Chapter 156: Brittney’s Story - 2

"I ran with the wrong crowd and intentionally became the kind of daughter they already seemed convinced I was going to be. I broke the rules because I knew it embarrassed my father, and caused trouble knowing his wife hated it. Sometimes I did things for no other reason than knowing they wouldn’t approve."

Aria watched Brittney as she narrated the story. She could tell the girl wasn’t entirely in that bedroom anymore, and that some part of her had gone back to those years and was reliving those awful memories.

"Unfortunately for me, my father covered up every mess I made with his money and connections, so eventually, it started feeling like I was throwing a tantrum and he was cleaning up after me." Brittney grimaced. "Which, now that I think about it, was exactly what I was doing. At some point, he got tired of my bullshit and assigned security to me to ’restrain my frivolity,’ as he liked to put it. And that’s when I met him."

Aria’s interest immediately piqued. She had been waiting to find out who this mysterious idiot Trisha accused Brittney of sacrificing her family for, and something told her they had finally reached the juicy part.

"His name was Hycent, although everyone called him Hype. He was one of the two security guards assigned to me. Hype was fresh out of college and only took the job because the pay was ridiculously good—"

"Whoa..." Aria stopped her right there. "When you say fresh out of college, how old are we talking?"

Brittney pressed her lips together. "Five years older?" she answered with a wince, already anticipating the judgment.

"Brittney!"

Brittney defended herself immediately.

"I’d already clocked eighteen before anything got to the you-know what-I’m-talking-about stage."

"Ugh." Aria grimaced. "Don’t put that image in my head."

"Oh, right. I forgot you’re the Virgin Mary." Brittney’s amusement returned almost instantly. "But don’t worry. I’m sure Maverick will do justice to that."

That response brought back the very inappropriate memory of Maverick creeping into her bed the previous night, and Aria’s face immediately went beet red.

"Can we go back to the story?"

Brittney smirked, clearly enjoying how ridiculously easy it was to tease Aria.

"Nobody knew about us at first because we both knew my father would fire him if he found out, and Hype needed the job. So it was all secret touches, holding hands whenever nobody was looking, and making out in dark corners whenever we went somewhere together."

A small smile appeared on Brittney’s face at the memory. "And I have to tell you, there’s nothing quite as exciting as secretly dating someone you’re not supposed to be with. Every time we nearly got caught, my heart would be pounding for the next ten minutes. The secrecy, the risk, knowing one wrong move could expose everything... it was an adrenaline rush, and considering the kind of person I was back then, I fucking loved it."

"I have no doubt you did," Aria muttered.

"Eventually, my father found out, and to say he was furious would be an understatement. It wasn’t even the age difference that bothered him. It was Hype’s status. What would people think if they discovered that the only heir to the Thorne family was dating one of her bodyguards?"

Brittney’s smile disappeared again.

"So my father decided to use Hype to teach me a lesson. He fired him, then used his connections to make sure no reputable security company would hire him. He wanted me to understand exactly what he was capable of doing to anyone I dragged into my rebellion, and he was perfectly willing to destroy Hype’s life to make his point."

Brittney looked directly into Aria’s eyes as she said, "I hated him. I hated my father so fucking much. He didn’t stop with the security companies. He made sure Hype couldn’t get even the most ordinary job without someone suddenly deciding they didn’t need him anymore.

"He sabotaged him at every turn, and I don’t think my father ever realized that in trying to punish Hype, he was hurting me too. I was already hopelessly in love with him, and watching someone I loved become so helpless because of me broke something inside me. That’s when I came up with the suggestion." Brittney swallowed, and for the first time since she’d started telling the story, she seemed reluctant to continue.

The anticipation became almost unbearable, and Aria found herself asking carefully, "What did you do, Britt?"

"I suggested he rob my family."

"Oh, shit." The words fell out of Aria’s mouth before she could stop them.

"I wanted to hurt my father the same way he’d hurt me. Money was his weapon. He could ruin people’s lives because he had enough of it to make one phone call and close every door in their faces. So I started wondering what would happen if he didn’t have that power anymore."

Brittney looked down at the bag of chips in her lap. "I honestly didn’t care if it meant I became poor too. What the hell had all that money ever done for me anyway? It hadn’t made my mother love me more. It hadn’t stopped my father from choosing someone else over me. If anything, it was the reason he believed he could control everyone around him."

Aria could barely comprehend what she was hearing. How badly did a parent have to hurt their own child before that child stopped caring if she brought the entire family down with her? Then again, hadn’t Aria experienced a smaller taste of that hatred herself after discovering what her mother had done?

Perhaps the only difference was that she had Davina to think about. No matter how furious she became with Quinn, there would always be her little sister standing between her and any decision reckless enough to destroy them all.

"The plan was that once we got the money, we’d leave the country and start over somewhere outside the United Dorminia Federation entirely. Somewhere far enough away that my father couldn’t reach us with his money or his connections."

Brittney’s voice was almost a whisper. "I didn’t care where we went. As long as Hype was there and my father couldn’t find us, I thought we’d be fine."