Page 49 of Hers To Keep

“Maxwell’s been out of town for years now,” Ace answers brashly, tightening his grip on me.Weird.

“Yes, I’ve been away from home for many years now. Hillcrest Hills is not a place I’m very fond of,” he says rather anxiously.

“So what brings you back?” I ask, “Well other than the obvious,” I add looking around the room.

“We had some catching up to do.”

“Familial affairs.”

Lilith says, at the same time Maxwell answers.

“Well, whatever the reason may be, welcome home, Mr. Smoak. If it wouldn’t be too much to ask, I’d like a moment alone with Lil, I mean my mother.” I turn to Ace, silently asking him to step in.

“Maxwell, why don’t we go get you a refill, single malt Johnny Walker, just like your brother?” he asks, as Maxwell reluctantly looks between us but moves to leave with Ace, leaving my mother and I alone.

I turn and watch them walk off not noticing my mother is trying to do the same.

“Not so fast, mummy dearest. We need to talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you, little girl,” she sneers, eying me harshly as her eyes roam over me. “Well, it looks like you’re not a little girl anymore, are you? Is your little toy treating you right?” she asks snidely.

“Like you’d care,” I sneer, my blood boiling within me at her blatant indifference.

“Or are you upset because you just found out that you’re just his plaything?”

I’m livid now, my hands fisted at my side. She brings the worst out of me, the part of me I suppress deep down. “You know nothing about Ace and me!” I shout, causing a few glances to come our way.

She moves toward me draping her arm around my shoulder, guiding me further into the room to a more private area. “Oh my darling daughter, you’re a fool,” she whispers against my ear as I shrug out of her hold. “After what you saw him do, what you know he’s capable of, where he comes from, you’re still by his side. I guess we might have something in common after all.”

“I am nothing like you.”

“Oh but you are, more than you’d like and definitely more than you’d ever care to admit. You’ll soon come to realize that these men in this world, they see us as nothing more than a pastime. You’ll never get your happily ever after with him,” she looks behind me to where Carrington stands beside Ace talking to Maxwell Smoak. “Unlike girls like her, who are bred for men like him.” Her words cut deep like a knife scraping at the corners of my heart. I’m not sure if it’s because of the hatred I see in her eyes as she looks at me, or the realization that what she says may be true. Everything between Ace and I has thus far been a struggle. The obstacles we’ve had to cross, the challenges we face, the evil we need to overcome. It almost feels impossible to have a happy ending after all that’s happened.

“Why are you here?” I ask, choosing to not further contemplate the idea of losing Ace. “What is this place to you, your connection to Wesley Servite?”

“Things are not as simple as you hope.”

“Why are you answering my every question with one of your own? Evading me won’t be any easier. I won’t stop until I have answers. Do you know how it feels to know absolutely nothing of your life, about who you are? That everything I thought I was, I’m not. That the life I thought I was punished with, is nothing like the hell I am now living?”

“I understand more than you’d ever believe. I may not have been honest about where I come from, about what I’ve done, but it doesn’t mean that you’d understand what I’ve lived through. You think yourself all high and mighty now that you have him at your side, you think yourself a saint because you’ve not seen the horrors of what real life is like. But you’re no angel, my darling daughter, you’re a naïve fool who thinks because she’s been dealt some tough shit, you’re the poster child for pain and sorrow. You have no idea what I’ve lived through, what I’ve had to endure because of you. Now you’re here demanding more from me. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, dear, but I have nothing else to give to you. Not now, not ever.”

Tears burn at my eyes as I watch this woman, my mother, look at me with a hateful look. “Then answer me just this one question. If you ever for a second cared for me, if you’ve ever felt for me anything other than hatred and utter disdain, answer me this one thing. Why is he after me?”

“I don’t have the answers you’re looking for, but you’ll find out soon enough. You’re getting dangerously close to uncovering the truth. If I were a decent mother, if I cared, I’d warn you off. This is perilous territory you’re approaching, my dear. But I’m not and I don’t; but I will tell you this.” She moves closer to me, taking my hands in hers. Her eyes turn solemn for a moment as she gazes intently at me, looking deep into my eyes. “Don’t trust him. Whatever it is he tells you, you’re better off believing it’s all a lie.” She walks away, toward a hidden door in the back of the room, disappearing from sight.

Her words heed a genuine warning, the most honest thing I think she’s ever said to me. But as I turn back around and find Ace staring back at me, a look of confusion upon his face as he stands beside Maxwell Smoak and Carrington, I’m not sure who she’s warning me away from.

Should I not trust Wesley Servite, or Ace?

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

SCARLETT

Don’t trust him. Whatever it is he tells you, you’re better off believing it’s all a lie.

Her words have haunted my dreams for almost a week, my body awakening in a cold sweat while in my mind I saw her face, and the pleased look upon it as she walked away.

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