Spoiled by Four Billionaires novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: The Table
The candle was still burning when we got back.
Our mother had not moved from the head of the table.
Alister, Linus and Bram sat where we'd left them, Dean's ring box pushed into the middle.
Bram had cleaned his knuckles and was pretending he hadn't.
"Where did you go?" Linus said, rising.
"Sit down," I said.
He sat.
Cullen stopped at the foot of the table, hands at his sides.
"I have something to tell the family," he said.
Alister frowned.
"If this is about the engagement," he said, "it's been a long week. Anything legal can wait."
"It isn't legal."
"Then what?"
Cullen looked at our mother.
It was the longest I had ever seen anyone take to breathe.
"The day Nessa was lost," he said, "I was holding her hand."
No one moved.
"I was nine. I let go."
The candle flame bent in a draft.
"Cullen," our mother said.
"I saw her run to the rail when you screamed. I heard you accuse the nanny. And I said nothing."
"You were a child," Alister said, flat.
"I was a child for the first night. I was a man the next morning, the next year, every year after. I sat at this table nineteen times. I never said it."
Linus pushed back his chair.
His big face had gone slack.
"You let Mom fire her," he said.
"Yes."
"You let her say the things she said."
"Yes."
"You let that woman take it for nineteen years."
"I did."
Alister stood.
For a moment he did nothing.
Then he walked the length of the table and hit Cullen in the face.
It was a short, clean punch.
Cullen's head snapped around, and his lip split, and he did not lift a hand.
He turned back and faced Alister again.
Keep reading free with an account. Start Spoiled by Four Billionaires from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend