Page 28 of Cruel Love
She grabbed my hand and tugged it under her nose, her little eyessquinting as she examined the gold band on my fingerthatI’d forgotten all about.
Meeting Kiera’s gaze across my office, she stared back at me withher brows pulled together in question.
“Itisa wedding ring!”Billie announced.“You got married?”
I couldn’t lie to her, not with the way hope shone brightly in her eyes. Besides, they’d find out one day.“Yeah,squirt. I did.”
“Oh my gosh!”Billie squealed at the same time Kiera shot to her feetand practically flew across the room, copying Billie’s action in grabbing my hand and examining my finger.
When she met my eyes again, hurt flashed over her face, no doubtbecause I hadn’t told her, let alone invited her to the wedding.
Kiera and I were close, but she didn’t always understand my world.She’d been ostracized from the Carter family when, at fifteen, she announced she was pregnant, and refused to tell anyone who the father was.
Our father demanded she get rid of the baby, telling herthatshe’dbrought shame on the family. When she refused, he kicked her out and barred my mom and me from having anything more to do with Kiera.
But I couldn’tjustabandon my baby sister. Growing up, she’d beenone of my best friends. For years, I quietly kept in contact with her, paying for her to live, and supporting her as much as I could when Billie came along, all without my father knowing.
It was only when Billie got ill and needed Legion’s help,thathediscovered she’d been in my life the whole time. To my disgust, when the board came to vote on whether to approve the request for Dr. Holland to help Billie, my father had voted against it.
Luckily, the other three members of the board approved, and hewas overruled, otherwise, there was a good chance Billie wouldn’t be standing where she was rightthen.
“It was all a bit of a whirlwind,”I shrugged, hoping to appease Kiera.
“But why wasn’t I invited?”Billie asked, giving me sad puppy dogeyesthathit me square in the chest.“I wanted to be a bridesmaid. I’ll never get to be a bridesmaid now.”
I kissed the top of her head, guilt gripping me.“You don’t knowthat,squirt. You don’t have to be family to be a bridesmaid to someone. Besides, it was a small wedding. In fact, we didn’t have any guests.”
“Can I meet her?”Billie replied, her eyes lighting up in excitement.“Isshe here now?”
“No,”I snapped, earning a glare from Kiera, and a quizzical look fromBillie.“I mean, no, she’s not here. She’s gone out shopping for the day.”
I hated lying to them, but I could hardly tell them my reluctantteenage bride was locked away upstairs. I also couldn’t resist either of them asking Willow questions. Neither of them knew about Peartree House, and I planned on keeping itthatway.
“Well, we can meet her laterthen. Tonight. We’ll go for dinner,”Kierasaid, her tone firm and leaving no room for me to decline the invitation.
“Oh, can we, Uncle James? Please say yes! I want to meet my newaunt,”Billie cried, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
I grimaced. I couldn’t tell her no. I couldnevertell her no.“Fine.Dinner, tonight.”
Kiera smirked.“Perfect, I’ll make reservations.”I managed to hidethe snarl forming on my lips at the sickly-sweet tone of her voice. Kiera was one of the few people who knew me well, and she knew something wasn’t adding up.“Come on, sweetie. Let’s go get you some new shoes, and maybe a new dress for tonight. You want to look your best for your uncle’s new wife, right?”
After waving them off from the front door, I cursed before bolting upto Willow’s room.
I needed to warn her to be on her best behavior tonight or herpunishment would be worse than she could have ever imagined.
My fists curled and uncurled several times as I tried to calm thestorm swirling inside me. I didn’t want to turn up to dinner in a mood and ruin it for Billie.
Willow likely sensed the rage radiating off me. As soon as we’dgotten in the car to go to dinner, she’d moved to the other side, putting as much distance between us as possible.
But I couldn’t stop my fury, and honestly? I didn’t understand it. Icouldn’t grasp why the sight of Willow walking down the stairs, looking fuckingincredible,angered me so much.
Maybe because my cock had been as hard as steel when I tookher in. Or maybe it was the factthatwhen she reached me, and the perfume she wore hit my nostrils, I wanted to cancel my evening with my niece so I could spend the night buried inside Willow’s cunt instead.
If it hadn’t been for the factthatI’djustput the phone down to Billie,who was insanely excited to be meeting her new aunt, I would have dragged Willow back up the stairs and fucked her to within an inch of her life.
I’d asked Edith to make Willow presentable for dinner. It turned outshe’d done too good of a job transforming my mouse into a woman.
Her usual dank, mousey-brown hair was piled elegantly on top of herhead, held in place with a glittering clasp in the shape of a butterfly.Edith had applied a small amount of makeup to Willow’s face, makingher look older than her eighteen years.
