“Nope, not in the least. Nothing Edwina can say to me will ever change my opinion of her. She’s dying. Too bad. We will all leave here eventually. It’s her time.”
“I know you think she wasn’t a good mother and-”
“It’s not what I think, Asia,” he interrupted. “It’s what I know. No decent human being would do the things she did to us. To Pop. To Carrie.”
“Okay, but-”
“No buts,” Lance interrupted again. “If we’re talking about Edwina, there are no buts. Not only is she not decent, but she’s also wicked, sadistic, perverted, brutal, heartless, sinful, and immoral. The woman is downright evil. If there were a way to expunge her blood from my body, I’d do it. I refuse to give her any of my time or my energy. I’m not going to let her use me in her bid to get into heaven. Do you know why?”
Asia shook her head.
“Because it’s my hope that when she dies, she burns in hell for all eternity.”
Asia stared at him. “You really despise her, don’t you?”
“No, that takes too much energy. I don’t think of her at all. What I do despise is her writing those letters to us, begging for forgiveness instead of just dying and getting it over with.”
Asia took another sip of her wine. “Will you be upset with your father or brothers if they decide to go see her?”
He stood and rubbed a hand down his face. “No. What they do is totally up to them. Everybody had their own relationship with Edwina. Mine just happened to be non-existent. She was too busy entertaining men behind my father’s back to care about me. So, why should I care about her?”
Lance knew he sounded callous, but he couldn’t help it. He and Asia had talked about his feelings for his mother before, and he had even agreed to seek counseling before they got married, in order to confront some of his issues. And he’d really thought he’d gotten a handle on them. So he resented the hell out of the fact that Edwina had sent him a letter that would stir them all up again.
Asia stood and came around the table, slipping off her shoes and wrapping her arms around him. “You’re pretty uptight right now. You know, we decided that when we have kids, we would be the best parents possible.”
“Yes, we did say that, didn’t we?” Did she think that was no longer possible, given that he refused to give his mother any of his time?
“And you’re a great dad. The best. So don’t even think that.”
He nodded. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d figured out what he’d been thinking. “I was just wondering, sweetheart, because you once said that I was a man who didn’t know how tocare for anyone.”
“Yes, but that was before we got married. You know, when you were trying to take me from Sean, and I thought it was nothing but a game to you.”
“It was never a game. And just to set the record straight, Sean never had you.”
Asia rolled her eyes. “You can be so conceited at times.”
“Yes,” he admitted without any remorse. “But you love me anyway.”
“Yes, I do. You’re a good man. You’ll figure out what the right thing to do is.” She paused. “But you haven’t said anything about your new brother.”
Lance shrugged. “What am I supposed to say? The thought that Edwina intentionally got pregnant just to scam some guy out of his money just shows how evil she is. I’d love to meet my brother one day, but it’s not likely. Because of the way things went down between Edwina and this Kingston guy, chances are the man never told his son about his birth mother. Hell, Kingston might have even made up a story about his son’s mother dying while giving birth or something. I would hate to think that the boy knows the real story, that his poor excuse of a mother sold him before he was even born.” He took a deep breath. “Let’s talk about something else, okay?”
Asia rose up on tiptoes, placed her mouth close to his, and whispered, “Why talk at all?”
CHAPTER 7
Carrie and Connor
“I can’t believe the nerve of that woman,” Carrie said as she paced back and forth around their bedroom. “Thinking that we’ll all crawl back, offering our forgiveness. And then admitting to selling her own son! How totally disgusting!”
Although Connor knew he should be as outraged as Carrie, he wasn’t. From his investigation, he had first-hand knowledge of what a vile woman Edwina Montgomery was and had vowed to make sure his wife would never have to deal with her again. And he’d meant it. He merely enjoyed lying here in bed with his hands up behind his head as she paced the floor, looking so damn sexy.
He remembered the first time he’d seen her, when she had shown up for their appointment. He had watched her through his office window and felt an immediate stirring in his gut. She had looked a lot younger than she was. Hell, she still did. And although it had been cold as hell outside, she had gotten out of her car wearing a short jean skirt, and a midriff shirt with the wordsBorn to Be Wildemblazoned across it. And he hadn’t missed seeing the gold ring that had dangled from her navel. She’d been wearing a leather jacket, for all the good it did. A rush of lust had surged through his body, making himwonder just how wild she could get. He got aroused again, just thinking of all the ways he’d since discovered. His Carrie could definitely be a savage in the bedroom, and he relished every minute of it.
Another thing he loved about her was her penchant for wearing cute shorty PJs—ones that he usually managed to get off her the minute her ass touched the mattress. Tonight, they were black with an orange Jack o’Lantern design. The midriff top matched the shorts and since she wasn’t wearing a bra, her breasts looked pretty damn awesome pressed against it. She had stopped breastfeeding when the twins turned six months old. How those twin globes could produce enough milk for his greedy sons was beyond him.
“Connor! Are you paying attention to me?”
