Page 66 of Cruel Love
My gut told me differently.
But there wasn’t anything I could do, he’d already had her bodymoved to the morgue before he’d called me, so any chance of me examining her body wasn’t going to happen.
I spent the night sitting in my mom’s room, staring at her empty bed,and going over in my mind what my father had told me about how she’d passed away.
When the morning came, my father and I spent the day going overpaperwork and discussing funeral arrangements, but whenever I tried to get him to go over the events of the day before, he changed the subject.
He was hiding something, but he had nothing to gain from murderingmy mom. And yet, the more time I spent with him, the more I was convinced he had some involvement in her untimely death.
Needing to get away from my father, and the stifling memories thehouse held of my childhood, I drove home when night fell again.
As I expected, my house was in darkness when I arrived, the staffwould have been in their quarters, and no doubt Willow was tucked up in bed too. While I’d been in Miami, I’d been desperate to fuck her as soon as I got back. Now, with the solemn weight hanging over me, it was the last thing I wanted.
But I ached to see her. I wanted to feel her pressed against my body.
Leaving my bags in the trunk for my staff to deal with in the morning, I tiptoed through the house to my bedroom. Sure enough, the moonlight seeping through the gap in the curtains lit up Willow’s small frame under the bed covers.
Stripping out of my clothes, I got under the covers, finding Willownaked as if she had been waiting for me. I pulled her against my side, not giving a fuck if I woke her. Once she was back in my arms, tension oozed from my body.
“James? You’re home,”she said, her voice thick with sleep.
“Yeah.”
She nuzzled against my side.“I was worried.”
Her voice was barely a whisper and as soon as she said the words,my body stiffened. Part of me wanted to push her away, tell her that she had no right to worry about me, and to get the fuck out of my bed.
Instead, I pulled her closer to me and kissed the top of her head.“What were you worried about, Mouse?”
She let out a contented sigh as she nuzzled closer.“You didn’t comehome after the first night. I…I missed you.”
I didn’t reply for a minute, debating whether to tell her the truth or totell her to go back to sleep. I wasn’t the sort of man to have long, in-depth conversations with the woman who was in my bed for the night, but Willow was different. Maybe because she actually listened, and didn’t pretend to be interested in what I had to say or had ulterior motives.
“The job I was working on ran over,”I said, the next words still notfeeling real even as I said them.“And…my mom died.”
Her body froze against mine before she wiggled out of my hold soshe could look up at me. Her eyes roamed over my face, sadness filling them.“I’m…I’m so sorry.”
I swallowed.“I’m not. I’m glad.”Her brows furrowed in confusion.“Maybe glad isn’t the right word. I’mrelieved. Relieved that she’s finally free of my father.”
Willow didn’t reply, but her gaze burned into the side of my face. Isighed before shifting on my side to face her and finding myself wanting to open up to her.
“Truthfully, my mom died years ago when my dad cut out her tongue.”
She gasped, horror creeping across her face.“Your dad cut out hertongue?”she replied, disbelief in her tone before she sucked in her bottom lip as if she’d just remembered she wasn’t supposed to ask questions.
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her body relaxed. Foronce, I didn’t mind her asking questions. I would have been curious too, it wasn’t every day you found out a human being was capable of cutting the tongue from the mouth of another human.
“Yeah. It was after he disowned Kiera. My mom begged him to letKiera come home, but of course he didn’t. When he got fed up with my mom constantly asking, he got several of his men to hold her down while he cut out her tongue.”I paused as the memory of my mom’s terrified screams filled my ears.“She died that day. Maybe not physically. But her soul died the day he took her voice. She was never the same after that. No longer the mom who smiled with happiness whenever her kids were around. No longer able to sing as she baked in the kitchen. She was dead inside, and the only way my father could cope with her being around was to pump her full of drugs.”
Willow remained quiet, a slight crease between her brows as shelistened. I’d never spoken to anyone about my mom. Sure, my close friends knew what had happened, but I never told them how having her tongue cut out by the man she once loved affected her so deeply.
Yet with the way Willow listened intently, I couldn’t stop talking. Therewas comfort in her silence.“My dad was always an asshole to her. He used to beat her black and blue, but his treatment toward her was worse after that day. He never let her leave the house, and acted like she didn’t exist.”I snorted when the irony hit me.“Huh. Maybe I’m more like my father than I ever was willing to admit.”
Still, she didn’t speak. Only now, her silence pierced my heart morethan learning my mom had passed away.
Chapter 24
Willow
