Page 14 of Flawed Revenge

What kind of mother would she be if she filled her child’s last days with anger and resentment?

Just as she was finishing up loading hers, Ariella’s, and Leo’s dishes into the dishwasher, she heard others enter the room. She dragged in a deep breath, dealing with a bunch of Leo’s friends was not what she wanted to be doing right now, but she wasn't going to let it show.

“Good morning,” she said with a polite smile as she turned around to find the five women standing there, but not the five other men who had held guns on her the day before. Thankfully. Those men still scared the life out of her, but they seemed to be making an effort to keep their distance, and when they were around, they were exceptionally sweet with her daughter. Like they had forgotten yesterday even happened.

She hadn't, though.

Wasn't sure she could.

Kate had no idea who these people really were, but she knew she feared them, so she had no interest in finding out.

Get Leo tested, give her daughter the bone marrow transplant she desperately needed, or let Ariella die in peace with her parents at her side, and then leave and find a way to rebuild her life with her heart buried in the ground. That was her plan, and she was sticking to it.

“There’s plenty of food,” she said, indicating to the still mostly full countertops.

“Looks like Lion cooked up a storm,” Rose Gardner said. The pretty redhead moved with a confidence Kate could only wish she possessed.

“Where’s Ariella?” Cassandra Charleston asked. Since the brunette seemed like a genuinely sweet and kind person, Kate decided that she actually did care about her daughter rather than just making polite conversation.

“Leo wanted to take her out to his special spot,” she replied. It made her anxious not having Ariella within her line of sight, but with how Leo had been acting since she showed up there and how invested he already seemed in bonding with their daughter, she knew she’d made the right decision.

“He’s really excited to meet her,” Indigo Yates piped up, and Kate nodded her agreement.

It wasn't what she’d been expecting, not anger, not indifference. It made her wonder what had changed for him in the last ten years that the child he hadn't wanted to exist was now important to him. Not enough to ask, though. There was no way she was seriously interested in a list of excuses or a sob story. Nothing could change the cruel way he’d demanded she terminate her pregnancy, then disappeared from her life, never to be heard from again.

“Have you two had a chance to talk yet?” Whitney Daley asked.

“Nope, and we don’t have anything to discuss beyond Ariella anyway,” she said, polite but firm. Just because she didn't understand why he lived in a remote Gothic mansion with five other guys and their girlfriends didn't mean it was any of her business. They had separate lives, had for a decade now, the only thing connecting them was a dying child.

If Leo were a match and the bone marrow transplant saved Ariella’s life, she would be forever grateful, but she wasn't interested in rekindling any sort of relationship. They’d find a way for him to continue to be part of their daughter’s life, and that was it.

“Maybe you should talk to him, let him explain,” Rose said gently.

It was annoying that these people seemed to know why Leo had dumped her when she didn't. More so that they were taking his side when she was the injured party, but in the end, it didn't matter.

Keeping her polite smile firmly in place, she kept her tone calm, even though the anger inside her continued to bubble more furiously. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but I'm not interested in any sort of explanation. I am here only for my daughter. I won't keep Leo out of her life so long as he doesn’t hurt her, but beyond that, I don’t care to have anything to do with him. I hope you can understand and respect my wishes.”

As she brushed past the group, four pairs of eyes clearly expressed that they wanted to argue, to pressure her into doing what they wanted. Only one showed true understanding. The gray eyes of Maya Newell, the quietest of the group, who seemed to hang back, wanting to hide in the shadows.

At least someone seemed to get that some wounds ran too deep to ever heal. All you could do was manage them the best way you knew how, and that’s what she’d been doing for a decade now. What she would continue doing going forward.

Chapter

Five

March 14th

11:48 A.M.

“And I really want a bunny. Well, I wouldn't mind a kitten, or a puppy, but my mom said a dog is a lot of work. I told her I'm nine now, and soon I’ll be ten, so I can help out a lot. I can do everything. Even walk it if we got a small dog so it’s not too big and strong,” Ariella rambled as they sat on a rock in the middle of a tiny clearing, not more than about five feet across, but perfectly round. There was something magical about the place, and from the moment Lion had discovered it, he’d been reminded of his girl.

Now he had two girls.

Kate, sitting back at the mansion, hating him, and Ariella perched by his side, looking at him with adoration he certainly didn't deserve.

“Sometimes Mom still acts like I'm a baby,” Ariella complained, although there was no real heat behind it. It was more than clear that she adored her mother.

“I think moms always worry about their kids,” he told her, not wanting to mention the fact that Kate probably worried a whole lot more about her child than most moms, given that her daughter was quite literally dying.