Page 226 of Lawless God

If only Mrs. Caldon knew when my mask falls, I am the least reasonable between Kayla and me.

“I will. As soon as she gets home from pickup. Thank you for calling.”

Just as I hang up, I hear Lia’s excited voice passing the door. “Mommy is a super mommy!”

She runs to me, hugging my legs.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hi, honey.” I take her in my arms, giving her a kiss.

Kay walks in holding Livie’s hand. Livie has that little smug look on her face she gets when she’s happy, and Kay has put her most innocent expression in place.

I walk to both of them, give my other daughter a kiss, and cock an eyebrow at my wife.

“Where’s my kiss?” she asks, her pretty lips pouting ever-so slightly.

So tempting, but I have to stay strong.

“Only the girls who didn’t cause trouble get a kiss. What did you do?”

Livie giggles, and Kay has to hold back a smile. “Nothing.”

She tries to walk past me, but I grab her arm.

“Kayla. I got a call from Mrs. Caldon. Heads of preschool usually only call about the kids doing something bad. Not the moms.”

“Suzie’s mommy said to Mommy that Livie can’t talk.”

I narrow my eyes at my wife. “That’s it?”

“It’s the way she said it,” Kay huffs. She shrugs me off, taking Livie to the kitchen, so I follow.

My little chatterbox keeps explaining the story to me anyway as we sit both girls at the kitchen island.

“Mommy took Suzie’s mommy to the side, and then Suzie’s mommy apologized to Livie. Right, Livie? She apologized. And then I saw Suzie’s mommy crying in her car. She cried.” She takes a deep breath and repeats, shaking her head. “She cried in her car.”

“Kay,” I growl, turning to my wife. “Is this what you’re showing the girls? Really?”

“Mommy is a super mommy.”

Kay smiles innocently at me. “I’m a super mommy.”

“Don’t,” I huff. “What did you tell her?”

She shrugs, pulling snacks out of the fridge for the girls. “I told her how I”—she waves her hand in front of her throat—“the last person who made fun of my daughters. That I made it last for hours. I was very specific.”

“What? Who was that?” I ask curiously. I didn’t know about this.

She starts cutting strawberries for the girls, and I grab two plastic bowls, filling them up with the grapes Kay put on the counter.

“My dad’s girlfriend. Long before you came back from pr—your vacation.”

We haven’t told the girls about me going to prison yet. Maybe when they’re older, we will, but then we’d have to say that Daddy doesn’t do bad things anymore. And that would be a lie. Daddy runs a criminal organization with Mommy. Better to keep it to ourselves for as long as we can.

“That was stupid. Not your dad’s girlfriend. Suzie’s mom. Stoneview talks. Rumors spread.”

She shrugs. “You would have done worse. No warning, I bet.”

---