Page 136 of Pucking Rebound

“Where did he go?” Kali asks, sounding frantic.

“I don’t know,” he replies.

Then it hits me. “I have him on my location tracker.” I tap the screen on my phone. “He shared it with me, so I know where he is.”

“What? Why?” Kali asks.

“In the beginning, Marcus asked me to make sure he wasn’t out drinking every night,” I explain. “He’s at Westfield Estate.” I lift my head.

“Miranda’s,” we all say at the same time.

The bile swirls around my gut like toxic waste.

Hold tight, Wade. I’m coming for you.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Lola

Kali barges past Miranda as she opens her front door wearing an expensive-looking silk dressing gown.

“He’s not here,” my mother yells at Kali, looking completely shocked at the invasion.

“His truck is here,” Kali screams back. “Wade,” she yells, storming down the hall of my mother’s elaborate mansion.

Feet stuck to the doorstep as if I’m a vampire waiting to be invited in, I can’t bring myself to step inside.

One from fear, and two because I’ve never stood this close to my mother. The woman who gave birth to me and did nothing else for me.

Also, there’s a third reason that’s holding me back. This is the house Wade grew up in. As fascinated as I am to look around his childhood home, it feels like an intrusion.

“Get out of my house.” My mother chases Kali down the hallway. “You can’t be here.”

Kali beckons me to come in.

Miranda looks directly at me, more like through me. She doesn’t recognize me at all, which feels like a dagger through my already pain-filled heart.

Finally, I pluck up the courage and step over the threshold, holding my breath as if I’m Alice Through the Looking Glass and everything is about to turn upside down.

“Wade,” Kali calls, as she opens the last door at the end of the hallway.

I’m right behind her now and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Wade sitting behind a desk in what looks like an office.

“Thank God you’re here,” Kali cries, running into the room.

Wade bares his teeth when he looks past us and to the woman standing behind.

My mother.

He hates her as much as I do.

She storms past me, wafting her expensive fragrance everywhere, and I follow her into the elaborate room.

Kali grabs my hand as if telling me she’s here for me. Or maybe she needs my support. In all honesty, we need each other.

“What are you doing here, Wade?” our mother spits, while Wade continues to look down at the paperwork he’s rifling through.

As calm as a lake at dawn, he replies, “Currently working out exactly how much Marcus paid you to keep quiet about his bastard child.” He picks up handfuls of papers from the desk that look like bank statements. “Quite a lot it would appear.”

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