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“Your dad spoiled you with his pampering-“
“My dad was a good man. The best father ever. But you, you’re nothing. You only cared about yourself. You never were and you never will be a mother to me.”
My mom and I stare each other down, our gazes never wavering. When she sees that I’m not moving she snarls and breaks my hold, slapping me across the cheek so hard I stagger backwards, hitting my head against the wall behind me. Tears prick in the corner of my eye and I brush them away angrily. We never did see eye to eye. Even while my father was alive for reasons I would never know and I don’t care about. After he passed, it got worse. So bad that we hardly spoke, and when we did it was always filled with arguments, accusations, shouting matches and fights that ended with me sobbing on the ground in tears. But not anymore.
“You will never be as good as your brother. Ever.”
I snort, shaking my head. “Yeah right. And you’ll never be as good a parent as my father.”
She looks stunned at my comment and I can tell that I hit a nerve. She definitely never expected me to talk back to her, but I don’t give her a chance to recover before continuing. “If things went sour between you and dad after I was born, I get it. But don’t blame it on me when you know the only reason you lost dad’s love was because you couldn’t stay faithful to him.”
With that, I turn around and walk through the door, closing it shut behind me, leaving my mother to stand there shocked for the rest of the night.
Chapter3
Liam
“It’s great to see you again, Liam. You look much better than the last time I saw you.” Dean, my very good friend from the Navy says, looking pleased.
It’s been over three years since I last saw him, after an injury to my knee forced me into an early separation from the Navy. The saddest time of my life so far, but I’m glad to say I’ve come leaps and bounds since then. It was difficult at first, no family, no friends, no job–nothing and no one to fall back on. It’s all in the past now. Everything’s finally looking up again and I guess it shows.
“The last time you saw me, I had my leg wrapped in a cast and I looked like shit.”
He smiles. “I always did tell you your penchant for self sabotage would be your undoing.”
I snort before responding. “You say a lot of things. Come on, have a seat.”
He keeps looking around and I can tell he’s quite surprised at how exquisite my place looks. The penthouse has its own private patio just beyond the glass walls that gives a near perfect view of the city below. The furniture is modern minimalist, black leather seats, white walls, chrome lighting fixtures—all done to perfection. A mini bar resides against the wall next to the fireplace and some of my most prized paintings adorn the walls. Perfection in every way.
“This place is lovely, Liam. How were you…” He pauses, seemingly unable to finish his sentence. He shakes himself out of it, “How did you afford such a place?”
A smile tugs at the corners of my lips as I take a seat across him, pouring us both a glass of wine. “What can I say? I got lucky?”
He cocks a brow. “You call all of this luck?” He gestures to the lavish penthouse we are sitting in. I shrug noncommittally as I sip my drink. “Of course.”
“You’re not serious.”
I laugh, taking another sip. “Yes, I am. Two years ago, one of my paintings got auctioned at an art exhibition in Switzerland to some bigwig withexquisitetaste. He loved it and bought three more. Then he told his friends about me. I became a very rich man that month, and every month after that…and the rest is history.”
His expression shifts into something resembling surprise. “That’s incredible, Liam. Congratulations!”
I raise my glass. “Thank you. Here’s to more good fortune coming our way.”
“To good fortune!” He echoes enthusiastically before downing the contents of his glass.
Seeing him again now after a long while reminds me of how much I’ve missed his company. Eight years in the Navy, and I can say my biggest accomplishment was his friendship, and that’s without mincing words. He became the sibling I never had, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“Talking about the Navy.” He starts, wiping off his upper lip. “Heard from Beth of late?”
Beth is the only girl I’ve ever had any sort of emotional connection with. Sometimes I wondered why she chose a life in the Navy, when she could have been living the life as a model or something. She had killer looks and a body that most women could only dream of. It was all fun and games until I was medically discharged, and we sort of lost contact.
“Nah,” I reply, pushing away thoughts of her. “We stopped talking not too long after I left. I heard she’s married with kids now. But it doesn’t really matter anyway. Plus, you know me. I’m not like you.”
He chuckles. “What do you mean you’re not like me?”
I raise my hands in surrender, laughing along with him. “I’m not the faithful type and I don’t think I can ever be.”
Dean’s deep baritone laugh echoes off the walls. “True until you find the right person.”
