Page 105 of Heads You Lose (Grim & Beast Duet 2)

“Kate, just go. Let me handle this.”

“No!” I hold my hand up, stopping Beast in his tracks.

“YourFord’smother, Mary, right?” I ask, like I don’t know, because of course she is.

She nods, her eyes a little wild now as she waves her hand around, holding onto the doll with one arm. “He’s my son but I don’t love him. Not like I love my little Kitty Kat.”

“Why don’t you love him?” I ask, feeling sick, feeling like the whole fucking universe is falling down around me.

“His father was a bastard. A liar and a cheat. Ford is just like his father.”

My heart thumps inside my chest “Carter is his dad?”

She throws her head back and laughs. “No, not him.”

“But Kitty Kat,she’shis daughter?” I press, forcing myself to switch off my emotions, to remain cold, detached.

“Yes. He took her. My darling girl. She was such a good baby. Happy.” Mary smiles then, and beneath the blood and the grime and the years of drug abuse I can see the shadow of the woman she once was, the woman my dad might’ve been attracted to once upon a time. “She slept so well, and when she woke up all she did was smile and laugh.”

“You loved her?” I whisper as Beast steps beside me and rests his hand on my shoulder in a silent show of support.

“Yes, with my whole heart.”

“But you don’t love your son?”

She snarls, her lip curling up, her cruelty revealing itself. “He was sickly. He would cry! He would never shut the fuck up!” she screeches, her grasp on the doll tighter now.

“What happened to your daughter?”

“I told you. He took her from me.”

“Carter Davidson?” I repeat, needing to be sure. Hoping she’ll say another name. Any fucking name.

“Yes. He fucked me, got me pregnant, then when he found out about her, he came to my flat and he stole her from me.”

“Why didn’t you try to stop him?” I ask, feeling nauseous.

She laughs bitterly. “No one stops Carter Davidson. He’s to blame for all of this. For everything!” she shouts, her gentleness replaced with anger as she flings the doll out of her hands.

I catch it, hugging it to my chest, my protective instincts forcing my arms to hold it tight. It’s fucking ridiculous. I know it’s a doll, but I feel the need to protect it from her nethertheless.

“Kate, let me finish this,” Beast says, grasping my shoulder in his hand, giving me another reassuring squeeze. I register his touch, but I don’t feel it.

“No. It’s okay,” I say, knowing it isn’t. Knowing that this is a truth I don’t want to believe, that I refuse to believe. This woman can’t be my mother. She fuckingcan’t.

“Did the King put you up to this?” I ask, anger rushing like fire through my veins. “Is that why you killed Rodriguez because you didn’t get what you wanted out of the deal, huh?”

“No. I killed him because he wanted to hurtmy baby.”

“Your baby is all grown up now!” I spit and she flinches, shaking her head.

“No. No. She’s only been gone a few months. My little Kitty Kat. My girl. My Katie.”

Bile burns the back of my throat and I swallow it down, but I can’t hide the fact my hands are shaking and I can’t hide the tears that are spilling over my lashes for this empty shell of a woman, for that little girl she loved, for Ford who has never filled the void, and for me.

I swipe them away angrily, hating myself for fucking crying for this woman, this monster.

“Rodriguez said he would kill my baby. Said he had people who could hurt her,” she whines, hugging herself as she rocks her body. “I had to do it. I had to protect her.”

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