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“None of your business.”
“Hey, I know! You can come stay with me. My little sister doesn’t need to stay in some crappy motel.”
Let me guess. He just wanted the locket.
“I don’t have the locket anymore, Tony,” I said patiently. Technically, that wasn’t a lie. I didn’t have it on my person. It was in the safe upstairs.
“What?!” he screeched. “Did you sell it? How could you?”
Of course Tony would assume I’d sold it. That was what he would do.
“Mom left it to me. It wasn’t yours to promise to anyone.”
“Didn’t you hear me, Eva? This wizard guy is going to kill me if I don’t give the locket to him. And he’s going to come after you, too. Who did you give it to? Maybe we can buy it back.”
“Sorry, I’m not interested. Why would I want a locket that has brought me nothing but trouble? I’ve had a stranger force his way into my house in the middle of the night. Been accused of stealing a dragon’s treasure. Attacked by ghouls at work. My house was set on fire, and now I’m being investigated for arson—”
“You’re such a dumb bitch.”
Ahh, so we were onto insults now. Nice.
“Whoever you gave it to, sis, just get it back. Bring me the locket, and I’ll forgive you.”
Forgive me? He couldn’t be serious. Why was I even continuing this call anyway? It was a waste of my time. Time to put my foot down.
“You got yourself into this mess, Tony. You can get yourself out. Mom and Dad had the right idea when they disowned you and suggested I sever all contact. I was stupid to have not taken their advice years ago, but hey, better late than never. I’m done with you. Forever. Goodbye.”
I slammed my phone down on the table a little harder than I needed to, got up, and stomped over to the living room to punch one of the couch cushions. “That stupid little twit! I should’ve gone no-contact when my parents did. Argh!” I gave the cushion another wallop for good measure.
Then I was sobbing, the stupid tears trickling down my face to my chin. Why was I even crying? I didn’t care. Tony didn’t deserve my tears. He’d never thought of me, or anyone else for that matter, as anything more than a means to an end.
Maybe it was because I knew that this really was the last time, that I was well and truly done with his shenanigans. And that if this wizard wanted to feed him to his crocodiles, then so be it.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, smearing the mascara I’d put on this morning. So much for looking cute for Mateo. Worse, he’d come over to wrap his arms around me, and now I’d gotten makeup and tears all over his fur.
“I’m sorry.” I rubbed at the black smudge but only managed to spread it around more.
“That’s okay. You can groom it off me later.” He bent and kissed me on the forehead, then wiped away the tears that still lingered on my cheeks.
“Thanks. Sorry for the meltdown. Tony just got me so riled up I couldn’t think straight. You’d think after all these years of him fucking over everyone he knew, I’d be used to his shit, and it wouldn’t hurt anymore. But no; it still feels like crap to know the only family I have left doesn’t care about me at all.”
I’d never understood why some women stayed with men who were assholes and users, but now that I thought about it, I’d let Tony fuck up my life just because he was blood, and that wasn’t really much different. Well, no more. I deserved better.
“Do me a favor, Mateo?”
“Name it.”
“Never let me talk to that ass again.” I flopped down on the couch, suddenly extremely tired.
“Done.” He sat down next to me and pulled me in close. “With backstabbing family like that, I think for the first time I prefer being an orphan.”
I looked up at Mateo and blinked in surprise. “You don’t have any family? None at all?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s the only life I’ve ever known. All I know about my mother is that she had me very young and left me in front of a fire hall with a note begging them to help her ‘get rid of the devil spawn’.”
