“Mum.”
She chuckles.
“Of course, we knew. Why do you think we set up the Frazer Foundation? It was the only way we could help her. That woman is proud and always has been. She would not accept our help any other way.”
“But.”
“She made a mistake.” Mum’s tone takes on a serious tone. “But your father and I would not let her ruin her future.”
“Do you know about?—”
“Shhh,” she hisses down the phone, giving me all the information I need.
“She didn’t abandon you, but you two remaining together would have been a disaster.”
Mum always was far too perceptive, and she loved Pen. Although she tried her best with Darra, Darra never wanted that kind of relationship and kept my mother, father, and siblings at arm’s length.
“I heard there’s been trouble.”
“It’s under control.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“I love you, Elijah. We all do. You don’t need to shut us out.”
There’s nothing I can say. I’ve spent years trying to protect them from my mistakes, but I know I hurt them.
“Night,” I say
“Goodnight, my darling.”
The line goes dead. My mother is a dark horse. She’s like an onion. You peel aside one layer only to uncover another layer.
I lie back down.
Pen didn’t abandon me. She had no choice.
Fuck.
All these years, I blamed her for leaving me, abandoning our company. Distanced myself from my own family as they wouldn’t let her go. They said she deserved better.
Damn you, Pen, why weren’t you just honest with me?
But in my heart, I know why.
That single tear, all those years ago, when she found me hiding in the bathroom at my wedding. When she held me while I quietly fell apart before telling me to suck it up and get back out there.
I fucked up.
Tomorrow, I will put her back on Kris’s plane and send her home.
I’m not going to fuck up her life again.
CHAPTER 32
PEN
