I scoffed, sorting through my pile of fake money to pay what I owed. Kiera snatched it out of my hand, smirking at me as she kissed the bills. I couldn’t help but chuckle. She hadn’t changed at all when it came to the game.
“Come on, Mom, we can still beat him,”Billie added, rolling the dice for her turn.
“Traitor. I thought we were friends,”I grumbled, poking my tongue out.
“There are no friends in monopoly.Justenemies.”
Kiera laughed heartily.“Who knew my daughter was such a savage when it comes to board games?”
“She gets it from you,”I said, taking the dice once Billie had moved her piece, the ship.
“What? I’m not a savage!”
I raised a brow.“Oh no? Don’t you remember the time when you robbed the bank and tried to convince James and methatyou forgot about the stash of money you’d been sitting on?”
“Mom, you robbed the bank?”Billie asked, grinning broadly.
“I did no such thing,”Kiera protested, feigning outrage.“Ihadforgotten about the stash. I was hiding it because you two always laughed at me whenever I ran out of money.”
“Sure, sure.”I rolled the dice, counting eleven spaces as I moved my car, but seeing Billie lean over to Kiera in my periphery.
“Will you teach me how to do it?”she whispered to her mom.
Kiera burst into hysterical laughter, and I froze mid-way moving the car to the final space, my gaze lifting to her. Her head was thrown back as the first real laugh I’d heard from her in years filled the room.
My chest constricted, and my lungs forgot how to work. I was helpless but to stare at Kiera, enchanted by the woman sitting opposite me. For a moment, she wasn’t the girl who’d broken my heart. She wasn’t the woman I wanted to destroy.
She was my everything.
When she lowered her head, tears of happiness shone in her eyes, and a genuine smile was plastered on her face. I couldn’t look away. She was so fucking beautiful, it hurt.
It hurtthatshe was wasting her life with an asshole who didn’t deserve her.
It hurt that she wasn’t mine.
It hurt knowing she’d given herself to someone else all those years ago and thrown away the life we could have had together.
Abruptly, I stood, the chair clattering to the floor. The smile fell from Kiera’s face, and Billie peered up at me with confusion twisted on her cute features. I scrubbed a hand down my face, willing my lungs to start working again so I could breathe.
“I…uh…I’m sorry. Ijustremembered…I, uh,”I stuttered, flailing around for an excuse.“I forgot I was meeting someone. I need to go.”
I didn’t give Kiera a chance to reply before I practically sprinted from the house. Reaching my car, I hit the gas, and for several hours, I drove around aimlessly, cursing myself for allowing Kiera to sink her claws into me once more.
Chapter 19
Kiera
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
I lost track of how long I’d been sitting in the living room with only the ticking of the Grandfather clock as background noise. I hadn’t bothered closing the curtains, so I knew the day was almost over, having watched the afternoon sun turn to dusk, before night came along.
At some point, I’d flicked the small lamp on, but I had no recollection of doing it.Justlike I had no recollection of getting the bottle of winethatwas now standing on the coffee table, tempting me to drink myself into oblivion.
MaybethenI would have been able to shut myself off from the unbearable painthathad settled in my chest following the phone call from James five days ago.
