Page 46 of Shattered Souls
What little money Bertram could give me these last few years wasn’t anywhere near enough to maintain the lifestyle I had become accustomed to before his arrest. Forcing me to make sacrifices I truly detest…
Regardless of what was, I finally have my life back now.
I refuse to lose it for a second time.
Glancing at my reflection in the water, I admire how my designer sunglasses perfectly frame my face. Everything here is pristine. I am once more the queen of my own domain with servants to order around and attend to my every whim.
I reach for my phone, my perfectly manicured nails tapping against the screen. It’s time to make the call I’ve been putting off. As the phone rings, I idly swirl my wine, watching the liquid catch the light. Finally, she picks up.
“Riley,” I say, my voice dripping with the false sweetness I’ve perfected over the years. “It’s your mother. I’m calling to invite you to dinner.”
“You and I have never once had a family meal together. Why the sudden fixation?” her tone is as flat and lifeless as ever. Thefact she can’t just agree so this interaction can be done with grates on my nerves.
“Aurora will be spending the night at a friend’s, but I’ll set up a video call for you on Sunday morning,” I negotiate instead of answering her question, scanning my eyes over the nail job I had done today.
“Aurora isthree; she doesn’t have friends,” Riley snaps. This newfound defiance of hers is really starting to irritate me. “And I know for a fact that she’s not living with you. You’d never allow her to interfere in rekindling your marriage,” she snarls in clear disgust. “So why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?”
I suck on my teeth as I debate my next words. “Come to dinner, and I’ll tell you everything. Tonight. Seven o’clock. Don’t be late.” I hang up before she can respond, tossing the phone onto the lounge beside me.
Seriously, her voice is as grating as nails on a chalkboard. Popping two Advil, I down them with a glass of chardonnay as I mentally berate myself for not aborting her in the womb.
Biggest. Mistake. Of. My. Life.
Sighing, I lean back on my deck chair beside the pool and stare at the sky as I debate what to do. My infuriating thorn of a daughter isn’t going to give up on her kid, and my husband, insistent on recreating the past, refuses to leave this god-awful country and start anew.
There is one common denominator between my two problems…
And with each sip of my wine, I become more and more certain that she needs to be gone from my life—permanently.
13
RILEY
“There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that you’re going to that dinner,” Logan snarls like a rabid dog as he paces back and forth in front of the kitchen island.
Grayson throws his hands up. “Finally, someone who’s on the same page as me,” Grayson rejoices, lifting his closed fist to Logan as he passes.
I roll my eyes as they bump knuckles. Ignoring them both, I shift all of my attention to Royce. At least he’s still capable of thinking rationally. Planting my hands on my hips, I huff out a sigh. It’s not that I want to go. It’s the last place on earth I want to be. However… “She said if I came to dinner, she’d tell me everything.”
The three of us are spread out in the kitchen, looking as exhausted and beaten as the next. To say it’s been a long week and a half is an understatement. It’s beenawful. Words can’t even describe what it’s been like, existing without the knowledge that my daughter is safe, fed, and sleeping somewhere comfortable.
Fuck, not even knowing whether she’s still breathing. If there is life left in her eyes.
My flimsy walls shake and begin to crumble before I wrench my thoughts in a different direction.
I can’t think like that.
I can’t allow myself to fall into that hopelessness.
It won’t do me any good, and it won’t help Aurora.
I need to be strong—for both of us.
Grayson scoffs, glaring at me with a questioning raise of his eyebrow. “You don’t seriously believe her, do you?”
“Of course not,” I snap. “But maybe if I play it right, she’ll slip up. Give me a piece of information we can use.” I shake my head, shoulders dropping. “I don’t know, but if she knows anything, then I have to try.” There have been no new developments since the false lead, and the burner phone Logan and Royce found was a dead end. Blue couldn’t triangulate a location from the message left on it. Meaning, we’ve got nothing. “It’s been eleven days, and we are no closer to finding her.” My voice cracks over the words, and Logan is by my side instantly, pulling me into his strong frame.
Royce clears his throat, drawing my attention to where he’s standing on the opposite side of the kitchen. He’s leaning against the countertop, his bulky arms folded over his chest. Where Grayson and Logan immediately started in with their protests and straight-out objections to Lydia’s dinner ‘invitation’, he’s been silently contemplating.
