Page 37 of Protecting His Woman
“Yeah, it is.I can only do so much.Even for your sister and your brother.This is now up to Frank.It’s not up to me.”
The two boys nodded.Then they left, and Damion couldn’t fucking believe everything he had been told.All of this was fucking shit.
Annette was a piece of fucking work.
Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Neil’s number.He needed to make sure Annette was not going to be a fucking problem to any more kids.The woman had always been a piece of work, but after what he had learned, he now knew she was even worse than he could have imagined.
“What’s up?”Neil asked.“If you tell me you’re getting cold feet, I’m going to kill you.”
“You’ve still got Annette, right?You haven’t sold her.”
There was silence on the line.
“Damn it, Neil, that woman is a fucking hazard—”
“She’s dead,” Neil said.
Damion was silent.“How?”
“Simple, I had her in withdrawal, with the intention of cleaning her up.Figured that is where it all went wrong for her.She didn’t like what I was doing and broke into my supplies.Took the wrong stuff, and we found her dead from an overdose three days ago,” Neil said.“She’d rather get fucked up than consider being with her kids again.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t know how to tell Vicki.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Damion said, and hung up the phone.
****
It was the day beforethe wedding.
Vicki watched as Delphine poured another large glass of wine.She wasn’t interested in drinking and was still nursing the first drink the other woman had given her.Betsy was having her hair braided, and Dhalia was enjoying little sips of her glass of wine.Over the years, with the way her mother was, making friends wasn’t exactly easy for her.No one wanted to be around her because of her mother.
The news of her mother’s death didn’t surprise her.What did surprise her was the fact she didn’t seem to care.Yeah, that freaked her out just a smidge.She didn’t care, and in fact, there was a tiny slither of relief mixed in as well.
Her mother was dead and that meant she could no longer harm any of them.They were free.There was no fear of her arriving at night, drunk or drugged, with men whose names she didn’t even know.
Her siblings also hadn’t cried over the death of their mother.Years of being let down, bullied, and at times, attempted to be used just to serve her needs, had taken their toll.No one loved Annette anymore, and she would not be missed.
Pushing thoughts of her mother out of her mind, she took another sip of her wine.She wasn’t too sure on the taste, but she wasn’t about to spoil her night.Delphine had insisted on having a girls’ night of just the four of them before she got married.
“Are you scared?”Delphine asked.
Vicki tucked some of her hair behind her ear.“Of what?”
“Of getting married?Settling down, doing all that good stuff?”
She smiled.“No, I’m not scared.I love Damion, and marrying him is going to be a dream come true.”
“She’s going to be Damion’s queen,” Betsy said, looking mighty proud of herself.
She couldn’t help but chuckle and pull her baby sister into her arms.She blew a raspberry on her cheek, and Betsy laughed.
Delphine chuckled.“What about you?Nervous for your sister?”
Dhalia shook her head.“Nah, Damion’s a great guy.”
“That I will toast to,” Delphine said.They raised their glasses, which included a soda for Betsy, and they clinked their glasses together and took a nice long sip.
