Page 27 of Burned

Her eyes narrowed to green slits as she swept her arms out, gesturing around her. “Look at this place! You’ve done quite well for yourself since we broke up. This house is practically a mansion and has to be on several acres of land, not to mention those two nice cars you drive around. You could spare that much money and not blink an eye. And anyway, it’s not like you couldn’t ask your brother for the money. He’s loaded and we both know it.”

The vein in his forehead throbbed even harder and it felt as if it would burst. “You are absolutely insane. Has it occurred to you to get a job to support yourself rather than expecting someone else to take care of you? Perhaps you should take this as alesson learned. You won’t always have your looks and plastic surgery can only do so much before you become a cautionary tale, so do yourself a favor and start taking responsibility for yourself. You might be a better person for it.”

Rhys’ advice was clearly the breaking point for Lacey who turned a molten shade of red, her features contorting to something ugly. “Who the fuck are you to give me advice on anything! You were a lousy husband and a fool! What do you think your daughter would say if Mommy started telling tales? You may have custody of Carys now but I have more rights to her than you do.”

His breath caught in his throat. He knew where she was going with this and if she said it he really would kill her. “Shut your mouth!”

She snickered. “What? You haven’t told your precious little angel the truth? You make me sick. You always paid more attention to her than me and it made me want to throw up. All she ever did was cry and whine with me, but when you showed up she was sweetness and light.”

“She was a baby for chrissake. They need love and affection something you know nothing about. You were too busy feeling sorry for yourself rather than trying to be a good mother to your daughter.”

“I didn’t want the brat! I should have had an abortion, but you were so gung ho about that fatherhood shit weren’t you?” She began to laugh maniacally. “The joke was on you wasn’t it?”

“I said shut your fucking mouth!” He advanced on her with every intention of choking her, but she must have recognized something in his eyes because she backed away.

“You can’t stop me from speaking the truth. And if you don’t want her to know that you aren’t her real father, I’d pull out a checkbook right now if I were you.”

“He doesn’t have to because I already know,” a voice said in the doorway.

Both adults whirled around to see Carys in the doorway, tears streaming down her face. Rhys’ heart sank.

Lacey was the first to recover. “Well, hello darling. Why aren’t you just lovely? Why don’t you come over here and say hello to your mother.”

Carys shook her head before turning and running off.

Lacey giggled. “A little high strung isn’t she?”

“Get out,” he spoke through clenched teeth. So many emotions swirled within him, mostly murderous ones as he glared at the object of his ire.

With the audacity of the proportions only she could pull off, Lacey dug into her purse and pulled out a card. “Here’s the hotel I’m staying in for the rest of the week. I’m in room 317. I do hope you’ll be reasonable enough for us to work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement. With me being the only natural parent and all, no court would turn me away.”

Rhys took a step forward and, Lacey released a screech as though she finally sensed the real danger she was in. The card floated to the floor as she flew out of the study and raced through the house and out the door.

With balled fists he watched as her car tore off, leaving skid marks on the asphalt. For just a brief second, he’d nearly snapped. No one had ever been able to push him to this point before. He asked himself for the thousandth time what the hell had he’d ever seen in her. And the answer came to him in an instant. Carys.

He and Lacey had a brief fling and it would have been nothing more than that had she not showed up on his doorstep teary-eyed one day to tell him she was pregnant. She’d claimed the condom broke and her birth control had failed her. Rhys had been young and naïve then, but he wanted to do the right thing and the right thing was offering to marry her. He’d tried his best to make things work with her but nothing he did seemed to satisfy her and by the time Carys came along their marriage was pretty much in shambles.

But for the sake of their daughter, he’d stuck it out. Lacey, however, didn’t seem to appreciate the attention he lavished on Carys accusing him of loving their child more than her. At that point, it was probably true, but Rhys denied it which led to more arguments. Most of their arguments centered on Carys. Rhys would come home from work to find their daughter hadn’t been changed or fed. Once he’d had to take Carys to the pediatrician for a particularly nasty diaper rash. That had been the day he’d found out just what a conniving bitch Lacey was.

When Carys was settled in later that night, he’d torn into Lacey, going as far as accusing her of being a horrible mother. It was then she’d let slip he wasn’t the father and the real father had been an older married man who refused to leave his wife and family to be with her. Rhys’s initial reaction was to call Lacey a liar but she challenged him to take a DNA test to prove it. The results come back 99.9 percent that he was not the biological father of Carys.

Devastated he could barely bring himself to look at Carys for at least a week, scared he wouldn’t feel the same way about his little princess now that he knew the truth. Eventually, he did build up the courage to face Carys and discovered he didn’t love her any less. Whether he sired her or not, she was still his daughter because no biological father could love their child more than he did her. Lacey, of course, wasn’t happy about this development. She began staying out late and ignoring both of them. They basically had an empty marriage, with Rhys sleeping in the guestroom. So when he came home one day to find Carys all alone it pissed him off that she’d leave their daughter to her own defenses not caring whether the child could hurt herself or not. But in a way, he was relieved that she was finally gone. He was thankful that Lacey didn’t fight for custody. Besides, it was his name on Carys’s birth certificate and that was all that mattered.

But somehow that bitch had managed to cause more problems after all this time. She was nuts if she believed he’d give her one red cent after the stunt she’d just pulled. With a sigh, he headed back inside. He needed to check on Carys. Rhys had debated telling her the truth when she was old enough to understand, but now the choice was no longer his. His only goal now was making her realize how much he loved her no matter what.

Damn Lacey.

* * *

“It’s not like you have much to stick around here for anyway. You can sell this little house and get a decent job in DC. You can be closer to me. Besides, Terrell has been asking about you. You should at least give the boy a call. You’re not going to get any better than him.”

Sadie bit her tongue to hold back the retort as she reminded herself that this was her mother. She picked up the remote control and flipped the channel to the Home Shopping Network. If she was going to have to listen to another one of her mother’s lectures she may as well turn the station to something she wasn’t interested in watching. When she’d opened the door a week ago to find her mother standing on the other side of the door claiming to be on vacation, she knew she was in for it. But she didn’t realize her mother would be this relentless.

“I’ve already told you, I’m happy where I am. I have a job I like, and I’m currently in a relationship.”

Jackie snorted. “With that white boy? Don’t you know they only want one thing and your little friend is no different? Mark my words, the novelty will eventually wear off for him and you’ll be alone again.”

Sadie crossed her arms over her chest. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. It’s always nice to know I have my mother’s support. And in case you’ve forgotten, Terrell is married.”

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