Faking It With The Hockey Star

Enough

Harper’s POV

The living room was so quiet I could hear the steady thumping of my own heartbeat against my ribs. Justin’s grandmother sat poised in her armchair, her sharp, intelligent eyes locked onto Diane with an unyielding glare that made the room feel tight.

"Well?" she asked, her tone smooth and entirely devoid of heat. "Is there anything you’d like to tell everyone in this room?"

Diane frowned, shifting uncomfortably under the collective stare. She let out a short, hollow laugh that fluttered uselessly in the heavy air. "I’m sorry? I don’t understand why I’m being questioned like this. I know you’re Richard’s late wife’s mother, Margaret, but you can’t just walk into my house and interrogate me."

My house.

The words had barely left her lips before Justin pushed himself up from the sofa. The leather creaked beneath his weight, but the sound was instantly swallowed by the icy shift in his posture.

"So we’re calling this your house now?" Justin asked. His voice wasn’t raised, but it carried a cold, cutting edge that made every spine in the room straighten.

Diane blinked, startled by his sudden shift. "What?"

Justin took one slow, deliberate step forward, his jaw set hard. "This is my mother’s house. My mother’s company. My mother’s furniture. My mother’s memories. You just happen to be living here."

Richard closed his eyes for a second, rubbing a heavy, exhausted hand over his face. "Justin..."

"No." Justin cut his father off without even looking at him, his gaze pinned squarely on Diane. "I’m tired of everyone pretending. I’m tired of playing along with this polite little fantasy. This woman keeps calling everything here hers. It never was, and it never will be."

Richard let out a long sigh. "Son, please. You don’t have to speak to her like that."

Justin let out a dry, bitter laugh. "You want me to show respect to someone who spent years trying to erase my mother?"

The room fell into a suffocating silence once again. Even Diane looked caught off guard, her lips pressed into a thin line as she looked to Richard for support.

Before anyone else could interject, Ethan scoffed loudly from the velvet sofa. He stretched his arms along the leather cushion, smirking up at us. "So this is the guy you dumped me for. The guy with all the deep-seated family issues."

Every head in the room turned toward him. I stared at him in sheer disbelief. Seriously? Right now?

I slowly stood up beside Justin, my hands balled into tight fists as a warm wave of adrenaline washed over me. "Ethan."

He folded his arms across his chest, his arrogant posture unchanged. "What, Harper?"

"This isn’t your conversation," I said, keeping my voice surprisingly steady.

He laughed, a harsh sound. "No, I think it is. You left me for—"

"Shut up."

The words sliced through his sentence like a blade. The entire room froze. Ethan’s mouth stayed half-open, his eyes widening in pure shock. He wasn’t used to me speaking to him like that. For two years, I had been the quiet girlfriend who constantly shrank herself to keep the peace. I wasn’t doing that anymore.

"I’ve spent months listening to your lies," I said, taking a step toward him. "Your rumors. Your petty insults. I am done."

Ethan pushed himself up from the sofa, his jaw tightening. "So you’ve finally found a voice. Did Justin lend it to you?"

I shook my head slowly, looking at him with absolute clarity. "No, Ethan. You just mistook my kindness for weakness."

His smirk vanished completely.

"Do you want to know the real difference between you and Justin?" I asked. He opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him the floor. "You spent two full years telling me you loved me. And while you said those words, you lied to me. You cheated on me. You manipulated me, and you made me question my worth." I took a slow breath. "Justin never had to tell me he was a good man. He showed me. Every single day."

Silence held the room in an iron grip.

"You asked why I chose him," I said softly. "I didn’t. He chose me. And every day since then, he has made me feel loved. Something you never once managed to do."

Ethan’s face flushed a deep crimson. "So it’s because he’s rich."

I almost laughed at the sheer stupidity of it. "No. It’s because he’s kind. It’s because he respects me. It’s because he never made me feel small just so he could feel big." I shook my head softly. "I honestly feel sorry for you."

Before Ethan could answer, Vanessa shot to her feet near the fireplace. "Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that!"

I turned my gaze to her, unfazed. "I’ll respond to anyone who lies about me, Vanessa. You’ve been dragging my name for months. You don’t get to play the victim now."

Diane immediately stepped in. "You don’t speak to my daughter that way!"

"And yet you had no problem calling me a gold digger Mrs. Diane," I countered, facing her directly. "You had no problem humiliating my family at my mother’s house. You don’t get to lecture me about respect."

The room completely exploded into noise. Vanessa shouted at me, Ethan argued back, Richard pleaded with Justin, and Diane pointed fingers at everyone in sight.

"ENOUGH!"

Justin’s grandmother’s commanding voice echoed through the entire living room. Every single person fell dead silent.

She slowly stood up from her chair, smoothing her tailored jacket. Her sharp eyes swept across the room, stopping on each person one by one.

"I have listened to enough shouting," she said, her voice quiet, measured, and terrifyingly cold. "I have listened to enough lies." She looked directly at Diane, then Richard, then Ethan. She folded her hands calmly in front of her. "Now... can we finally discuss why I called everyone here today?"

The silence that followed felt far heavier than any shouting ever could.

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