Page 95 of Reclaim (Deadly Hearts 3)

ChapterForty-Four

Ruby

I glance down at Declan. “You okay?”

He grunts his response and gets to his feet.

I rise and turn to my mom. “Coming into my house and shooting one of my men is not acceptable.”

She shoots a scathing look in my direction. “He is a fucking predator. We trusted him and he took advantage of that.”

“No, he didn’t. I am twenty-six, I know what I’m doing. Probably more so than any other twenty-six-year-old woman out there. So don’t give me that bullshit.”

“He is ten years older than you!”

“And Alex is about the same with you, plus you met him when you were younger than me. You can’t come in here all sanctimonious. I won’t allow it. Now, if you don’t mind…” I turn to my other men, just in time to see Cillian stagger into the sitting room, his hand to his head.

I hear the click and turn to my mother, diving for the gun, she’s aiming at another one of my lovers.

“Don’t even think about it,” I growl, shoving my hand onto the top of it and forcing it down.

“There’s two of them?” She balks. “Jesus, Ruby!”

“His name is Cillian. That’s Ramsey and Layton. You already know David, and Declan. Guys, this is my mom, Cassandra Bellingham.”

“Hi again!” David chirps, causing me to look over at him.

He and Layton are standing by the window, their hands half raised as if they’re in the middle of a stick up.

Mom grimaces at him. “You have some explaining to do,” she says to me.

“How are you here so quickly?” I ask instead.

She huffs, as Ramsey edges forward to help Declan. “You have been dodging my calls for weeks. So here I am, to see if you are still alive…only to discover one of my husbands is already here behind my back, engaging in whatever nefarious activities you’ve gotten him involved in.”

“What?” I blurt out. “Me? You know what he does.”

“Used to do,” Rex murmurs.

I shoot him a death stare. So much for having my back.

“Hmm. And now it seems you have followed him into the darkness. Ruby…we wanted better than this for you.”

“Better? I’m great. You don’t need to worry about me slumming it. I have everything and everyone I want, right here.”

“And yet you’ve managed to get yourself into some dire shit, Rubes. Not to mention, this cunt who decided to send me a video of you and him engaging in some pretty interesting behavior.” If looks could kill, we’d be burying Declan in the hole outside.

“How did you know she sent it?” I ask curiously.

“I also have a David,” she says haughtily. “It didn’t take long for him to track it down.”

“Oh,” I murmur. “Look, what is on that video isn’t any of your business…”

“It is when you’re confessing to murder,” she hisses.

I roll my eyes. “So what? It was only sent to you, and you are clearly no stranger to the dark side.”

“Actually, I sent it to a few more people than just your parents,” Giselle pipes up. I’d practically forgotten she was there.

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