Bedmates Soulmates
CHAPTER 331

him for anything, and never threw a tantrum in front of him

Deborah weighed her words before she spoke, never asked him fo

'I spent most of my time on base. Deborah was left alone at the house. Mom wasn't there. There was almost no one else for her to talk to, none who was her age. Except for Liam.

Austyn pursed his lips.

He didn't like revisiting this part of his past.

"Liam must have gotten close to her while I was away. I didn't know about it back then. One time, I got an early leave. Lcame home without calling ahead, wanting to surprise Deborah. That was when I caught her with Liam' Kira winced.

That must not be a pleasant memory.

"They were in bed together. One look told me everything I needed to know."

Austyn's voice had gone cold.

He recalled what he saw and what he said.

It surprised him to realise th

that he didn't fly into a rage a

a rage at the sight of Deborah in bed with Liam.

He had been exceptionally calm.

He didn't shout, didn't throw stuff.

Just asked Deborah, who shrieked, to put on her clothes and come out.

He was clear-headed.

Kira forgot about her popcorn. 'And then?"

*And then, Liam told me he seduced Deborah on purpose. Said he'd been planning this for a long time. He tore off his mask and showed his true colours. He said to me, right in front of Deborah, that he never loved her. He was only using her to hurt me. He had a smug smile on his face

Austyn's voice was glacial. 'He asked me how it felt to be a cuckold."

Not Every Man Deserves To Be A Dad

Kira was indignant.

She clenched her fist. 'What a jerk!'

"That's it? That's the best you got for what he did?"

Kira searched her vocabulary. 'Bastard?'

"You don't know how to cuss, do you?"

"Uh, a-hole? SOB?"

"Forget it."

Austyn smiled and patted her hand.

It wasn't a pleasant memory, but her reaction amused him.

'Liam came to live with us when he was ten. You weren't wrong when you called him a bastard, you know, in the literal sense of the word. He hated that, hated the fact that he was born out of wedlock, that he couldn't call the man Dad. I guess he blamed it on me. He would pick a fight with me every chance he got. Whatever I had, he wanted as well.!

'That's so Kira groped for the right word.

Selfish?

Mean?

Spiteful?

Kira wasn't sure

All she knew was, Liam's

Liam's anger seemed misdirected.

Austyn was just a boy back then.

It was their father who made Liam a bastard child, not Austyn.

"I was older than him, Austyn said. 'His little games didn't work on me. He hated me, and I have to say the feeling was mutual. I just kept my distance and ignored him. But I never expected he would take it that far, I never expected he would drag Deborah into his despicable games.

Kira finally understood why Austyn got so mad when he saw her with Liam at the restaurant.

Liam Cane had a history.

What he did with Deborah was...disgusting.

Then Kira asked the one question that had been weighing on her mind. 'How did.... how did she die?

Austyn had been so frank with her, she hoped the question wouldn't infuriate him, like it used to. But she was w

was wrong.

Austyn's face changed almost instantly when he heard it..

His lips were pressed into a thin line

His hand squeezed hers so hard that she almost yelped in pain.

"Forget I asked,' Kira said quickly.

Austyn's body was stiff.

It took him a long while to relax.

The hero of the action movie had just escaped from the villain's trap

meet up with his girlfriend.

trap and was now having coffee with his fiancée, before driving off to

Kira could hear Austyn's heavy breathing between lulls of th

I the conversation onscreen.

'It's not that I don't want to tell you,' he said finally. 'It's just so...sordid. I don't want you to be disgusted.'

very Man Dipenes To Be A Did

Kira's curiosity was piqued. 'It's okay. I can take it. I want to know!

She wanted to know everything about his past, the good, the bad, the ugly.

y set it

it up."

"Deborah's death wasn't an accident. Liam and my father...They

Austyn couldn't bring himself to use the word 'Dad.'

It repulsed him to think he had that man for a father.

"What?"

Kira thought she'd heard wrong

Deborah's death wasn't due to some kind of accident or illness?

Was she murdered? By Austyn's family?

Austyn mentioned Liam,

He said Liam didn't love Deborah

Even so, how could Liam kill someone he once shared a bed with?

Austyn also mentioned his father.

Kira shuddered.

What the hell was going on?

Austyn was glad they were in a movie theatre right now.

It was dark; she couldn't see the look on

his face.

So she couldn't see the venom in his eyes when he thought back to what happened.

'Not every man who has a child deserves to be called a father.

Kira realised with a start that she'd never met Austyn's dad, the man who was supposed to be her father-in-law.

She had not asked about this in the past, because it was a contract marriage and she just had to perform her role as Mrs McCarthy Austyn had never brought up his dad, not even once.

She got the sense that the father son relationship might be strained, but she had no idea that it was this bad.

Austyn talked about his father in the same tone he reserved for his worst enemies.

"Was there, uh, some misunderstanding?

That was all Kire could think of.

She could never imagine hating her own father the way Austyn hated his.

Helen was a bad mother, but Leland had been the perfect father.

"There's no misunderstanding," Austyn said.

'After Deborah. Did you talk to your father?

Kira tried to make sense of what he was saying

How did Austyn's dad cause Deborah's death?

How was 1 iam involved?

And why?

"Kira, my family is not a normal one Dysfunctional wouldn't even began to describe what it is. No amount of talking is going to change how I feel about that man." Kira noticed Austyn had never called his father D

'Dad,"

She was about to say something else, but her voice was drowned out by

Austyn seemed to have lost interest in talking

They watched the rest of the mover in silence.

explosion onscreen.

To Be A Dist

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