“That wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t want you to find out like that. She never should have come here and I’ve dealt with it.”
“Dealt with it? You slap her around too?”
Her long red nails tapped against the side of her teacup. I leaned back. She’s pissing me off now.
“Kristy has given everything to help get you back to me. She spent a long time there and I fear she lost her way a little. She’s changed quite a bit since she went over there. It’s taking her some time to readjust. Being around the man who tried to kill me wasn’t easy for her.”
“So who is her daddy? Some other asshole you managed to get your claws into.”
She laughed, I wasn’t expecting that, and I tensed up again. “You’re feisty. You remind me of me when I was your age.”
“I’m nothing like you.”
“We’re more alike than you think, Waverley. For one, we’re both smart. Smart enough to know when there are things being kept from us. And, it may be a little late to say it, but I apologise for Kristy. She wasn’t supposed to act the way she did, when she brought you here. And she wasn’t supposed to show up here and confront you. She’s strong willed. That is only because I raised her to be that way. I want my daughters to know they don’t need men to make them strong.”
“You had no hand in raising me.”
“And that is why I’m here, now. Why I did the things I did to get you back. I’ve missed you Waverley. I missed out on so much.”
I swallowed. There was something missing from this bullshit story. “What about Warren? He’s your son too.”
She set her cup on the coffee table, sniffing a little. Fucking hell, did she really think I was going to fall for this act?
“I’m afraid it’s too late for Warren. He’s never left your father, he’s been steadfast in his loyalty, he will never turn his back on him.”
“You think I will? Because what you’resuggestingis I turn my back on my twin brother too.”
“No, of course that isn’t what I’m saying. I know he’s your brother and you love him, but don’t you see, Waverley, he is one of them. He is a part of that MC, and you will never break him away from them. You already tried that and where did it get you?”
Shifting in the chair I tried not to let those words dredge up old memories. My brother choosing to join the MC and not come away to college with me. Not coming after me the night I walked away. I’d forgiven him, for all of it because I loved and missed him. It didn’t take away that it happened though, all the hurt and the years of loneliness. How did she know?
“What do you think is going to come from this? You kidnapped me. Whether you condoned it or not, your daughter killed my best friend.”
She turned her head, her eyes lowering to the ground. “I honestly do regret that and, when I say Kristy has been dealt with, I’ve done it in a way that I know will hurt her the most.”
Danica rose then, graceful as a swan, her hand fluttering near her pearls. It was such a damn cliché, I almost wanted to ask her if she was actually joking with me.
I didn’t understand what she wanted to gain from this, and I meant more than just taking me and the crap that she had caused. I meant the act, the way she was trying to ingratiate herself to me. It was so fake I almost wanted to stand up and applaud her for trying.
“And what’s that, did you take away her trust fund?” I joked. Danica paused and looked at me. The incredulous laugh that burst out of me only made her frown, or I thought she was frowning, her face was so full of Botox and fillers it was hard to tell that was what she was doing. “Oh my God, that is what you did? Took away her credit card to punish her for killing someone?”
“You and Kristy are very different.”
“Newsflash.”
She rolled her eyes. “She’s young and she has been spoiled her whole life and all she wanted to do was help me get my revenge. When she did what she did, I had to act.”
“That doesn’t explain any of the crap the Kingsmen have been pulling for the last few months,” I got to my feet too. I didn’t like feeling asthough she was looking down on me. She already thought she was above me. I towered over her, even in her heels. I had my dad’s height. “What about Declan? My…ex.”
I hesitated over what to call him. It still felt weird I’d not physically spoken to Declan about what happened between us. He was certainly no longer my boyfriend. Deep down inside I always knew that I would never be able to love him, not in the way he deserved. A certain blond haired asshole would always have that part of me. I shrugged off those thoughts because Danica was staring at me and she needed to answer for this.
“They almost killed him.”
“You might think I control the Kingsmen but they’re still members of a filthy, corrupted and vile motorcycle club. Do you know what they did to me, all those years ago?”
Danica was too busy being offended to hear the shuffling sound, but I sure did. In the hallway that led to the bedrooms, it had to be Mace. He was listening?
“They were my family, and they were going to sell me, to a Mexican drug cartel who would sell me on, make me into a sex slave.” She stopped pacing and looked at me. “But you already knew that,” she gave a sarcastic little laugh. “So he told you that part of it.”
