Page 44 of From West, With Regret

She runs her manicured fingers through my hair, meeting my eyes with hers. “But I fell in love with your eyes when the adoption agency showed us your picture. They were the brightest shade of blue. Like staring at the ocean.” Her reminiscent smile deflates and her gaze falls. “I wanted my Heath to have a brother, and when we adopted you, we were able to give him that.”

The idea that I was in a sick, twisted way a gift for Heath rather than my parents makes me ill. A crack forms in my heart, realizing the change in Glenna since Heath’s death. I can see the vacancy growing in her eyes.

“But you two never could get along, could you?” She steps back, allowing her hand to fall away.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part.” I grind my teeth as my temple pulsates. “What does any of this have to do with London?”

I study my mother, wondering if she knows London and I were raised in the same foster home. It was only for a few short years, so I doubt she knows, but I don’t know how detailed my records were.

She backs away and spins around, trailing her fingers over the marble entryway table. She runs her hand over her white stole, the strands of fur collapsing under her touch. Glancing over her shoulder, she inhales heavily.

“I spoke with your brother’s lawyers.”

My face pales, and my heart jolts. “Okay…” I narrow my eyes.

My mother waves her hand flippantly. “Are you familiar with Mercedes Rhodes?”

“No. Why would I know who Mercedes Rhodes is?”

“Right.” She purses her lips. “You and Heath hadn’t talked in, what was it? Ten years?”

I huff and my nostrils flare. Suddenly, my mother feelscold and distant. Completely different from the woman admiring my eyes only seconds earlier.

“Who the fuck is Mercedes Rhodes?” I sigh. “Get to the point, Mother.”

A flip is switched, and I see the true reason for her visit. We’ve reached the point where the finish line is in sight. The one she’s been dragging me toward since she opened her lipstick-painted lips. What was once love and admiration for me has completely evaporated. It’s now replaced with anger and indignation.

“Mercedes Rhodes has been handling all of your brother’s financial accounts, investments, and interests in the wake of his death.” Her voice is entirely too cheerful to match the words coming out of her mouth. “I spoke with her because I was curious to know whether London would be staying in the apartment in Boston. According to his will, your brother requested that once she were to speak at his funeral, she was never to return.”

“Return?”

“To Boston.” She shrugs a shoulder. “Days after the funeral, Mercedes told London she wasn’t to return to her home—the one she shared with Heath. He instructed the locks to be changed and all London’s belongings to be shipped away to wherever it was she decided to stay.”

She says it as if she assumes London would have somewhere to stay when being kicked out of her own home. Either that or she doesn’t care.

Most likely the latter.

Though I’m still not fully understanding what Heath’s end goal would be. I know the truth about Heath. London told me the day she stumbled into my bar, and even if I did question the validity of her claims, which I never did, I definitely wouldn’t be questioningthem now.

White-hot anger floods my veins. What the fuck kind of husband kicks their wife out after their death and leaves them with absolutely nothing? I thought what London told me about Heath was awful, but this is next level.

“Sounds fucked up if you ask me.” I try to tamp down my anger, but it’s increasingly more difficult the more I think about what Heath has done to London.

Impatience boils over in Glenna’s expression. Her already pink-dusted cheeks redden even further. “If your brother wanted her expelled from every aspect of his life in his death, he clearly wanted her as far away from our family as possible. Now, I’m curious to know his reason why, but I knew my son well enough to never question his intentions.” Her lips are tight. “If he didn’t want London to receive any financial support or otherwise after his death, there must be a reason. And if he was cutting her off, then we have no reason to keep her around.”

“Right.” I nod, grinding my jaw so tight it feels like I’ve cracked my teeth. “Because everything Heath did was for a reason, Mother.” I close the gap, my protective nature for London clawing its way up through my neck and out of my mouth. “Did you ever think Heath was just a fucking asshole? Did you ever think that he was, quite possibly, a terrible husband who never did anything unless it served him and only him?”

Widening her eyes, she takes a step back. Her arms are now at her sides, hands curled into two tight fists. “I knew it,” her venomous voice draws out.

“Knew what?”

“You would take her side over your family’s.” Tears line her lashes, but she never lets them spill. She puffs her chest out, and the scent of her overpriced perfume stings my nose. “Whatever she said about Heath is a lie. For all we know, she could have been lying to us all along. Maybe Heath found out the truthabout her past. Maybe she was faking all this amnesia so she could sneak her way into our family and steal all his money. What if it’s a story she made up in her head?” She stabs her red-painted, pointy nail to her temple.

What the fuck?

I curl my lip, barring my teeth. I can’t help it. My vision turns red. My mother seems to forget I was raised in a dozen different foster homes, and I’ve dealt with manipulative, arrogant people like her before. I’m no stranger to what people can do when they feel they have all the power or think anyone who is an outsider has other intentions.

I’m thankful for the boost Glenna gave me to get where I am today, but no amount of manipulation will get me to take her side over London’s. I won’t put up with it.

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