Page 42 of King of Cruelty

Chapter Five

Kenzie

I sipped my chocolate rooibos tea, trying to be as classy and ladylike as my companion, but what I really wanted to do was suck it down so I could skip to the part where I begged for more.

“This tea is delicious,” I spoke up, slicing into the awkward silence. “Thank you so much for introducing it to my life.”

Talia cleared her throat, and tried on a smile. “It’s from an artisanal tea shop,” she replied. “I’ll give you the address. You must drop in while you’re in the city.”

“We absolutely will.” I flashed her the same smile, then turned it on River and Sienna who were sitting on my other side—smiling the same uncomfortable smile.

There was nothing this visit was ever going to be except for tense. It was weird enough explaining to the doorman why he needed to call up to the penthouse, and then even fucking weirder than that when she actually let us in.

Now we were all sitting in her impeccable living room—a space as grand as Sunny’s but as homey as Liam’s—while the great, powerful, and successful Talia Barker sat stiff-backed in the sectional next to me. As usual, her hair was bottle-chestnut-red perfection. The brown freckles on her nose drew your attention to the brilliant jewel-tone emerald of her eyes; her mouth was a smashed cupid’s bow, painted with light lipstick; and wrinkles at her temple did their job of proclaiming just how well she was aging.

Grinning at each other like loons, the silence stretched... and stretched... and stretch—

“So—”

“We—”

Talia and I spoke at the same time, and then cut off, murmuringexcuse mes.

The front door swung open.

“Hey, hon.” Damien stepped in and turned right for the coatrack, shrugging out of his five-thousand-dollar Caddell coat. “I know you asked me to stop by the pharmacy on the way home, but the line was out the door. The pediatrician said it’s not an emergency, so—”

Damien finally turned. Lifting his head, he looked right into my eyes. “Kenzie?! What the—?” He took in Sienna, River, and playing on the carpet between us, Laurel. “What are you doing here! What isshedoing here?!”

“Damien, dear, please stop shouting.” Talia gently set down her cup. “She, as you can plainly see, is playing quietly with her brother. If little Laurel can do so, there’s certainly no reason for you to be shouting and carrying on like a child.”

Damien paled, going very still. “B-brother?”

Talia’s frosty glare was her only reply.

I looked away from them and flicked down to Laurel. She indeed was being very sweet and gentle with the six-month-old baby lying on the blanket next to her and her toys. I believed she thought he was one of her dolls, because she kept poking and blowing Jeremiah kisses. Either way, it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen.

So adorable, even Talia dropped her fake polite smile and flashed a real one whenever she looked at them.

It was a surprise when I stepped out of the elevator and got an eyeful of the playpen, baby toys, and spit-rag tossed over Talia’s shoulder. I didn’t realize they’d gone through with theadoption already, welcoming a sweet little bundle of chub into their career-driven lives, but in that instant, it made sense why she let me in.

Your priorities shift when you become a mother. All of a sudden, you care a lot less about covering and lying about your partner’s faults, and a lot more about making sure the person you’re raising a child with... isn’t a monster.

“Darling.” Damien surged forward. “Whatever that woman’s told you, it’s a lie,” he hissed, not even doing me the courtesy of using my name. “Every single word of it a lie!” He scooped up Jeremiah, picking up and carrying him away from Laurel as if he couldn’t stand for my daughter to touch his son.

And in that second, all lingering traces of affection for him burned away in a flood of white-hot hatred. Why in the hell did I hold back Sunny from carrying out those revenge fantasies against him? This piece of shit was never worth my mercy.

“I’ll thank you not to be hysterical and get Jeremiah worked up before his nap.” Talia plucked her baby out of his arms and placed him right back next to Laurel. Her gentle touch did not match the frost biting her words. “Now, Mackenzie is here to have a simple, civilized conversation with you about irregularities in the Caddell House financial accounts.”

If I thought Damien was pale before, the man was Casper the Dickhead Ghost following that sentence.

“Considering you lied, framed, and abandoned her to raise a child alone, the least you can do is sit down, shut up, and answer her questions honestly.”

“But—but, sweetheart—”

“Sienna,” Talia continued, reaching behind her to grab a bottle off her side table. “Please give this to Jeremiah if he starts fussing. I’ll be in my office—making a few calls to my colleagues and fellow fashion directors. It’s time they know there was a fraud in the fashion world, but it wasn’t Mackenzie Blaine.”

My brows shot up, blowing as high as my eyes went wide. I wasn’t expecting her to do that. I didn’t ask her to do that, but my throat choked on my gratitude when I tried to tell her what it meant to me.

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