Okay, so, AJ, I’m going to make this short and sweet because there’s not a whole lot to say other than I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you all this time, and I’m sorry for helping Kira keep up this charade, too. I’m ashamed of the fact that I let this go on for so long, but it got to the point that I got so caught up that I didn’t know how to fix it. I knew that telling you the truth would essentially hurt my sister, but I’ve come to the conclusion that she isn’t all that concerned about hurting me, so I don’t have much to lose, I guess.
That day you walked into your dorm room, contrary to what you’ve believed for the past five years, that was NOT me who you found in your bed…it was Kira. Apparently, when her plan to seduce you failed, you assumed that she was me, and Kira let you believe that to avoid embarrassment. My first reaction when I found out was to tell you; however, despite the bad rep I’ve gotten, I care about my sister – so much so, that I put her feelings before mine. She’s loved you since we were kids, AJ. Knowing that you’d hate her if you were to find out what she’d done…I took the fall, not knowing how far this would go or that doing so would essentially tear my relationship with her apart. Not being able to come to the wedding? Knowing that she won’t be able to be active in my children’s lives? That’s not sitting well with me. Especially knowing that this all could’ve been avoided if I’d never gone along with this lie in the first place. Would she have been mad at me for letting you know who she really was? Yes, but I guarantee we would’ve moved past it by now and been okay. I blame myself for not being strong enough back then to say what I’m saying to you now.
It’s unfortunate that it had to come to this, but I’m tired of being the bad guy – especially seeing as how this was never supposed to be my cross to bear. Call me when she’s not around so we can hash things out. Oh, and Kira, if you’re the one reading this…I’m sorry…but you should’ve fixed this a long time ago.
Reina’
I stared at her phone number on the bottom of the page, dumbfounded.
“That’s impossible.”
Without even thinking about what I’d say when he answered, I dialed my father and started pacing back and forth between the closet and window, rerunning that night in my head, searching for loopholes that I’d possibly missed before.
“You knew it was her and you weren’t gonna tell me?” I said calmly into the receiver when he finally picked up.
There was silence on the other end of the line and then I heard the door to my father’s office close in the background. “Knew what? What’re you talking about?”
His calm disposition did nothing but frustrate me more. “All this talk about being different, and wanting to be a better man – did you ever stop to think that a good place to start fixing things between us would’ve been to tell me that the woman I’ve been planning to marry has been lying to me for the past five years?”
I pushed my fingers through my hair and then loosened my tie when I started feeling short of breath, thinking that I might not be able to stay as calm as I intended to.
“Anthony, son, I have no idea what you’re –“
“You set the whole scheme up! How could you not know?”
“Scheme? What scheme?”
I took a deep breath but my heart continued to thunder against my ribs as rage filled every single part of me. I hadn’t forgotten a single word of Reina’s explanation that day…or Kira’s explanation, rather. She said that my father and hers arranged for her to come up to Charleston to convince me to leave by any means necessary. The thought of it, not knowing that I’d literally been sleeping with the enemy, made me feel sick to my stomach.
“You know what? I should’ve known that calling you was a mistake.”
Before I could hang up, he called out to me. “Son, I – “ he stammered. “That was years ago and you’re right, I should’ve apologized for my actions, but I still don’t understand what you marrying Kira has to do with this.“
“You were really just gonna let me walk down the aisle with her? Knowing that I had no idea what she’d done?”
My father sounded confused when he replied. “Wait…I don’t understand.”
There was a tone to his voice that almost had me convinced that he really didn’t have a clue what was going on. However, I was on the verge of a breakdown and couldn’t afford to be played with.