Page 74 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“Listen, I didn’t know my mother had been having a years-long affair until the night my father caught her. All I knew was that she had grown more distant, and I missed talking to her about the important things in my life. That night, I had hopes that I could talk to her about having sex with the guy I’d been crushing on. I wasn’t able to do that because by the time she came home, my father started yelling at her, and the next thing I knew, she left without looking back or even saying goodbye to me.” I shrugged. “Could she have been using? I wouldn’t have known.”

“When will her body be released so that my client can plan for her burial?”

Thank God that Barry was there, because I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I would have to bury my mom. My dad had mentioned when he was officially divorced, six months after he kicked my mom out. That meant she had to have been alive then for that to happen. His being divorced from her made the burial my problem though since I was her only remaining family.

“Autopsy is already complete, should be able to release the remains to the funeral home of your choosing within the next day or two.”

I nodded. “I guess I’ll have to figure out a place and…” I felt a little sick to my stomach and numb all at once. “You said remains. It’s been years, so I’m assuming there’s no need for…” I choked up.

“Momma! Yous okay?”

“Fine baby,” I tried to make it believable, but my voice cracked.

Declan turned around and narrowed his gaze on Lieutenant Shaffer then. “You made my momma cry!” He yelled at the man, as if he was already big enough to jump over the table and make the idiot bleed for messing with his momma’s emotions.

“It’s okay, Declan. Momma’s just sad because her mommy went away and she’s not coming back.”

“That’s not nice.” My baby looked panicked for a moment. “You won’t go away from me?”

“Never!” I reassured him. “Never, baby.”

“Are we done here then?” Barry asked.

“Yes,” Lieutenant Shaffer dropped a business card onto the table between us. “If you can think of anything that might help, like who your mom was having the affair with, or whether you remember things about her possible drug use, it would be helpful. Though, we think it was a matter of accidental overdose at this point and that Mr. Thompson simply didn’t want any trouble and took care of the issue himself.”

I received a knowing look, as if there was some conspiracy in what he said that I should know about. I just stared at him, because there was nothing else that I could help with. Barry picked up the card and stuck it in the pocket of his trousers before helping me and Declan up so he could escort us out of the building.

One thing I knew for sure though was that if my mother had been buried on Bridge’s farm, my father and Boone already knew about it and they’d both kept that information from me. I wasn’t sure if Merc knew too, but I was going to get to the bottom of it sooner than later.

As we were leaving the police station, Merc was there bursting through the doors. “Lily!” He called out the moment he saw me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Some asshole cop just came by the clubhouse looking for Rob. Said they had you in custody down here. What the fuck is going on?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No, when they said they had you I hauled ass over here to get your ass out of jail and make sure Declan was taken care of and not dumped in foster care.”

“Thank you,” I whispered because at least he had been thinking of our son in that regard. It hadn’t occurred to me that could ever be a possibility. I squeezed my son a little tighter at the thought.

“What’s going on?”

“Can we talk at home?”

“Yeah, come on,” he said before noticing the man trailing me. “Who the fuck are you?”

“My lawyer,” I said before Barry could.

“You have a lawyer?” Merc asked, sounding stunned.

“I do now,” was my only response. We were on better grounds now than we ever had been, but that didn’t mean I trusted anyone to know about my books or finances. It was my only failsafe to get out from under the life I was living if it ever became too much, and honestly, knowing that my father might have hidden the fact that my mom was dead – for years – might just be the thing to push me. If only Merc was still being his dickish, selfish self these days.

24 – Buried Away

Lily

When we got home, my father and Boone were there waiting. Luckily for them, they hadn’t seen fit to let themselves into my home.

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