Page 36 of Rufus

“My mother obviously made up the bottles of food and such, but otherwise, yes.”

“That fucking bitch!”

Molly couldn’t argue with the description, knowing he could have used much worse ones and still have been accurate.

“I was devastated when baby Emily disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared,” she revealed shakily. “Then, twenty years later, I saw the articles in the newspapers about how you and your daughter Emily, a young woman who was now known as Mia, had been reunited after being separated for the same twenty years. I accepted employment at the animal shelter because once I’d met Mia, I realized immediately she really was that baby sister I had loved so much as a child, and I wanted to spend a little time with her before I had to move on. I had—have no ulterior motive other than that,” she insisted. “I just wanted to be with Mia again for a short time.”

“And your relationship with me?”

Her cheeks blazed with heat. “That was unexpected.”

A nerve pulsed in his jaw. “You seriously expect me to believe you became such good friends with Mia, went to bed with me, because you couldn’t help but like both of us?” he bit out coldly.

“I do like both of you,” Molly protested. “Very much. Admittedly, it came as a surprise how attracted I am to you. But I assure you, my friendship and affection for Mia isn’t faked either,” she added softly. “My intention was always only to work here for a couple of months and then move on, nothing more sinister than that, I promise you. Serena Jenkins suddenly appeared here today before I was able to do that. She threatened that if her crimes should ever become known, she would implicate me in them if I didn’t leave here immediately.”

Rufus made a strangled sound in his throat that could have been caused by any emotion from despair to rage. “How could you possibly be implicated when you were only a child yourself?”

Because Sarah/Serena had ruthlessly used Molly’s “cuteness” when stealing those babies! “She has a way of twisting things and facts to suit her purpose.”

He frowned. “I’m starting to wonder if your mother might not be a psychopath.”

“It’s certainly one explanation for her coldness and lack of any empathy for the pain she must have caused so many couples over the years.” Yet another reason for Molly to wish she didn’t share any of the woman’s DNA.

“Did you never ask her, twenty-two years ago, where the baby you loved so much had gone?”

“I’m sure I would have done,” Molly’s answer sounded defensive. “But I was only five years old, and she was my mother, so whatever answer she gave me, I would have had no choice but to accept it.” She released a shaky breath. “I honestly never suspected she was guilty of anything other than neglect and disinterest in me until two years ago, when news of your reunion with Mia appeared in the newspapers, and I began to suspect the truth.”

“And you didn’t think to share any of that with us during the three months you’ve been working here?” he snapped.

Accused, Molly acknowledged heavily, “What would I have said? ‘Hey, I think my mother might have abducted Mia when she was a baby’?”

“Yes!” he grated. “Fucking hell, yes!”

Molly dropped to sit on the arm of the couch, her legs no longer feeling capable of supporting her. “After all these years of silence, you were more likely to have me assessed for a mental illness than believe a word I was telling you.”

Rufus gave a sharp shake of his head. “Better that you had tried than we learn the truth because your mother suddenly decided to visit you today. The same woman I now know stole my daughter from me. Dear God,” he groaned. “If her presence in London has anything to do with her even thinking of abducting Lilybeth, I’m going to strangle her with my bare hands.”

“No!” Molly rose to her feet, her eyes wide with horror. “Surely she wouldn’t be so cruel—” She broke off, knowing Serena Jenkins was capable of that and more. “I would never allow such a thing to happen!” She felt nauseous at the thought of any harm ever coming to Lilybeth.

“How would you stop her?”

“I just would!”

He released a soft sigh. “You don’t even know where she’s staying.”

“I didn’t ask her for that information because, at the time, I simply didn’t care.” She closed her eyes briefly before continuing. “She abandoned me, Rufus. Left her ten-year-old daughter—me!—alone in an apartment for five days and nights before someone noticed I was living there alone. I was terrified,” she recalled with a shudder. “But also frightened to ask for help, because I knew if I did, my mother would be angry with me when she eventually returned.”

His eyes narrowed. “Was she often angry with you?”

Molly sighed. “Occasionally.” She gave a bitter laugh. “Which didn’t involve hitting me, as you might suspect. No, she usually just ignored my presence and didn’t speak to me for a couple of days. Which was purgatory for me when she knew she was all I had. I’d never had a father or any other relatives I could ask for help, just a mother who occasionally disappeared for a couple of days.”

“She’d left you before that last time?”

She avoided his searching gaze as she nodded. “Sometimes. But usually only overnight. Which, God help me, I realize now probably coincided with the disappearance of someone’s baby.” She shook her head. “I know how all this must seem to you, what you must think of me now that you know the truth?—”

“You really don’t,” he murmured.

Molly eyed him quizzically. “Then tell me.”

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