Chapter 118: I used to be Derek Hamilton
Kayden
"And he told me Linda is your mother."
The words resounded in my head and before I knew it, I was dragging my chair back. The screech of wood against the deck was so loud it got Rhys’s attention immediately.
I stood up too fast, my head spinning so hard that I nearly fell, but Rhys appeared behind me in a second, his hands catching my arms to hold me steady.
"Kayden, calm down. Please," he urged as he pulled me into his arms. "This... this is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t know how you’d take it."
I stood there for a moment, my back pressed against his chest, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heart matching my own. I didn’t pull away. I didn’t yell. Instead, I let out a long, heavy sigh—the kind that felt like it was emptying my entire lungs.
He knows my mother is Linda and my father is in prison.
What else does he know?
I should have told him that night when he told me about his family, but I was too ashamed to let out my past because every moment of it was filled with pain.
"Rhys," I muttered as I slowly turned around to face him. I lifted my head and saw the fear in his eyes—the fear that I was going to walk away or blame him for his grandfather’s cruelty.
"I should have told you," I said softly, my voice shaking. "I knew one day the truth would come out. It had to." I rubbed my forehead, trying to soothe the dull ache forming there, and looked up toward the dark sky. The stars were still there, indifferent to the mess my life had become. "I had wanted to tell you all along, Rhys, but I was too afraid. I... I just didn’t know how to start the conversation without losing you. I didn’t know what you would think of me."
Rhys reached out, his hands trembling slightly as they settled on my waist. "Kayden, I could never think badly of you. None of that changes who you are to me." He looked at me with an intensity that made my heart ache. "If you don’t want to talk about it tonight, you don’t have to. We can just stop right here."
I shook my head, shifting to look him directly in the eyes. "No," I said firmly. "I’m going to tell you." I took a deep breath, the scent of the orchids filling my senses one more time. "We’re boyfriends now. We’re in this for real. Lying or keeping secrets wouldn’t get us anywhere but apart, and I’m not losing you because I was too cowardly to speak."
I turned away from the table and walked toward the edge of the yacht, the railing cool beneath my palms. I closed my eyes as the wind blew my hair, and when I opened them, Rhys was standing by my side.
"My father is in prison for first-degree murder," I started, the words falling like stones into the dark water below. "He’s in for life. His name is Kelvin Hamilton." I paused, the next part feeling like something I never wished to ever hear again. "And my real name is Derek Hamilton. It’s a name I haven’t heard, or used, in years."
I felt Rhys place his hand on mine on the railing, but I didn’t raise my head.
"Kelvin was a piece of shit," I spat, my voice cracking with anger. "He found pleasure in abusing me for years. He hated me... he blamed me for making my mother leave. He started on me when I was just a kid. A young, powerless omega."
I let out a shaky, jagged sigh. Thinking about those days always felt like being back in that house, trapped in the silence while dealing with the pain.
"Leo’s story was just like mine," I added, my grip tightening on the metal railing until my knuckles turned white. "But I won’t go into the details of his life. That isn’t my story to tell." I looked out at the horizon, the city lights blurring from afar. "We became friends at a playground one day. Two hungry kids sharing whatever scraps of food we could find. We were the same. The only difference was that Leo’s mother eventually came back. She fought for Leo’s rights, and Leo was finally free from his father."
I let out a bitter, hollow laugh that died in the wind.
"That wasn’t the case for me. No one came back. No one fought. I spent my childhood in pain, crying every night and hoping the world would change." I finally turned to face Rhys, my eyes brimming with tears that I could no longer hold back.
"I started cosplaying as an alpha just to feel like I belonged, but still, I couldn’t change my identity. I was an omega after all. Then I found hockey, and it led me back to Leo again. We met after a year of being apart, and I think Leo’s father found out about us staying in touch."
The memories started to flood back, making my voice tremble as the trauma of that night resurfaced.
"Leo’s father... he was a monster. He found us, and he attacked me. He was trying to kill me, Rhys. He had his hands on me, and I thought that was it." I wiped a stray tear and sniffled. "But my father fought back. He didn’t do it to be a hero; he did it because he was losing his punching bag. He ended up killing Leo’s father right in front of me."
I gripped the railing so hard my palms stung, and not even Rhys’s hand could calm the anger I was feeling.
"When Leo found out what was happening, he didn’t run away. He took me away from that house, but everything was already falling apart. My father was arrested for murder because he had killed Leo’s dad, but the truth was, he had almost killed me, too, if Leo hadn’t called the cops as quickly as he did."
I looked at Rhys, my vision blurred by the tears in my eyes and the wind. "He ended up being taken away in handcuffs, and that night, I became a different person. I couldn’t be that broken boy anymore. From Derek Hamilton, I became Kayden Vale. I buried Derek in that house and never looked back."