Page 47 of Wretched Soul
Alice waits until we’re alone. “Thank you for coming.”
My feet thud against the rug as I sit up and rest my elbows on my knees. I haven’t taken my feet off the table out of respect. Her voice is barely a whisper and I have to lean closer just to hear.
“I am, however, disappointed that Hunter hasn’t deigned to join us,” she continues, her true nature revealing itself. “I had hoped he would appreciate how important this is.”
“To who?” I ask. “You?”
The hollow at her neck deepens as she takes a breath. I’ve annoyed her already. I didn’t expect it to be so easy. “Yes, Mason, it’s important to me. Your mother,” she scolds.
“Thanks for the reminder,” I reply. “It’s so easy to forget I came out of your vagina.”
Alice tenses at my vulgarity, and turns to Ash. “Did Petra offer you refreshments?”
“We’re all good,” he says. “This doesn’t need to take long.”
She reaches for the glass of water the nurse has left on a side table. “I presume you’ve given some thought to what I asked of you at the gala?”
“You think we needed time to decide if we’d welcome Barrett into our family with open arms?” I ask. I’d almost forgotten her dying wish. “I guess you didn’t hear Hunter promising to kill him once you were dead and buried.”
“What I do recall is your unprovoked attack on one of our most trusted employees,” she hits back. Despite her frailty, she isn’t shying away from a fight.
“Ray?” I mock.
“Can we get this conversation back on track?” Ash says. He doesn’t look at me, but I hear the warning. The less we say about the traitor in the Emerson’s camp, the better.
“Thank you, Asher,” Alice says. Her features soften, and her eyes turn glassy. “Time isn’t on my side, I’m afraid. This could be the last time we have together.” She takes a sip of water, her gaze never leaving her firstborn. “I want you to know that it was hardest of all to leave you, knowing you’d always remember me in your life. It can’t have been easy.”
I curse myself when I feel my eye twitch. I always suspected she’d never given me a second thought when she left, but it’s still a surprise to hear her admit it.
She’s still focused on Ash. “I just want to say that I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”
“No thanks to you,” I interject. I know I’m supposed to behave, but fuck it, Alice brings out the worst in me.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Mason,” she retorts. “Leaving your father was the best thing I could have done for all of you. I knew Lisa was waiting in the wings, so I didn’t need to worry about your care, but I’d like to think that my absence gave you the push you needed to stand on your own two feet.”
I laugh out loud, but not in the way that Lily sometimes makes me laugh. My chest remains tight, and my jaw aches with tension. “In case it slipped your memory, I was a baby. I hadn’t learned to walk when you abandoned us.”
“It’s a turn of phrase, Mason,” she replies, her eyes as cold as mine. “I made you. Never forget that.”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll never forget,” I say. “The day I realized it wasn’t normal for a kid to call their mom by her first name. It was when Reid was born and everyone suddenly started referring to Lisa as his mom.”
I glance to Ash, knowing his gaze is fixed on me. The crease between his eyebrows has deepened ever so slightly, and it’s the smallest tell that I’ve shocked him. We don’t normally share our innermost thoughts, and I’ve never spoken of the day my dad and Lisa brought Reid home from hospital, not to anyone. I don’t know what’s happening to me lately. All I do know is that I’d much rather be with someone else right now.
“What do you want from me, Mason?”
“A show of remorse would be nice,” Ash says, answering her so I don’t have to. He waits a beat. “But maybe save your breath, Alice. We’re not under any illusion it would be genuine, and that’s not why we’re here.”
“Then why have you come?”
“There’s only one reason we ever speak to you,” he explains. “Business.”
“And there’s only one reason you speak to us,” I add. “Barrett.”
Alice takes another sip of water. It trembles in her hand. “I’m listening.”
“When we met at the gala, you mentioned Barrett was being targeted by the mafia,” Ash says. “We know the family involved and you’re right, he caused major disruption to one of their distribution networks.”
Alice sits straighter, coming to life for the first time. “So, you can help him?”
