Chapter 30: Disowned

NOAH

The plate slipped from my hands.

It didn’t break.

Just clattered against the counter, spinning once before settling with a hollow sound that seemed too loud in the sudden silence.

My voice came out shaking. Broken.

“No. You’re lying. Lila wouldn’t… ”

“Wouldn’t what?” Nick’s smile was vicious now. “Fuck your twin brother?”

He laughed… cold, cruel, satisfied.

“She did. Multiple times. Want me to describe how loud she moans when I’m pounding her? How she screams my name?”

My fists clenched so hard my nails bit into my palms.

“Stop.”

“Or maybe you want proof?”

Before I could process what was happening, Nick pulled out his phone.

His fingers moved across the screen.

The ringing filled the kitchen.

Loud. Piercing.

My heart stopped.

No.

No, he wouldn’t…

The call connected.

“Hey, baby! What’s up?”

Lila’s voice.

Bright. Cheerful. Intimate.

The same voice that used to say my name.

It felt like being punched in the chest.

All the air left my lungs.

Nick’s eyes locked onto mine, and his smile widened as he spoke into the phone.

“Hey, gorgeous. I miss you. When can I see you again?”

“Aw, I miss you too!” Lila giggled… actually giggled. “I’m actually swamped this week, but next weekend works for me?”

“Perfect.” Nick’s voice dropped lower, intimate, while his gaze never left my face. “Can’t wait to taste you again.”

“You’re so bad!” Another giggle. “Okay, I gotta go, but call me later?”

“Will do.”

He ended the call.

The silence that followed was deafening.

I was trembling.

My entire body shaking like I was standing in a blizzard.

My vision blurred at the edges.

Nick pocketed his phone, expression smug. Satisfied.

“Still think I’m lying?”

Something inside me snapped.

I didn’t think.

Didn’t hesitate.

My hand shot out and grabbed the nearest thing… a ceramic mug sitting on the counter.

And I swung.

The mug connected with Nick’s head with a sickening crack.

He staggered back, hand flying to his temple.

Blood.

Red streaking between his fingers.

“You fucking… ”

I didn’t let him finish.

I was on him in seconds, tackling him to the ground with all my weight.

We hit the kitchen floor hard.

The impact knocked the air from both our lungs.

But I didn’t stop.

My fists started flying.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”

My knuckles connected with his jaw.

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

Nick recovered fast, twisting beneath me, his fist slamming into my ribs.

Pain exploded through my side.

“GET OFF ME!”

He bucked, trying to throw me off.

We rolled across the kitchen floor, a tangle of limbs and rage.

My elbow hit a chair leg.

His shoulder slammed into a cabinet.

Something shattered… a dish, a glass, I didn’t know, didn’t care.

All I could see was red.

All I could feel was the betrayal burning through my veins like acid.

Two years.

Two fucking years with Lila.

And she’d been fucking my brother the whole time.

And he’d smiled about it.

Nick managed to get me in a headlock, his arm crushing against my throat.

I couldn’t breathe.

Panic spiked.

I bit down on his arm.

Hard.

Nick screamed and let go.

I twisted free and landed another punch to his face.

His head snapped back.

More blood.

“STOP! STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!”

My mother’s voice cut through the chaos, high and hysterical.

I felt her hands grabbing at my shirt, trying to pull me off.

I didn’t stop.

Couldn’t stop.

Nick got his arm free and punched me in the stomach.

The air left my lungs.

We rolled again.

Grunting.

Panting.

More things breaking around us.

“STOP IT! PLEASE!”

My mother was still pulling at me, her voice breaking.

But we didn’t stop.

Not until a voice boomed through the kitchen like thunder.

“ENOUGH!”

Everything froze.

My father stood in the doorway.

His face was red. Veins bulging in his neck. Eyes wild with rage.

Behind him, I could see the elderly relatives crowding in the hallway, horrified expressions on their faces.

Aunt Mirae had her hand over her mouth.

Mrs. Choi looked like she might faint.

I was still on the floor.

Nick was beside me, also on the floor, hand pressed to his bleeding head.

Both of us panting.

Both of us bloody.

My mother was standing between us, hands shaking, eyes wet with tears.

“He attacked Nick!” Her voice was shrill, hysterical. “He just attacked him for no reason!”

My father’s gaze locked onto me.

Cold. Furious.

“Get. Up.”

I staggered to my feet, legs shaking.

Nick did the same, still holding his head.

My father stepped into the kitchen, and the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.

“What the HELL is wrong with you?”

I opened my mouth…

“He… ”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

His voice cracked like a whip.

“You come into this house, you disrespect your brother, you cause a scene, and now you ASSAULT him?!”

“You don’t understand… ”

“I understand perfectly!”

He stepped closer, towering over me.

“You’re jealous. You’ve always been jealous of Nicholas. And now you’re lashing out because you can’t accept that he’s better than you!”

My voice rose, desperate now. “That’s not… ”

“You’re a disappointment, Noah.”

The words hit like a physical blow.

“You always have been. I’ve tried to be patient. I’ve tried to give you chances. But you throw them away every single time!”

My mother rushed to Nick’s side, pulling his hand away from his head to examine the wound.

“Baby, let me see. Oh god, you’re bleeding… ”

My father didn’t take his eyes off me.

“If you can’t control yourself, if you can’t act like an adult, then maybe you don’t belong in this family anymore.”

I went very still.

The words hung in the air.

Heavy.

Final.

“One more outburst like this, and you’re done. Do you understand me? You’ll be disowned.”

The word hit me like a sledgehammer.

Disowned.

For a moment, I just stood there.

Staring at my father.

At the man who’d spent my entire life making me feel like I wasn’t enough.

Who’d compared me to Nick at every turn.

Who’d never once looked at me with pride.

And something inside me broke.

Not the kind of break that could be fixed.

The kind that was final.

“I don’t care.”

My voice was quiet.

Barely above a whisper.

Silence.

My father’s eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”

I lifted my head.

Met his gaze.

“I said I don’t care.”

My mother gasped. “Noah… ”

But I wasn’t done.

The words were pouring out now, unstoppable.

“What’s the difference?!” My voice broke, angry tears burning at the corners of my eyes. “You’ve already disowned me in every way that matters! I’m invisible in this house! You don’t see me! You don’t hear me! You don’t give a SHIT about anything I do unless it’s to compare me to him!”

My father stepped forward, face darkening. “How dare you… ”

“SO GO AHEAD!”

I was screaming now.

Full-throated.

Years of pain and resentment pouring out in one explosive release.

“DISOWN ME! IT WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING! I’VE NEVER BEEN YOUR SON ANYWAY!”

My father’s hand moved so fast I didn’t see it coming.

The slap echoed through the kitchen like a gunshot.

My head snapped to the side.

Pain exploded across my cheek.

My eyes watered.

The room spun.

When I looked back at him, his face was cold.

Empty.

“You are not my son.”

The words were a knife through the chest.

Clean.

Precise.

Fatal.

I stood there, swaying slightly, cheek burning, throat tight.

My phone rang.

The sound was jarring.

Loud and shrill in the suffocating silence.

Everyone turned to look at me.

I fumbled for my phone with shaking hands, pulling it from my pocket.

The screen lit up.

Caller ID: EVIL JERK

Cassian.

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