Tyler grinned even as Jared rolled his eyes at him, "And now that's how to sow a seed of discord and make someone do your own will without even doing any work at all."
"By being a pathetic human?" Jared scoffed, "By taking advantage of the very trust she had in you? What was that little act you just pull right now like you were the victim while stating that you'd let her off the hook if she said the word like you were some Martyr?"
"That was me playing the same game that Xavier used on my sister. The emotional blackmailing cards, Jared. You are too slow on catching up with these things and it is upsetting," Tyler's eyes shone with sadistic pleasure and Jared physically recoiled as he took a step away from him.
"I don't even know you anymore."
"You should. You were there. You knew how crushed I'd been when I realized that Anne Gracie was not my birth mom and she had adopted me when I was dumped at the orphanage doorstep as an infant. You know how much I'd loved my sister," Jared looked away remembering the pain, the anguish in Tyler's eyes that day when the truth of him being adopted had hit him, "And then you were also there when I discovered I was the seed of another woman. A woman who had committed suicide after having me, I was an illegitimate child, whose mother was wronged and was abandoned but yet, I had been ecstatic that the golden boy in school was my half brother. I had harbored no grudge and had been enthusiastic to meet my half brother with Diane."
Tyler released a burst of long throaty laughter, "The scorn in his eyes he couldn't disguise as he looked at me like I was filth. But why should I blame him? I was the dirty secret of the Salvador. The mar in their picture-perfect oversold front."
Jared stood there, his face hardened knowing where this story was leading to not because he had been told but he had been right beside Tyler and had watched him try again and again to get to his siblings. To connect to anything that felt like home necessarily and then, again and again, Xavier had shoved him far away, with an irritated scowl.
"And then sweet little Diane had offered to help bridge the gap between me and Xavier, I did notice the infatuation for him, but who wasn't infatuated by him? He was the popular so mysterious troubled rich kid that had everything and yet everyone tripped over themselves, bent backward for. Even thinking he needed help. But that was just a guise, a trick!" Tyler made to sit down, but missed his seat, collapsing on the floor instead, grinning.
"And the more she thought she got closer to him, the more I stupidly grinned thinking I was the one inching closer to him somehow. Then the little grins, the texts that had made her blush, he had walked hand in hand with her and had made her swoon. She fell for him thinking he felt the same way for her. I too had thought he did," Tyler sniffed, "I was naive and was unaware that Xavier Salvador could love no one but himself."
"But he does love Maya." Jared cried out, hoping Tyler could see reason in his voice and let him be.
"So?" He snarled, "My sister had loved him and he had killed her. I just want him to feel the brunt of loving someone yet having that ache in your heart knowing they could never be yours," he grinned, "If their love is true as they professed, then the better. Xavier Salvador needs to suffer, to fall off his high horses and feel the heat of karma." He cleaned the tear that rolled down his cheek his gaze hardened, "I'd gotten close to his family over the years for this purpose, and do you know how disappointed I was to find out that the bastard had left home, not giving a fuck about them? And now I've found his sweet little fiancée you expect me to just let it be. Seems like the little bitch karma had forgotten him completely, but no worries. I Tyler Salvador would be his karma."
Jared had heard Tyler profess these words before but never had he thought that he earnestly meant them. At first, he too had been on par with the idea, completely blinded by rage and the aching loss. He had spent more time in Tyler's house than he did in his and could say that Diane had been a sister to him too but now, as he saw the determination in his eyes, he shivered knowing that this was no joke. He was going to go ahead with this.
"And after that?" Jared whispered, lowering himself on the ground so he was on face level with Tyler. "After making sure Xavier Salvador grovel and lose the love of his life, what is next for you? Does that give you back Diane? Does that make you his family? Give you the validation you have earnestly craved for all your life?" He stood up, "You are only vengeful about Diane's death because to you she was the only one true family you had, but she is gone bro, she is. But look around you and realize what you've now got. You have Melissa, your step-sister who loves you and you have Mrs. Salvador who welcomed you with wide arms into her family and you want to lose all this just to screw Xavier over?"
"I'd fantasized about this!" He raised his voice in-between clenched teeth, looking depraved and his sitting position on the floor only heightened the possibility by adding the imagery.
"I don't think you are mad at Xavier honestly and I don't think you hate him that much. Look around you, you had worked so hard to build this just to be like Xavier. Somehow you have always looked up to him even without wanting to. I was just a local kid that wanted to play games but this empire, this life that was your idea from the start," he tapped Tyler's shoulders, "Let this go, Tyler. Forget this. It isn't worth it."
His gaze hardened even as he quickly stood up and sat on his chair. "I want to be left alone, Jared."
Jared raised his brow in disbelief, "You know at first when this madness started, I was worried about Maya and how betrayed she would feel and the fact that I'm somehow caught in the crossfire of all this but now? I'm scared for you. You are holding fire in your hands and if you ain't careful it would consume you whole."
Tyler looked away and Jared shook his head even as he angrily left the office.