Page 112 of Mr. Monroe

Who knew? Maybe we’d accidentally leave Heidi here. God, I hated that this woman brought out the murderous, all-around hateful bitch in me. Honestly, the negative thoughts I kept having about her were becoming increasingly dark with each passing hour since she’d appeared on Friday evening.

“Good morning,” Avery said, walking past us toward the elegant dining table. “You two are so cute; you look like you’re enjoying a honeymoon. I mean,” she rolled her icy-blue eyes and grinned, “your second honeymoon.”

Jim eyed Avery’s slip-up with a grin of his own to match mine and Spencer’s, but then his expression went dark when he looked over at Heidi. She sat at the table smugly, slicing into her fruit and eyeing us as if we were to be strung up at high noon.

“Is everything okay?” Jim asked her, not wasting a second.

Heidi met the most serious man of the bunch with an eyebrow arch as Spencer’s hand tightened around mine. He was picking up on the same shit that everyone around the table was sensing, waiting for this pleasant morning to go sideways.

Heidi’s true menacing self was about to emerge, and the sick feeling in my stomach told me I was the one she was about to sink her fangs into.

“Everything is perfectly fine.” She slowly set her fork and knife next to her plate and folded her hands. “Though, I’m curious why all you brilliant men, my son included, think it’s appropriate for me to be entertained by such childish, foul-mouthed doctors and CEOs?”

“That’s enough,” Spencer ordered.

“No,” Alex said. He was the silent-but-deadly type, primarily quiet compared to his friends, but when he spoke, he was brutal. “I want to know why you believe us to be childish.”

His dark eyes, coming from his handsome Johnny Depp look-alike face, were enough for me to remain silent, hoping that Heidi would excuse herself.

But she wouldn’t; instead, she used his question to fuel her fire.

“You entertain lies, and you believe I am foolish enough to as well,” she said, picking up the linen napkin from her lap and dabbing the corners of her mouth before continuing. “Spencer and his girlfriend, Natalia, have conned all of you into lying to me. Who knows, perhaps you all enjoy being lied to as well?”

“What the fuck are you talking about, lady?” Collin spoke up, his wife, Elena nudging him in the side with her elbow, hoping not to bait the woman more. “Why do you think we’d give two fucks to lie to a stranger?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s something you’re quite accustomed to, Dr. Brooks,” she mocked him. “I’m confident that as a neurosurgeon, it is part of your job to deceive. Give false hope and such.”

“You’ve said enough, Heidi,” Spencer said, taking control of the conversation. The woman was currently out for my blood, and anyone who spoke now would have their words used against them. “You’ve officially worn out your welcome after these insults, and I think it’s time you remain in your room for the remainder of the—”

“Come now, Spencer. I’m not trying to insult anyone more than I’ve been insulted. But, now, it’s time for the truth to emerge finally, isn’t it? This goes beyond silly lies of matrimony,” she said, looking directly at me.

I remained silent, not knowing where this was going and not wanting to, either.

“Nothing to say?” she hissed at me.

I fixed my gaze on her with as much venom as I could muster, trying to match her force with my own. “I’d like you to say what you’ve come across the world to say, and then you can promptly return to where you belong,” I snapped.

There was nothing this woman could reveal that would bother me. So, the big secret was out; she knew Spencer and I weren’t married. Whoopty-fucking-doo. It wasn’t exactly a scandal, in my opinion. What could she have discovered that my friends already didn’t know about me? That I’d enjoyed a plethora of sex partners throughout my life, or that my brother was a drug addict? My dad was a dick? The whole world already knew all that.

“Disrespect comes so easy to you,” she murmured, shaking her head as she fixed me with a look that hid nothing of what she thought of me. “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners? Oh…” I saw the evil glimmer in her eyes as she pretended that she’d accidentally brought up the most painful thing in my life. She brought her fingers to her mouth, covering it as if she were embarrassed, but I could see the hideous happiness in her eyes. “Forgive me. I seem to recall that she passed on when you were quite young; is that right?”

“Well, you did your research,” I said, everyone’s eyes on me. Spencer remained silent after my eyes pleaded with him to allow me to end this entire charade between his mother and me.

“Indeed, I did, girl,” she said with disgust. “I also learned that your mother’s passing has to do with why your brother is such a cock-up.”

“Mind your words carefully, Heidi,” Spencer said, clenching his jaw tightly. “Rest assured, I have no compunction about calling the police about you intruding into my home. There are plenty of ways to restrain you from being in my presence for entering my home without my permission.”

“My dear, you might not think much of me, which is why you’re resistant to the truth I will reveal—”

“I’ve had enough of your threats,” Spencer interjected.

“Now, now,” Heidi said, reaching for her glass of water. “There’s no need to leap to presumption. I believe you’ll change your mind once I’ve had my say.”

“Then have your goddamn say, and then go,” I said, frustration seeping out of me. “Everyone is waiting on pins and needles for your big reveal. But don’t be too let down when nobody reacts the way you want them to. There is nothing a stranger can say about me that they don’t already know.”

“A stranger, eh?” Heidi looked at me with a gaze as if I were pinned to a corkboard by her eyes, “One might say the same about you and the family you came from. That father of yours,” she tsked a few times. “He was a foul specimen, wasn’t he?”

I could handle this woman delivering news that my father was a prick in front of all our friends; however, what I didn’t expect was the fear that grabbed me when it registered that this woman did research my family. The look on her face was downright sinister, and it gave me the sinking feeling that she was about to reveal something I didn’t want to know.

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