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“I wanted to reach out and ask if you could relay a message or possibly encourage her to call me.”
What fucking planet is this woman living on? In what world would he even entertain the idea of trying to mend anything between Vada and her family?
“You want the ex-con to play middleman between you and your daughter?”
The line went completely silent. He glanced over at Gage and Dobbs, who were watching him.
“Look, if Vada wants to talk to you, she’ll call you.” He pulled the phone from his ear, prepared to hang up.
“Mr. Monroe?”
“Fuck,” he muttered and brought the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”
“I understand you have your opinion and thoughts of me, and none of them pose me in a positive light.”
That’s a fucking understatement. “Lady, you don’t want to know what I think of you.”
She sighed heavily. “I have an idea gathered from your tone. But I was hoping we could have an amicable conversation.”
“Oh yeah?” Hades tightened his hold on the phone. “Well, I was hoping you’d finally stand up and be a decent mother to your daughter. Stop putting her through all your bullshit to come to a wedding you knew you wouldn’t attend.”
Hades didn’t expect her to double down, but that’s exactly what she did.
“I understand how it must look from your perspective and—”
“Oh, it ain’t just mine.”
She cleared her throat. “For the sake of keeping this as harmonious as possible, I wanted to make Vada aware I will be attending the wedding.”
What the fuck was she talking about?
“You were uninvited.”
“I was. However, I’ll be joining my sister as her plus one.”
What the fuck? After a year of changing the date to accommodate this woman, now she’s decided since she’d been uninvited, she was gonna show up. Fuck, no. Hades would be shutting that down really quick. But her sudden change of heart piqued his curiosity.
“Why?”
The silence lasted a few seconds. “She is my daughter.”
Typical entitlement without any solid emotions. She was giving him exactly what he’d expected.
Hades scoffed. “No.”
He heard the gasp, a sharp intake of breath. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. No. She’s been your daughter for the last twenty-eight years, and that didn’t seem to mean much to you. So, I’ll ask again. Why?”
The line was silent, and he waited.
“Vada has a skewed perception of me. I think—”
Hades laughed without an ounce of humor, shaking his head, refusing to let her finish.
“Yeah, she does ’cause every time she told me about something that happened with you or any member of your family, she justified it. She excused your behavior. That’s fucking skewed. She can’t see you for who you really are. ’Cause she loves you. After all the shit you put her through, the absolute mindfucks, she still loves you.”
“And contrary” —her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat— “contrary to what you believe, I do love my daughter.”
