Page 64 of Heartless Boss
“What did she say?”
“That she’s sorry that happened, and that she’s pissed that I didn’t tell her about Cora.”
“She will forgive you, Wolf,” she says, giving me Eskimo kisses. Where would I be without Gia’s support?
Cora hits the end button on her phone. “Where’s Mom? I need to ask her if I can go on a ski trip with Talon’s family for fall break in November.”
Here goes nothing.
“Rylee is not coming back for a while,” I say as the wrinkle on her forehead deepens.
“What do you mean?”
I glance at Gia, and she kisses the bottom of my chin, then gives me an encouraging nod.
“She wants you to live with me.”
“For how long?”
“Forever. She wants me to have custody of you.”
I feel shitty for lying.
“Very funny, Tuxedo Mask.” Cora studies my face. When I look at Gia, her smile morphs into a frown.
“You’re lying!” she cries. She taps the screen on her phone and dials what I assume is Rylee’s number and dials it again when it goes to voicemail.
“I heard her say it. She isn’t coming back,” Gia says with sadness in her tone.
“Why doesn’t she want me anymore?” Tears gloss Cora’s eyes, and her face colors with sorrow. And my heart fucking explodes in my chest. “I’ll do better. I’ll be a better daughter and stop nagging her. I’ll do all my homework and get all As when I start school. I’ll give her all of my trust fund.”
She sobs uncontrollably, and Gia slides in the chair next to me, and I hug Cora like she’s my daughter. I wish I could tell her the truth about how manipulative her mother is. That she doesn’t give a shit about her, and she’s in jail.
“It’s nothing you did, Cora. Something is wrong with her. She isn’t in her right mind,” Gia says to her.
“Do you think she’ll come back and get me?” Cora asks, her running nose wetting my sweater.
“I don’t know,” I say. I hope not. Cora deserves a better ma, someone to give her the love that she needs.
She cries her little heart out.
* * *
A week goes by and there’s nothing but sadness lingering in the mansion. Cora cries so much her tears could fill up a pool. Gia and I comfort her, but there is no amount of comfort to cover the hole in Chibi’s chest.
I asked Rainbow to help me with Cora, and she didn’t even hesitate. I don’t know how to be a dad. Sometimes, I wish kids came with an instruction manual. Cora is hitting pre-teen years, then she’ll be a teenager and hormonal and moody. Then I have to worry about her dating boys. She’s already adamant about kissing Liam and she doesn’t know about sex yet. Just imagine how she will be in high school. Then I have to worry about her fucking and having periods. I have to have that talk with her, too. Then I have to teach her how a man’s supposed to treat her. The boy she decides to date is going to answer to me, and I’ll beat his fucking ass if he hurts her. How am I going to be a parent to a teenager? A man who suffers from PTSD. What if I fuck up more than Dad and Rylee and let her down? Shit.
I have to drive back and forth to work since there is no room at the condo for Cora. Even though Alana is mad as hell at me, she agreed to help out with Cora. And I spoke to my ma yesterday, and she agreed to babysit Cora while I work and Gia looks for another job. I told her I feel bad for throwing Rylee in jail and she responded with, “Don’t beat yourself up about it. She’s fucked up, and a piece of shit. It was best for Cora.”
Since Gia has a job interview in Brooklyn at a bakery today, I gave her the day off.
I walk into Logan’s office at his firm and sit in the chair in front of his desk. He’s buried behind a mountain of paperwork, and I clear my throat as he looks up, pushing his reading glasses on the bridge of his narrow nose. His chestnut hair is pushed up in a man bun and his nails are painted a glittery blue.
What the fuck is going on with him?
“Are you going through a midlife crisis?” I ask, clearing my throat.
“No. Why?” His gray eyes narrow.
