully, apparently unoffended by my nosiness.

“Thats a good reason I guess, Do you miss her?” I ask. He gives a firm nod.

“Of course, but she knows I’m better off here. She might come and visit me sometime in the next fewmonths. She is due a holiday.” He explains. Megan instantly looks interested.

“That sounds awesome. We would all love to meet her.” She declares determinedly. She isn’t wrong. Inever knew my parents and I replace I am extraordinarily interested in meeting Darrien’s mother andseeing who raised him to be the person he is today.

During this conversation, something has been nagging at the back of my mind. All of a sudden it clicks.

“Tristain’s mother!” I announce, far too loudly. Megan flinches at my tone, or maybe at my actual words,It’s hard to

say.

“Huh? What about Tristain’s mother?” Darrien asks curiously.

“I met her, she hated me.” I explain. He is briefly confused, then remembers the list we’ve been making.

“You… You met her?” Megan’s voice is small. I mentally curse myself for speaking without thinking. Ishould have kept it to myself and just told Bellamy! Or at very least not yelled it out without thinking.Still, it’s too late now and Megan has asked me a question.

182- Mothers and meltdowns

“Oh, well… Yes I did. Briefly. It wasn’t a pleasant conversation.” I respond haltingly. I don’t want to hurther. Bellamy and I both tried to shield her from this. She had enough to deal with sorting through her

own emotions without being attacked by Tristain’s mother too. Bellamy steps in to help, his arm slippingaround my waist, his hand landing on my hip.

“Tristain’s mother came to see me the day after he passed. She was very angry and upset, she wasdefinitely looking for someone to blame, refusing to believe her son might have done something wrong.It was… getting out of hand. Ryann came and intervened, managed the situation and sent her away.”He adds with a sigh.

“She was blaming Bellamy for everything that happened, insisting that he must have ordered you toend things with Tristain which would have “broken his heart‘ and caused him to lose it and attack.” Iexplain. Bellamy’s face suddenly pales.

“You corrected her. You told her that I wasn’t there and you were, you told her that you were the onewho told Megan that Tristain wasn’t being faithful.” He looks like he’s been struck. Megan is crying andDarrien is already pulling her to his ch*st to comfort her.

“She… she said she would come back. She never did.” I whisper in horror. This is the first personwe’ve listed that I actually believe might hate me enough to want to hurt me. Or at very least, she’srelated to Tristain who we already know was very unstable. But, her son was the one who tried to hurtUS. Would she really go so far? Commit multiple murders, kidnap a child, just to get to me, someoneshe only met briefly?

“It is strange that we didn’t hear from her again. You’re right that she didn’t seem like she would bewilling to drop. the matter. It just… escaped my mind with everything else that’s been going on.” Headmits. I lean into his side.

“You’re not the only one who forgot. Do you… do you think she would go this far? Try to hurt me?” Iask. Darrien is the one who responds this time.

“Never underestimate the lengths a mother will go to for the sake of her child.” He tells me gravely. Irepress a sigh, I wouldn’t know, I never knew my parents at all. It doesn’t make sense at all to me, but ifall the others believe it could be true, then I trust them.

“If one of the Psychos is Tristain’s mother, who would the second one be? I assume his mother is therewould need to be a magic user too, right?” I ask. Bellamy nods his agreement.

a Shifter like him. So

“Yes, and I have no idea who she might be working with. I would guess family, but all her family wouldbe Shifters. I can’t think who else would go so far to avenge a criminal.” His tone is dark. He seemsfairly convinced that Tristain’s mother is involved. I remember the prim blonde woman. Thinking backon it, I could definitely see her being cold enough to kill someone, or to hurt a child. She wantssomeone to blame, and I guess I might have unintentionally made myself that person. Although if Ihadn’t, she probably would have come after Bellamy or Megan. I suspect the situation would haveended up similarly. Kiara might have avoided being involved though. I suspect she was taken mostly forher connection to me. If Tristain’s mother hates me for breaking up Tristain and Megan, she could havefound out about my magic. I don’t advertise it, but it’s not exactly a huge secret either.

“Do you think she could have found Kiara and assumed that she and I are related in some way? Hereyes are like mine and our marks are similar. If she hates me for my magic, blames me for her son. Itwould make a twisted kind of sense for her to go after someone she might interpret as being my family.A child that, at a glance, you could easily assume is connected to me.” No one speaks, but onlybecause they know that I am probably right. The more I think about this, the more sense it makes.Tristain’s mother has to be involved somehow. Finally, FINALLY, we are making some progress. It hurtsto think about it, but hopefully this means we will replace Kiara soon.