Chapter 29

Shaw

       Even though Holden told me not to do anything to Roman, I was still very tempted to be the one to get revenge on him. I still didn't understand how he was getting away with kidnapping my husband and my daughter.

       There definitely had to be more to it than just his alibi.

       I was starting to be in a very bad mood because of it, as well as other factors, like the fact that I had a secret sister, and Viola was still trying to convince me to forgive Dad.

       Surprisingly, my half-sister Heidi was the complete opposite of Viola. She completely understood why I didn't want to forgive Dad and told me it should be my choice in the end, not Viola's or anyone else's.

       I was sitting outside of the cafe with a glass of lemonade, not wanting to be home for some reason. I was just extremely bored since Holden had a shift at work and Kendra took our kids into the city today.

       Someone suddenly sat down across from me and I looked over to see Heidi. Believe it or not, she was the only one in my family I actually wanted to talk to, despite only meeting a few days ago. She was on the same page as me in regards to our relationship towards Dad. 

       It helped that we were in the same boat. When Dad left me, Mom, and Viola, he actually went to Heidi and her mom. To Heidi, her father completely showed up out of the blue with no warning.

       Just like he was doing to me now.

       "You look gloomy," Heidi said. "Is everything okay?"

       I sighed. "Not really, no."

       "Need someone to rant to?" she asked. "I'll be glad to listen. Is it about Dad?"

       "Nope, it's not," I said. "It's about this man who has a vendetta against me and how he did something horrible and he's getting away with it."

       "What?" Heidi asked. "What did he do and how is he getting away with it?"

       "Well, not too long ago, I got married," I said.

       "Oh, congratulations," Heidi said.

       I smiled faintly at just the thought of me being married to Holden. I still couldn't believe it at times. He was completely crazy for wanting to marry someone like me.

       "Thank you," I said. "But we got married a day after we were supposed to because that man decided to kidnap my husband on our wedding day. And later on he also kidnapped my daughter. The only reason why they got out was because my husband's cousin found them."

       "And he's getting away with that?" Heidi asked. "That's ridiculous."

       "Yeah, I know," I said. "He apparently has an 'alibi', and the police is believing him over my daughter, my husband, and his cousin. And because he got away with it, he's probably already planning his next scheme to get revenge on me."

       "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you do that's making him want revenge on you?" Heidi asked.

       "It's very complicated," I said. "But long story short, he thinks I killed his sister." Heidi's eyes immediately widened. "I didn't. He only thinks I did because I was covering for the person who actually did."

       "Why cover for a murderer?" Heidi asked.

       "Like I said, it's complicated," I said. "It was self-defense. Kind of. She had a gun pointed at him, and she has attempted murder on his family members before. He's young and didn't know any better."

       "Oh," Heidi said. "Then what her brother is doing makes no sense, especially if it was kind of self-defense."

       "Exactly," I said.

       Viola walked up to the table and sat down. "Hey," she said. "So, what are you talking about?"

       "Oh, nothing," I said. "Just that my husband and daughter's kidnapper is getting away with what he did."

       "Roman didn't kidnap them, Shaw," Viola said. "He had an alibi."

       "Are you serious?" I asked. "You're believing him over your brother-in-law and niece? What's there to lie about for them? They know what happened and everyone's believing Roman over them."

       "Look, Roman's alibi was plausible," Viola said. "He had proof that he couldn't have done it. Maybe they mistook him for someone else. Or it was Holden's way of trying to get out of the wedding."

       I scoffed. "Okay, now you're making me a lot more angry. He wouldn't have married me the next day. And he definitely wouldn't have brought Mercy into the middle of it because he loves her."

       "Well, I'm sorry but I don't have any other explanation," Viola said. "Roman is innocent."

       "And you're stupid," I said, standing up from the table. "So you can join Dad on the list of people I don't want to be around."

       "Shaw..." Viola began, but I ignored her and looked over at Heidi.

       "Why don't you come over to my house for dinner one day?" I asked. "That way you can meet my husband and kids?"

       "Yeah, I'd love to," Heidi said. "Just name a day and time and I'll be there.

       "Great," I said. "I'll see you around." I looked at Viola. "And you, stay away from me."

       I walked away from the cafe, feeling in an even worse mood than I was a few minutes ago. I really wanted to escape all these feelings, but I knew I shouldn't do what I was craving to do. 

       I should really just head home, or even head to The Gold Mine so I could talk to Holden.

       I really tried to, but the craving completely took over and I started heading to Fusion. As soon as I got there, I sat at the counter and ordered a drink. The worst part was I didn't even feel a single piece of guilt inside of me when the alcoholic beverage was placed in front of me. I should have felt guilt, or anything, especially when I kept promising people I wasn't going to drink again.

       I felt nothing.

       And I didn't have just one drink.

       Holden's parents were right. I was only going to self-destruct in the end.

       I was starting to feel a bit tipsy, so I left Fusion and started heading to my house. Shortly after I left the nightclub, I almost bumped into Lawrence and Tara. "Shaw?" Lawrence asked. "What were you doing in the nightclub during the day?"

       "Nothing," I said, walking past them.

       "Were you drinking?" Lawrence asked.

       I stopped in my tracks and turned to face them. "What? No. How could you think that?"

       "Well, why else would you be in the nightclub?" Lawrence asked. "By yourself?"

       When I didn't reply, they got the answer they needed.

       "Are you serious, Shaw?" Tara asked. "You've been sober for over a year, and you started drinking again?! I knew this was going to happen and this is exactly why I didn't want you to marry Holden!"

       "Yeah, you are so lucky you are married to him because if you weren't, we wouldn't let you anywhere near him," Lawrence said.

       "Why does this always happen?" I asked. "I make one small mistake and you two turn on me?"

       "Because you know better than to drink," Lawrence said. "And here you are, leaving the nightclub after drink who knows how much alcohol."

       "I only had a bit," I said. "Not enough for you to be stressing over."

       "Of course we're going to be stressing over it," Tara said. "One glass can lead to another and another until you fall into the gutter and can't get out, especially when you have nobody there for you."

       "In other words, you're abandoning me yet again," I said. "What a shocker."

       "You promised us you weren't going to drink again, and here you are," Tara said. "You shouldn't be surprised. And for Holden's sake, I really hope he sees who you really are."

       "Well, sorry to break it to you, but I really don't think Holden is going to divorce me just because I'm drinking again," I said. "He'll probably help me out more than you two will."

       "Then he'll be making a massive mistake," Lawrence said. "Does he even know you're drinking again?"

       "Yeah, he does," I said. "And he knows I can't just suddenly get off of it."

       "I thought he was smarter than this," Lawrence said. "He's going to be throwing his life away. Just like you."

       "I'm not throwing my life away," I said.

       "Really?" Lawrence asked. "Because I'm telling you this now. If you keep this up, everything is going to fall down for you. Trust me. I know. I've seen it before with you and I'm going to see it again."

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smh lawrence and tara. and shaw. but shaw can't control it so smh lawrence and tara.

but here was an introduction of shaw's half-sister. i like her more than viola ahahahaha. heidi is a really sweet person <3

and here's a gif of holden because why not:

^^mood rn