Page 19 of His Wicked Revenge

“There was no question about it, Leo. We were waiting for you,” Chloe chimes in. “But now, I must alter my dress because the wedding is in four months. I’ll be showing by then, and my dress will not fit.”

“Have you told Carter yet?” I ask.

“Yeah, he is thrilled to be a big brother!” Chloe beams. “He should be home from school soon. He is really excited to see you.”

I was worried about how Carter would take me being sent away. Chloe informed me that she told Carter I was so sad about Grandma going to Heaven that I needed some time away to become happy again. He was six then, meaning he thought it was the truth and didn’t question it.

But he is nine now. Does he still believe what his mother told him? If he knows the truth, will he still love me the same way he did three years ago?

Chloe never brought him to visit me, given the reason she told him I was gone. But I would write him letters throughout the years, which Chloe said he loved. I was still present in his life, just not physically.

Like clockwork, the front door swings open and slams shut. From where we are standing, we can hear the rustling of a backpack being peeled off his shoulders and tossed to the floor. Feet stomp down the hall, and we hear his voice.

“Mom! I got an A on my math test!” Carter barges into the kitchen, his eyes immediately finding Chloe’s.

“That is amazing, sweetie!” She outstretches her arms for a hug. “Looks like Myles struggling at the table with you paid off.”

Myles rolls his eyes, but I laugh. “A man who works with numbers for a living couldn’t figure out third-grade math?”

“Not with how they teach shit these days! It’s not the same as when we were kids.”

“You sound like a grumpy old man,” I tease, which earns me a smug expression paired with a middle finger.

Carter’s eyes fly open to find me standing behind him and Chloe. He shoves away from his mother and rushes for me. “Uncle Leo!”

My heart warms at his excitement. I bend down just in time for him to crash into me. His little arms wrapping around my neck and all those doubts about him not loving me as much as he did leave my body.

“Hey, bud! I missed you!”

“I missed you, too!” he says in my ear. “You were gone for so long. Does this mean you are happy again?”

My eyes fill with tears as I hold my nephew, looking at my sister, my best friend, and my father, who are watching the interaction.

“Yeah. I am happy again.”

CHAPTER 10

Leo

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been home, and it has been like nothing has changed. It’s like I wasn’t just in prison for the past three years. Everything feels right, except for the fact that my mother isn’t here anymore.

While I’ve been home, I haven’t been able to visit her grave. Able isn’t really the word I should use. I choose not to visit her because I feel too ashamed. I know I asked for her forgiveness before everything went down, but that doesn’t mean she gave it to me in Heaven.

For all I know, she is sitting up there wondering where she could have gone wrong in raising me. A son who made all the right decisions, doing a complete 180 and making the biggest life mistake.

Today, however, I am mustering up the courage to see her.

My dad gave me a job at the shop because I couldn’t secure a career as a psychiatrist again. I looked in the paper and online to see if any local businesses were hiring, but everyone turned me down when they saw my criminal record. I was ready to jump through all the hoops I needed to return to the working world.

It is just really upsetting—all the hard work I put in to make something of my life, only to have it stripped away from me because of one reckless decision.

And what's even worse is that no matter how hard I try, no one seems to want to hire me, even though the news outlets believe that Veronica manipulated me or brainwashed me into helping her escape.

They are painting me as a victim in everything that happened with her, but they are not willing to give me the second chance I desperately need right now.

They can think whatever they want; they can paint me as a victim, believe that she came up with this master plan to escape, and use me to help her get out, which I only did because I had so naively fallen for her tricks.

That might have been her plan, but I knew what I was doing.