Page 67 of Wickedly Played
“Baby,” I murmur. “Do you know Dr. Murray?”
She nods. “How did you find me?”
Dr. Murray straightens her back and pushes her hair over her shoulders. “Max is the one who reached out to me. I didn’t know you still lived in the Metro Detroit area.”
My girl nods, turning her head to look at me. “You know, don’t you?”
Fuck me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
SERENA
Have you ever had a bad dream? An actual night terror that scares you from your subconscious? I’ve had those my whole life, and they revolve around this woman and what she stands for. I remember Glenna Murray. I could never forget her for as long as I lived. The woman is a fantastic doctor, but she’s a stone-cold killer.
Murray had been my father’s go-to doctor when something was needed in his syndicate. She would spend hours at our home fixing my dad’s men, who took shots and a beating in one of their wars they had out on the streets. Some of the battles were fought silently, and no one knew who had the upper hand until a shot was fired from a sniper.
I’ve been in a couple of these scrimmages. I have watched my father kill a man by sticking his fingers through the other man’s eye sockets to yank them out. I was there when he placed a man’s mouth on the curb and then stomped on his skull with his boot. I remember every hit that I was forced to watch to scare me into submission. To terrify me to the point I would never want to leave.
Luckily, I was able to leave after a few of my father’s men explained that a price tag was placed over my head. Dadreluctantly let me go with the promise of never returning to their turf again. I kept that promise the whole time. He’s the one who reaches out to me. I haven’t contacted him since I left, and my marriage dissolved.
Each missed phone call from him would only end in the same way if I had answered the phone. He’s going to convince me to come back to the compound. He’s going to guilt-trip me into taking another husband to produce more heirs to the throne. The sad thing is, if I were to have a son with one of his men, that son would have more power than I. As a woman, I knew my place long before I started my period. My worth was only measured by the number of sons I could bear for my husband.
“Sweetness,” Max begs me. “Look at me right now!”
I can’t look at him. Shaking my head, I roll into the couch cushion to hide.
Stella rubs my back. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t.”
Max makes a noise in his chest that sounds like a growl. “Dr. Murray, what is going on?”
She scoffs. “If Serena wants you to know, she will tell you. Serena, could I tell your friends what you were given?”
“Jesus. What is happening?” Stella demands.
“Yes, please. Then kindly get the fuck out,” I command.
“It has been long enough, sweetie. I’ve been worried about you all of this time,” she lies.
Glenna only cares about herself. She only cares about what she can get from the situation, and I have seen it happen. I have seen her pillage a compound. This woman is pure evil.
I roll back over to look at her. “I’ve been right here. I don’t know how you could have been worried about me when I have been here!”
My bodyguard gathers me in his arms to arrange me to sit on his lap with my back to his chest. “Let’s hear what she has to say, and then we can move from there,” he tries to reason with me.
If my strength hadn’t diminished, I would have punched him in his stomach. “Fine,” I acquiesce.
“I see you are still very much the mafia princess we all said you would turn out to be,” Dr. Murray snaps back. “I don’t know why I came over here. You’ve always been a spoiled brat.”
She could have called me acunt,or something worse than that, and it would have hurt less. I’ve been called amafia princessfor my whole life, and I hate it. I never wanted anything from my father except for him to be a father to me. I didn’t care about the extravagant lifestyle he boasted. I just wanted him to be a dad.
Pushing off of Max, I wobble a little on my feet, but I level my shoulders. “Glenna, I don’t know why you came here, either. I have a feeling you came to report back to my father that my life is falling apart without his protection. I don’t need his protection. I’m doing fine on my own.”
My hands are shaking from rage. Glenna had always been protected by my father for her silence and ability to be available whenever he needed her. It was later that I found out she and my dad were hooking up on the side. My mother knew of the betrayal but couldn’t say anything out of fear for her life.
I never wanted to live that way. Yet, I still walked down the aisle to one of his men. I still pledged my love to him even though he didn’t love me back. Glenna was there each time my ex-husband hit me. She was there to patch up my wounds, set bones that had been broken, and ensure I was going to live. No one wanted to report back to the Don that his daughter had died from one of his men.
