CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 14 HER ACTING SKILLS

Caden was in total awe of what he was hearing.

Mark walked closer to Brielle and grabbed her hand.

“Make sure your marriage happens as soon as possible, if not, I’ll find a rich man for you myself! Plenty of old men would pay good money for a pretty young thing like you.”

The cruelty of his words hung in the cold night air.

He turned and left, muttering curses under his breath but suddenly he froze when he caught sight of a shadow.

The man’s face transformed instantly from menacing to being frightened, his eyes darting between his stepdaughter to Caden like a cornered animal.

Brielle followed her father’s gaze and caught sight of Caden too.

The color drained from her face instantly, leaving her porcelain-pale in the dim light.

For once, the unflappable Brielle Ford looked genuinely terrified.

Her carefully constructed plans started falling apart in her very own eyes.

“Caden?”

Her voice was barely there.

She was finally it hard to speak.

Caden made no attempt to hide or pretend like he hadn’t seen anything.

He walked out and stood in front of the of of them.

“You could have just told me you wanted money? Who knows? If your story is touching enough, I might have helped you. But you went all out to pretending you loved me? What? You want me wrapped around your fingers?”

Those words hung in the air with devastating implications.

Brielle trembled, not knowing what to say.

As someone in the acting field, she had also learnt how to put on an act in real life. She could easily fool and manipulating people to do whatever she wanted.

But right now, she feared that none of her tricks could save her anymore.

Mark, however, pathetically tried to save the situation.

“Mr Steele...I...we...” He stammered.

He didn’t know how much Caden had heard but he wanted to maintain a good reputation in front of this young boy who was the son of a white powerful man.

“This whole scheme was Brielle’s idea. She kept promising to make me rich once she marries you and that kind of got to my head. But I swear, I meant no harm. I just want her to have a good and decent life.”

With that, he turned and fled.

His footsteps echoing down the alley, abandoning Brielle to face the consequences alone.

Caden just shook his head in disgust.

He turned to face Brielle again.

“So you never cared about Tisch? You never cared about acting?”

Each word felt like it was being dragged from somewhere deep inside him, heavy with the weight of his own hypocrisy.

Who was he to actually judge her deception when he had equally deceived someone else?

Brielle finally regained her composure.

She straightened her shoulders, ready to put on an act but there was vulnerability in her eyes.

“No.”She admitted. “I lied to you about a lot of things but one thing was real, my love for you.”

Caden scoffed.”You mean your love for my money?”

“You’re probably thinking the worse of me but I had no choice.” Her voice. “You saw how he was just now. My mom and that man are on my neck daily. Didn’t you hear him? He wants to sell me off to the highest bidder. I told him I was after your money so he’d think you were a better choice. I needed to secure a future with you!”

For the first time, Caden saw that Brielle wasn’t the elegant and soft girl he thought she was. She was someone shaped by cruelty and necessity.

“I love you, Caden. I really do. I never meant to take anything from you, your property or your wealth. I just felt marrying you was the only way I could escape my mom and that man. You certainly don’t want them to hurt me, right? I love you, Caden. I’m sorry for lying to you but I need you to forgive me. I need you to save me.”

There was genuine fear in her eyes.

The fear of someone who has played their last card and lost.

But Caden barely seemed to register her words.

He was lost in his own thoughts.

So this was what it felt like to be lied to?

To be deceived?

He finally could understand half the depth of Alora’s pain.

He couldn’t fully understand her pain because Alora felt genuine love for him.

While he just thought he loved Brielle, yet, her betrayal still hurt.

Now, he could only imagine how hurt Alora must have felt.

“Say something, Caden.”Brielle let out, desperately.

“I’m just wondering how hurt Alora must have felt for what I did to her. I’m such a horrible person.”

The last hint of color drained from Brielle’s face.

Her lips parting in shock.

She didn’t expect that at this moment, he was thinking about Alora.

At that moment, she knew she had lost him for good.

Caden finally brought himself to look at Brielle again.

There was no anger in his eyes, only a profound sadness and something else, a clarity that hadn’t been there before.

“Brielle, I can’t even bring myself to be mad at you.”

He wasn’t mad because he believed this was his karma.

He deserved this for hurting Alora.

He deserved this for playing with her feelings.

Brielle smiled, bitterly.

“You don’t love me anymore, right?” She asked with her heart in her throat.

Caden stared at her.

Did he ever loved her?

Love was what he had with Brielle.

It was lust and an insensitive obsession.

“I had guessed that you had fallen out of love with me a long time ago. You had one month to ruin Alora but you wooed her for two months and dated her for six months, I had been on edge ever since, waiting for you to break up with her but you kept wasting time.”

“The truth was, even if I wasn’t that interested in the Tisch position, Alora had always been a strong competitor at acting classes, at other competitions, she always won and that made me hate her because I wanted to win. Since she was this nerd who was always interested in her books and acting, most boys stayed away from her. I thought they found her unattractive and I thought it’d be a piece of cake for you to ruin her for me. It was supposed to be one month but I never thought I’d end up watching you lose yourself to her.”

Brielle lowered her head, bitterness coursing through her.

Every moment of her relationship with Caden had been meticulously planned, she always made him spend money on her, extravagantly and he was always willing to.

She always made sure she pleased him very well in bed. She always made sure to look perfect for him, like a doll.

Maybe when she saw Alora and Caden together, she had seen that they looked like themselves. They didn’t need to pretend or act a certain way.

Maybe it was because Alora was her true authentic self that Caden had fallen for her.

“I get it now. I understand. You’ll never trust me again so it’s not use trying to make you love me. I’ll find someone better suited for me. Goodbye, Caden.”

Brielle turned and walk away, crying all the way until she was out of sight.

She had thought he was her ticket to luxury. She had thought her search for a wealthy man was over.

Now she had to start her search all over again.

She wanted him to at least come after her. She slowed her footsteps a bit, waiting for him to approach her.

Even if he didn’t love her, he had to at least feel pity for her.

Wasn’t her acting effective anymore?