Page 18 of A Secret Promise

Vixen slowly shook her head. "I'm not quite sure—-"

"Stop pretending," Beatriz spat. "The difference between us is obvious. You'renice,unlikeme.You'resonice you have both my own daughter and ex treating me like I'm a monster out to eat you."

"I'm sure it's not—-"

"But you know what's really funny?" Beatriz asked with a sneer. "I may be a monster compared to you, but there's someone worse than me—-"

"Mom, you promised!"

Vixen instinctively rose to her feet at the way Riley rushed into the living room. The younger girl didn't just look horribly upset. She also appeared terrified, but of what?

"You were the one who said it yourself, darling." Beatriz remained seated even though her cheeks were flushed with anger. "Vixen is a nice girl—-"

"Stop it, Mom!"

"And nice girls deserve the truth." Beatriz's furious gaze snapped to Vixen. "Don't you think so, too?"

Vixen was torn between wanting to comfort Riley and trying to calm Beatriz down, whose fury wasn't enough to mask her own pain.

"I may be no angel like you," Beatriz snarled, "but Rule's more like a devil than I can ever be."

"Mom, please!"

Riley burst into tears, but it was as if her mother was lost in a storm of rage of her own making.

"I bet he didn't tell you the real reason he came to move here!"

Vixen only managed to take one step towards Riley before the other woman spun her around.

"Listen to me, you idiot! Rule is not who you think he is. Are you hearing me? He's afraud.He's the real monster here, and that's why he was fired from his own company!"

"MOM!"

A still-sobbing Riley tried pulling her mother away, but this only made Beatriz tighten her grip on Vixen's arm.

"He played around with other people's money, Vixen. And his last one lost them a hundred million. People lost their jobs, their homes—-people losteverythingbecause of his ego. Are you sure you still want a man like that?"

Six

RULE KNEW RIGHT AWAYsomething was wrong the moment he pulled up the driveway and saw his daughter already waiting for him outside their home.

She rushed up to him and started speaking even when he had barely gotten out of his car. "You need to call Vixen, Dad."

The moment he heard Riley mention her name, he knew right away that Beatriz had caused trouble again. But even though this had Rule feeling sick to his stomach—-

"You need to talk to her, and—-"

His daughter came first, always.

"Riley, slow down."

"But you don't understand, Dad!Momwas so—-"

Rule pulled his daughter into his arms when she started crying.

"It's going to be okay, alright? So calm down, and then we'll talk about this properly."

Riley's body gradually stopped shaking, and Rule took a step back. "Better?"

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