Married To My Billionaire Stepbrother-Chapter 380: Explaination From Aiden/Aaron

Justin and Natalie reached a certain villa to meet Aiden Shaw.

Just as they stepped out of the car, Natalie asked, "What should I address him as? You are Aiden, and he is Aiden as well. It’s so confusing."

"Call him Aaron Handrix," Justin replied.

"I’m not sure what to call you, as I’m used to calling you Justin, but now you’ve assumed your true identity," she said.

"You can call me whatever you feel like."

"My father and grandmother still call you Justin, so I guess I’ll keep it that way as well. Also, I like your name, Justin. Easy to say, and it gives a sense of ease," she added.

"Sure."

They stepped inside the home, where Eric welcomed them.

"Aiden is busy with the doctor for his physiotherapy," Eric informed. "It will be over soon."

Justin hummed. They walked inside the home. Justin made Natalie sit on the sofa while he went to the room where Aiden was having his physiotherapy.

Aiden was going through some exercises for his injured leg.

"How’s the progress?" Justin asked the doctor.

"Thanks to his strong build, he is able to recover faster," the doctor replied. "In a week or two, Mr. Aiden will be able to walk freely, but he still has to keep it in check for a while and not overdo it."

Justin hummed and looked through the reports, while Aiden paid him no attention—as if his presence wasn’t needed.

The doctor left after giving Aiden some instructions.

"What are you doing here?" Aiden asked.

"Natalie is here to meet you."

Aiden raised a brow. "Finally, you allowed her to meet me."

"We are a family, and there’s nothing wrong with her meeting her brother-in-law. After all, you are the only one who is my blood-related family."

Aiden said sarcastically, "If you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have known she’s my sister-in-law."

"It’s my duty to remind my brother in case he has some memory issues after the accident."

"Possessive bastard," Aiden scoffed. "I’ll be out once I freshen up. Now get lost."

Justin didn’t mind him cursing and left.

After a while, Aiden finally came to the drawing room. He could walk without any support.

Natalie watched a man in a pristine white shirt and black pants coming toward them. Her eyes widened in shock as she moved her gaze between Justin and Aiden. She couldn’t believe they looked so much alike. Even identical twins must have some differences to tell them apart, but these two were simply impossible to differentiate. Even the aura around them felt the same.

Damn! If these two are around, I might truly mistake him for Justin. I should be careful.

Aiden sat on the sofa as he said, "Congratulations on being the new CEO of the Harper Group, Natalie."

"Thank you, Aaron," Natalie replied.

He looked at Justin, quickly realizing it must have been him who told her to call him Aaron. This bastard!

Justin looked back at him as if to say the name ’Aiden’ had belonged to him from the start.

"How is your leg now?" Natalie asked.

Aaron turned his attention back to her and replied, "Almost recovered."

"That’s great," she replied, feeling hesitant inside to talk further. Though she had many questions in her mind, she couldn’t figure out how to start asking them.

Eric joined them as well.

Natalie hesitated a little and said, "I wanted to ask... how did you come up with messaging me as Little Star? Did my mother tell you about me back then?"

Aaron shook his head as he explained, "She didn’t. She never told me anything about her life before I met her—that she had a family or a daughter. I came to know about you because once, I happened to overhear a conversation between Eric and Mrs. Shaw. They were discussing how you were being mistreated in the Ford family. It was during the time you were accused of plagiarism and then of harming your sister before the piano competition."

"She knew about it all?" Natalie asked, looking at Eric, who answered, "She had all the updates about you."

"She didn’t want to help me out with it?" Natalie asked.

"Back then, I asked her to bring you to stay with us, or at least help you with things, but she denied it," Eric said. "But it’s not like she didn’t want you or didn’t care. She said her daughter needed to learn the harsh truths of life and face all the troubles on her own. If she couldn’t, she wouldn’t be able to handle what might come her way in the future. Being born as her daughter meant you had to face all these harsh things. She knew the Fords would torment you, but they wouldn’t ever kill you—so she left you there to toughen yourself. Sometimes, your own people can be better teachers of reality than outsiders."

"Wouldn’t kill me?" Natalie scoffed. "If not, they wouldn’t have sent me to Xyros. I almost died there, if not..."

Eric explained, "Caryn was surely angry when she found out you were being sent to Xyros instead of somewhere else to study. She immediately used her old contacts and reached out to the Castellos to protect you there. That’s how Vincent found you. Your mother made sure to protect you, even though she wasn’t around you in person.

"Later, instead of bringing you back, she decided to leave the choice to you—whether you wanted to stay with the Castellos or return home. If you had returned home, she was finally planning to bring you back to her, revealing she was alive. It was, as if, what happened to you back then finally broke her resolve of keeping you away and letting you face any danger. But then, you decided to stay with Castellos so she let you be."

Natalie stayed quiet, wondering whether she should blame her mother for letting her innocent childhood be destroyed like this—or thank her for the version of herself she had become, someone who feared nothing.

She liked her current stronger version better.

"Natalie, your mother’s life wasn’t easy either," Eric continued, sympathising with Caryn and her tragic life that no one could understand. "Though she was a princess, she was raised as an orphan in an orphanage, where she had face difficulties. She worked hard to make her life better without any support and while keeping her existence hidden from enemies.

"The woman she became—it came at the cost of many sacrifices. No one could ever comprehend her pain. She might come off as emotionless and cold, but she wasn’t always like this. This harsh world turned her into what she is. But believe me, she still cares about everyone and would do anything to protect them. Now that James is back in her life, everything seems to be getting back to the right place. I do hope she finds peace and lives her life the way she deserves to."

As Natalie thought about what Eric said, she realized her mother’s life was indeed difficult. Enemies had tried to kill her, and she was separated from her family when she was just a child. Even after staying away, there was no peace, as enemies found her again and tried to kill her. The worst thing she had to do was fake her own death. Despite being such a capable and amazing woman, all she could do was live in hiding.

Natalie sighed. "I can’t blame her for anything. Being born as her daughter must have already written those struggles into my destiny—but those are nothing compared to hers."

"I’m glad you understand," Eric said. "I’ve seen her worried and angry for your sake, then hiding it behind her cold front. She couldn’t even show her emotions. Not to forget, a strong woman like her was left to spend her life in a wheelchair after that accident she used to fake her death. That accident was caused by enemies, and they showed no mercy.

"She made sure you were safe and then managed to successfully escape but was heavily injured. It took a while for her to recover after my father rescued her. Just when she recovered her legs after many years, another illness struck her, and she was once again left in a wheelchair, waiting silently for death. She is truly pitiful."

Natalie nodded as she silently drank the juice to suppress the emotions rising inside her. "Those people will pay for what they did to her," Natalie said. "I won’t spare them—Howard and his son."

"I’m with you in whatever you do," Justin said.

"I’ve gathered important proof against their attacks—you can use it," Aaron added.

"When the time comes, I’ll ask for it," she assured him, and then looked at him. "If my mother never told you about me, how did you know the nickname she used to call me?"

"When I was grown up and handling her business and everything around her, since she used to be sick, I had access to all the information she got about you. Somehow, I sympathized with you from the day I knew about your existence. Maybe I was seeing my own pitiful self in you and wanted to reach out to help you," Aaron explained.

"Once, in her room, I happened to spot your childhood picture, and behind it was written Little Star. Eric told me it was your nickname. When you were sent to Xyros and I got to know what happened to you, I couldn’t help but want to reach out and comfort you. When I messaged you for the first time, I didn’t expect you to think I was Ivan Brown, but then I didn’t deny it—because you wouldn’t talk to a stranger. That’s how it continued..."