AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” I say, placing my hands on the table she’s attached to. “It is where you belong. I’m tired of bailing your grown ass out of situations you shouldn’t have been in the first place.”
She blinks several times, turning a beautiful shade of red. “Kieran Knight, you drop these charges against me and pay for those earrings, or I’ll… I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Move away? With what money? And with what freedom? After this, Gloria, I’m going to walk out of this room and forget your existence.”
“You’ll never see Cami again,” she hisses in a rage, pulling at her handcuffs again.
“I think you have that backward. As we speak, Asher and I are gaining custody of Cami. So, it’s you who will never see your kids again.”
“You can’t fucking do this, Kieran!” she cries out, slamming her fists into the table. “I’m your mother!”
“My mother? Were you my mother when you brought strange men to our apartment and kicked me out without shoes on? Were you my mother when you got married and let some man put his hands on me? Leaving bruises and broken ribs? Were you my mother when you fucking offered Asher money to leave the love of my fucking life behind? Which instance were you my goddamn mother?” I heave every word, spitting my rage at the woman throwing a fucking temper tantrum in front of me. My lip curls back when she throws her head back, manically laughing in my face.
“Oh, please.” She levels me with a thunderous look, losing all the theatrics from before. “If I hadn’t done all those things, then you wouldn’t be here. Life is fucking hard, Kieran, and it’s even harder when someone leaves you with an ungrateful brat. I did you so many favors in life, including not informing you of River and the bastard child.”
Don’t hit your fucking mother. Don’t fucking throw her into the river down the way and go to jail for murder.
“Bastard child?” I ask with a calm I don’t feel. It’s nothing but storms and fucking violence brewing inside me.
Gloria scoffs. “It wasn’t yours anyway. She was fucking around with that damn Van Drake boy. Probably for the better. He seemed happy to help her raise the baby.” My fucking blood boils to a dangerous rate at the sound of his name.
“So, that’s why you did it then when you offered Ash the money? And forged restraining orders. So, River couldn’t ruin the gravy train of money coming your way?”
“Those restraining orders were nothing. Judge Drake and I concocted that plan, and then he sent Van away so she couldn’t poison anyone else with her lies. I also let Asher know about the videos Van had stashed on his phone,” she says, rolling her eyes again. “It was easy to put the pieces together and rid you all of the vermin she was. Nothing but a slutty Central girl looking for an easy paycheck.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” I say with a little chuckle. “Is that the whole reason behind it? Because you saw yourself in River and wanted to get her away from me?”
“She was only going to bring you down,” she howls. “I knew girls like her.”
“You mean girls like you? That’s what you did. You sunk your claws into the first man who reeked of money so you could move us to a mansion on the greener side of town. But nothing was greener about that fucking house. You can’t sit here and tell me that you enjoyed his fists?”
Her face hardens at the talk of the abuse she endured under Nigel’s roof. “It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s in jail.”
“Again, because of you. I’m curious. Did you think all his wealth was going to come to you once they slammed the prison door shut? I bet you never imagined they’d freeze every asset and sell it, did you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to go like that,” she says through clenched teeth. “All that was supposed to be mine. I…” She rolls her lips together.
“Do tell, Gloria,” I say, spreading my arms wide. “There’s no one here but me.” And the cameras in the corner of the room. It seems my mother has a lot to confess to now that she’s caught.
Her back stiffens, and her chest puffs out. “His partner and I had it all planned out. So, we called the feds and set it up so it looked like Nigel was the one skimming money. Once Nigel was out of the picture, we were going to take over and elope. It was all supposed to be mine, but he fucking…he fucking took off too, with the rest of the money. He left me.” She sniffles again, heaving an angry breath.
“So, you both set Nigel up to go to prison and then, he fucking left you, too? That’s hysterical.” I can’t help but fucking laugh at Gloria and the shitty life decisions she’s made. Now, she’ll go to prison for theft and more fraud.
“There’s nothing funny about it! He took all the fucking money and left me homeless, hungry, and without a cent to my name! Kieran, he left me like everyone has always left me.”
Ah, there it is. Gloria has always looked for love in all the wrong places. Manipulating herself into other people’s pockets and circumstances. But the one thing she’s always been afraid of is getting left behind.
Seems like her nightmare is about to come true.
“That’s when I stepped in, huh? I offered you a cushy life here. All you had to do was sit back and let me take care of Cami. But you couldn’t do that, could you? You had to go and fucking ruin it by spending money that wasn’t yours. You stole my card. You stole my fucking money. And on top of all that, you stole my life with MY daughter.”
Gloria’s head snaps up, locking her gaze on me. “Your daughter?”
“If you had managed to do an ounce of research on the girl you were damning to a life without the boys and me, then you’d have found out that River West is Corbin West’s daughter. You know, West Records’ founder. Then, you’d have known that she received an inheritance. She’s also our band manager now. And the baby she had? That was mine. She’s four now. Well, five on Saturday.”
“What?” she hiccups, staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights.
“So, thanks for all your meddling,” I say sarcastically, tossing a hand in her direction. “But, I’m pressing charges now. You stole over fifty-K from my bank account, not to mention the additional twenty you tried to spend here. Don’t expect any visits from us while you rot in prison.” I stand straight up and waltz toward the door with a light feeling pulling my shoulders out of my ears. “Your lease is gone. Everything in your apartment is ours. You were afraid of people leaving you with nothing. Well, now you really have nothing. I won’t bail you out. No one will. Your desperate acts won’t work on anyone. Have a good life, Gloria. I hope you fucking rot.”
