Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
I remembered all the days that I had dreamt about meeting her, remembered how I would imagine all sorts of things we’d be doing together as mother and daughter. I remembered telling all of it to Kate and Chris, and I wondered if that was the reason why they had allowed this meeting, why they had allowed themselves to be hurt again.
Picking up the pen, I scrawled my name on the lines, over and over, until all twenty pages of the contract were signed. “Please don’t send us any money. We don’t need it.”
She laughed, oddly. “You’re just like them.” She threw a disgusted look at her surroundings. “And how can you seriously say that when you’re living in this dump?”
Chris flinched, and I knew that the insult hit him raw. My grandfather was a very traditional man, someone who thought it was his duty to be the breadwinner of the family simply because he was the man and Kate and I were women.
“We don’t see it as a dump.” My voice drew her attention back to me. “We’re happy here, so thank you for your concern, but we really don’t need anything else.” I stood up, and Kimberley stood up as well. “Thank you for coming. Rest assured none of us will ever bother you again. But if you ever make the mistake of sending us the money, I’ll just ask the bank to give it back to my mother.”
Her lips tightened at the threat. “Bitch.”
“Kimberley,” Kate cried out.
I didn’t even flinch. It seemed her oddness was rubbing off on me. Like mother, like daughter, and all that crap.
“Is that all?” I asked quietly.
“No. Not quite.” She turned to her companion. “I’d like you to take a photo with her. Make sure you look happy, too. I’m going to show it to my husband, let him know that my love child’s in a good place and we’d only be guilty of ruining her life if we let her know about the truth.”
Without a word, I took the phone she had in her hand and came to stand beside her companion. “Please smile, ma’am.” I lifted the phone up, smiled, and took a selfie. It was pretty easy, thanks to the oddness spreading inside of me.
And just like that, she was gone, leaving nothing but oddness behind her.
I watched my mother drive away, in an obviously expensive car, and I felt odder and odder—-
Behind me, I heard my grandmother speak.
“Oh, Chris.”
I whirled around, alarmed by the tremor in Kate’s voice. My grandmother wasn’t crying, but my grandfather was, and the sight crushed me.
I saw it all in his face, saw that he blamed himself for the way my mother turned out, saw the way he couldn’t understand why his own flesh and blood could be like that to them.
And Kate, my lovely, strong grandmother...
I could see it in the way she was hugging her husband, the way she wished she could take all his pain and absorb it inside of her.
All of this because of my mother and how odd she was.
Rushing to them, I wrapped my arms around Kate and Chris. “I’m sorry.” The tears started to fall, and the oddness started to disappear. “I’m so sorry you had to meet her again because of me.” The more I spoke, the harder I cried. But I didn’t stop because it also made the oddness go away, and I wanted that. I needed that.
“I love you, Gran, love you, Gramps, always.” Closing my eyes, I hugged them more tightly, destroying the oddness by allowing the pain of love to fill me.
My mother was odd because she only wanted love without the pain.
But I wasn’t going to be like her, I promised myself fiercely. I wasn’t going to be odd. I wasn’t going to hate. Instead, I was going to fall in love, find a man who would love me back, and with him, I’d give Kate and Chris a son, and we’d be a family.
Together, we wouldn’t ever be odd.
“WE CAN’T ALWAYS PLAY this game,” the council member warned Alessandro from behind. “If you persist in continuing with such actions, a fine will no longer be sufficient. You need to remember, Alessandro: being a prince won’t protect you forever.”
The words continued to echo like a taunt in Alessandro Moretti’s mind even after he was already home.
Fucking Lyccan Council, he thought grimly as he reached for a fresh strip of gauze. All they wanted were peace talks and mediations, like that would really stop those stupid pups from talking shit about his family.
A knock sounded on the door then, and Alessandro said immediately, “Come in.” He didn’t need to ask who it was, the scent tingeing the air letting him know who it was without turning around.
Domenico Moretti walked in. Taller than the twins, Alessandro and Alejandro, by a few inches, he was also more powerfully built, as befitting the heir apparent to the Moretti clan. He also used to be considered the strongest and most respected member of their race, someone whose mere glance would have Lyccans quivering in fear.