Page 72 of Bitter Desire
There was no reason for him to pretend anymore. He’s gotten his piece of the club. His place among the pantheon that ruled it. He wouldn’t take me with him. Even if he did, I wouldn’t go to him, couldn’t force myself to even take a step towards the man I’d given my entire heart to.
The second Law cleared the door, my mother made her move.
“I think it’s sweet you thought a man like that,” she inclined her head, “would want a woman like you, Honey. You always were such a stupid girl.”
I clenched my eyes shut and took in a deep breath. “What the hell did you come here for? Why are you here? Why did you get him involved?” I couldn’t bear to say his name, give voice or words to the man that had just broken my heart. The man that had seen me as nothing but a means to an end—a way to earn a reward that went far beyond money. He’d taken me and traded me for power.
“I told you,” she said. “I came here to protect you. Over the past few years I’ve watched you move from mistake to mistake. You needed someone to set you straight, and I was the only one that could do it.”
My eyes snapped open and I stared at her, my shock plain on my face. “You’ve been here for years?”
She nodded. “You didn’t think you were the only one that could survive New York, did you? I came out after the last time I saw you. If you were limping along like that, I knew I could thrive here, and I was right. This city has been nothing but good to me.” She moved close to Zeus, putting a hand on his arm as she said this, and I understood her meaning plainly.
She’d found a man powerful enough to make her dreams come true.
Finally.
And she’d been here to watch mine turn his back on me.
I let out a bitter laugh and wrapped my arms around myself, an arm curling around my stomach in an effort to keep the sickness I felt brewing in my body at bay. If I didn’t I was going to throw up all over this fucking marble floor.
I swallowed thickly. “I’ve been fine. I don’t need you. I don’t need either of you.” My eyes moved to Zeus and the man made a pitying sound.
“Oh, flower. I know you’re upset now, but in time you’ll see…”
“In time I’ll see what?” I asked, shaking my head. “Did you know someone’s been after me?”
“That’s why your dear mother hired that man out there to keep you safe,” he said, still too close for my liking. I moved away from him and towards the wall of books. I was getting further away from the door, but it was distance from him and the sharp-eyed woman that I’d thought I had left behind. “She moved as soon as she picked up you were in trouble. Seeing as we are...old friends,” I shivered at the tone, the meaning, I heard in those two words, “it only made sense that she came to me for help. I regret that Lawson got carried away with his duty but seeing you now I can’t blame the man.”
“Stop fucking coming on to my kid and get to the part where I’m paid.”
Zeus sighed heavily, lips turning in disgust at her words. “One track fucking mind with you, Rosario.”
“I want my cash. You got what you wanted. Man’s gone and now she’s here. What the hell you want with her, I don’t know. She’s always been useless.”
Zeus hummed and tilted his head, looking at my mom through narrowed eyes. “You were always so short-sighted, Rosario. It’s one of the reasons we never quite gelled.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Where’s my cash?”
I watched a sea of emotions wash over Zeus’s face. His eyes went dark, and I felt the same frightening vibe Law had put off only minutes before, but my mother didn’t so much as flinch. She met Zeus head on and I felt my knees go weak. I was not my mother’s daughter, the mantra I had repeated to myself until I believed it, was here on full display.
I’d never have been able to look at him the way she was. I put a hand out, bracing myself against the books at my back, holding myself up.
“We’ll finish this discussion in private. It’s...unseemly to do it in front of your daughter. She needs rest.”
Her eyes flashed. “Who fucking cares what she needs? I need to get-”
“I care.” Zeus’s voice was quiet, but my mother fell silent at the simple two words. “This is my world, Rosario. And Honey is my guest. I do not conduct business in front of my guests.” Her lips pulled into a sneer but my mother said nothing, standing silent as Zeus reached out a hand beckoning to the wall. I stared at him, not sure if he was meaning for me to come forward, but before I could, a man dressed in black glided out from the same doorway Law had vanished through.
“See her to a suite. She needs to rest. Give her whatever she asks for.”
The man nodded his head and turned to me, but I was frozen. I wanted to run from this place, but the truth was I had nowhere to go. I had my apartment, but I couldn’t go there. Not now. I didn’t want to be alone. I couldn’t even bear the thought of getting there let alone spending time in the quiet space.
It was a place, yes, but it wasn't home. Home had walked out the door.
Home did not exist. Not for me, and it never would. This was as good as it got for someone like me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and fell in to step behind the man.
