Page 2 of Ruthless Mr. Ricco
“I’m running an errand,” I lie.“How was your appointment?”
“I’m cancer free!Complete remission.No signs at all.”
Relief spears through me.My head spins and hands shake, and for a moment, I wish I smoked just so I could lean back against the wall and exhale a visible cloud to represent the misery expelling from my lungs as I blow out my pent-up breath.
“Oh my god, Mom, that’s awesome!I knew you’d beat it.You’re amazing,” I say.
“I know!I’m so happy,” she half sobs, half giggles.
I step forward as the line moves.
“We’re celebrating my eight-year cancerversary tonight.Wear the dress I bought you last year and bring your appetite!Gary made reservations for us at that new fancy restaurant,” she says.
Bittersweet joy buoys my heart, and a genuine smile ghosts across my lips.Gary Simons, my mom’s second husband, is a godsend.
After her surgeries, my mother was frail and miserable, but Gary, a gentle and sweet newly certified physical therapist who was only four years older than me, fell in love with her at first sight and stayed by her side as she went through chemo.He mended her broken heart.
Less than eight months after they met, they got married.
I was skeptical and worried he had ulterior motives, but my mother was so happy I couldn’t argue.
It turns out I was right, but not in a way I would have ever expected.
My biological dirtbag of a father sabotaged my scholarship halfway through my first semester of college.A few weeks later, I found out he blacklisted me from studying at all the major universities.
I felt so trapped and powerless.
Gary Simons fixed it by marrying my mother in Pennsylvania at his ancestral home and secretly appealing to adopt me—a twenty-year-old woman by the time the process was complete.Since another state handled the legalities, I could change my name without alerting my biological father.
Because of Gary, I could start fresh in a community college in New York City and hide in plain sight until today.
Now here I stand, in a coffee shop with the barista looking at me expectantly, my mom chattering happily on the phone, and my professional dreams crushed yet again.My need for vengeance burns like the coals of hell in my soul.
I want to destroy Chad Prescott.I want to watch the asshole who betrayed my mother when she was at her lowest scramble to save himself as his life crumbles around him.
At first, I only wanted to avenge my mother and retrieve the inheritance he stole from her.
Now I want to take everything from him.
I want to crush him no matter what it takes.
Maybe becoming a lawyer was a mistake, but the lure of defeating him at his own game was too much.
“Brook, are you listening?”my mom asks through the phone.
I loosen my death grip on my phone and pull my wallet out of my pocket so the barista doesn’t skip me.
“Sorry, Mama.It’s my turn to order coffee.I’ll be there tonight,” I say.
“Promise you’ll wear the dress I bought you,” she demands.
My thoughts flash to the ridiculous swath of fabric she gifted me when she returned from her trip last year.I put it on so she could ooh and ahh at her ‘gorgeous daughter’, but I’ve never worn it out of the house.
Fuck it.My pride means nothing compared to her happiness.
“Of course, Mama.See you soon,” I promise.
With a gleeful chirp, she says goodbye and ends the call.
