Page 34 of Midnight Salvation

I stood up and held my hand out to Mum. “I have a meeting in an hour and promised I’d drop Mum off on the way through.” There was no way that I was leaving Mum here when Dad was in bad temper. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow, Nicole.”

Without waiting for anything further, I walked Mum out of my childhood home.

“Your father will be angry,” she said when we got into the car.

“What’s new?”

“Are you going to go through with marrying that poor girl?” Mum asked as we pulled out of the elaborate gates at the edge of the estate.

“That’s what I agreed to,” I evaded. “Oliver agreed to Dad’s proposal and Aaron is considering his options.”

She sighed and stared out the window. “I wanted more for my boys than this,” Mum said in a wounded tone. “You were to find the life that I wanted for you, and here you are falling into the same pattern as your father.”

“Oliver genuinely seems to care for his fiancée,” I replied.

“And you?”

A smile touched my lips. “I’m happy with my choice of wife.” It was the truth and she’d finally be introduced to Lucrezia one day.

Mum made that strange guttural noise that meant she didn’t believe me.

My Jaguar ate up the miles to London. I did have an appointment, but it was just with the guys about one of our businesses. They didn’t need me there, but I didn’t want to have to sit with Dad any longer than necessary.

Mum’s house appeared less than thirty minutes later. She had made it into the home we should have had as children with welcoming rooms and places to sit and talk. Blackwood Manor was a cold and repressed place that hadn’t changed in a hundred years. There were skeletons and ghosts there that had haunted us for generations and would continue to do so if they weren’t exorcised.

“I’ll text you with a time when Maeve gets back to me.”

“Thanks.” I paused. “It’ll be okay, Mum. Just trust me.”

She turned in her seat to face me. “Out of all my sons, I wanted you to be happy. You always took the full blast of his wrath to save the rest of you.”

I lifted her hand and stared at it. “Trust me, Mum. There’s a lot you don’t know right now, but I’m trying to get all of us free once and for all.”

Her cold fingers grasped mine. “Be careful, Ashton. Your father is an evil and devious man. You might think that you are plotting his demise, but he has more lives than a cat and sold his soul to the devil a long time ago.”

“I will, Mum. Don’t forget I have Xavier and Jordan to help me.”

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “I will pray for you.” In the midst of the chaos of her life, Mum had found God to bring her comfort. Who was I to ruin her happiness in her newfound faith?

“Thanks, Mum. We could do with a little help from above.”

I watched her walk up the steps to her townhouse, staying here until she disappeared inside. That house had an elaborate security system in it, and her butler was an ex-assassin who knew how to kill a man a thousand different ways. She put her faith in God, while I put mine in a trained killer with a small arsenal.

Xavier and Jordan were waiting in our official business office for me. They eyed me apprehensively since the last time we spoke, I had basically called Xavier a liar and marched out with my wife.

“You okay?” Xavier asked.

“Nope. I just acquired myself a shiny new fiancée today,” I replied.

“How’s Lucy taking that?” Jordan asked.

“I dropped her off to Lucas first thing this morning, and she ended up crying in the kitchen.” She was going to fucking break me with those huge, watery eyes.

“And how is Matteus?” Xavier asked.

“Like the cat who got all the cream and then stole a salmon.” I fucking hated that he thought he’d won.

Jordan grasped my shoulder. “All this will be over soon and we can go back to living our lives again.”

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