CHAPTER 171: WHIRLWIND OF EMOTIONS (3)

Soundtrack available on YT, IG, & FB

SONG TITLE: Claim Me - Shiroi Nami (Claim Me Captain! I’m Addicted to You!)

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Georgia’s POV

"I-I think I need to sit..." I muttered, my legs suddenly unsteady.

Nick immediately moved, guiding me to the sofa with such care, you’d think I was a fragile porcelain doll. His hand lingered on my back even after I sat down, steadying me.

"Is it too much?" he asked softly, his voice filled with concern.

I shook my head quickly. "No, it’s not that. I’m just... confused." I looked at him, trying to catch my breath. "Explain it to me again, but this time, every detail."

He shifted, turning to face me fully, one arm draped lazily along the backrest of the sofa as if settling in for a story he had carried all his life. His eyes searched mine before he began, his tone calm yet heavy with history.

"My father met Violet at a company event. She was a manager in my grandfather’s company, and he was already a captain then. They had a one-night stand before he boarded a ship.

Then she told my grandfather she was pregnant and that the child was his.

Back then, ships did not have the communication systems they do now. My father only found out after he came home. And by then, my grandfather had already made the decision for him—he had to marry Violet.

It was all about saving face, keeping both families’ reputations intact. That’s how things were back then, conservative, strict, and suffocating."

I swallowed hard, trying to imagine it. The pieces of his past were fitting together like puzzle pieces, each one more complicated than the last.

Nick continued, his gaze drifting for a moment, as though recalling the faces of people from long ago. "But the truth is... my father had already met my mother after that one-night stand with Violet.

She was the chief cook on his ship. They fell in love. Real love and planned to get married even. Their relationship continued even after he married Violet. They found ways to be on the same boat just to be together."

My chest tightened. There was something bittersweet in the way he said it, like a story of star-crossed lovers who had tried to fight fate.

"But eventually," he sighed, leaning back as if the weight of it still lingered, "my mom had enough. She ended things with my dad... not knowing she was already pregnant with me."

I blinked, my breath catching in my throat.

Nick’s voice grew quieter, almost tender. "My father was devastated when she left. Violet comforted him in his grief, and that’s when Liam came into the picture."

I stared at Nick, my heart pounding as his words unraveled the kind of story no one would ever believe unless they lived through it. He wasn’t just telling me about his past; he was handing me pieces of himself he never showed anyone.

"My father didn’t know about me until years later," he began. "He and my mom crossed paths again at another company event. By then, she had already stopped working at sea and settled onshore with me. My dad had given up his captain’s career as well and joined my grandfather’s company—what you now know as the Knight Group of Companies."

I leaned closer, hanging on to every word. There was this pull inside me, like I was diving deeper into his world, and the more I discovered, the more I ached for him.

"When they saw each other again," Nick continued, his eyes softening, "they admitted the truth, they still loved each other. That’s when my mom had Vicky. But when my grandfather found out..."

He paused, his jaw tightening. "...back then, illegitimate children weren’t allowed to carry their father’s name. So they erased everything. My name was changed from Nicholas Carter to Nicholas Knight. My mom was forced out of our lives. And Vicky’s birth certificate? Registered under Violet’s name to cover it up."

I gasped softly, my chest tightening. "Nick..."

He gave me a faint smile, as if he’d expected my reaction. "That was not the worst of it. They took us away. I was five. Vicky was still a newborn. My mom was recovering in the hospital when my grandfather decided we belonged to the Knights. She fought, of course—filed a case the moment she was discharged. But my grandfather was ruthless."

His tone hardened, and for a moment, I felt the child he once was behind the man sitting in front of me, the little boy who had no choice but to grow up in the shadows of power.

"My mother lost her job. She was thrown out of her apartment. She had nothing. My father... he tried to ease her pain in the only way he could. He convinced our grandfather to offer a settlement so the case wouldn’t drag much further.

He offered her a house, lifetime financial support, and permission to see us on weekends, if we weren’t tied up with family events or school obligations. She had no choice but to accept, or she would’ve lost us completely."

I pressed my hand against my heart, the ache spreading. "That’s so... cruel."

Nick looked at me, his eyes unreadable but piercing straight through me. "To the world, Vicky and I were presented as Benjamin and Violet Knight’s children. My birthday was adjusted so I’d be a year older than Liam, even though we were born in the same year. And my mother?"

His lips curved in a bitter smile. "She was introduced as our nanny whenever we were seen in public. I hated every second of it."

His voice cracked ever so slightly on that last line, and before I even realized it, I reached for his hand. My fingers slipped through his, and he squeezed mine like it was the only anchor he had.

The room felt charged, my heart racing, not just from the weight of his past, but from the raw honesty between us. He wasn’t just letting me into his house. He was letting me into his scars, his secrets, the pieces of his life that made him the man I had fallen for.

And God, in that moment, I felt like I’d never wanted to protect someone more than I wanted to protect him.

We grew up in that twisted household, and if there was one person I despised the most, it was Violet. She always tried to slip into the role of our mother, to win over Vicky’s heart as if she could erase the woman who gave us life. But Vicky... my sweet, stubborn sister... she was far too smart to be fooled. She always knew where her loyalty belonged.

Liam, on the other hand, was kind to me from the very beginning. He was never close to Reagan either, which in a strange way made me feel less alone. Reagan and I, though? We were a different story.

The distance between us started the moment I lived in the mansion with Vicky, but it grew further because of a game. A simple game of hide and seek—"

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