Page 78 of Hateful Union

“Ray—” Bentley begins but I raise a hand and stop him from saying anything more.

I swipe through my phone until I reach her number and hit dial. Holding the phone to my ear, I wait for her to answer.

“Raylee,” she says, shock coating her words.

“We understand that what happened to you was horrendous and that you need time to heal. But you’re our mum, you’ve forgotten about us,” I hiss my anger rising. How dare she say that she doesn’t want anything to do with my child because of who his father is. “We needed you and you weren’t here for us.”

The weeks after Bentely and I were taken, my brother suffered the worst. I had Malcolm who beat back the nightmares. Bentley didn’t have that, I tried to be there for him but he couldn’t get past everything that had happened.

"Now you expect us to see you, yet you can't be bothered to come to us? No, that's not how this is going to happen. When you decide to be a mum again, let us know. Until then. I hope you have a good life." I take a calming breath. "Oh, and as for my child being a Gallagher. Good, at least he'll know how to protect his kids." I end the call not letting her get another word out. I can't believe her. How dare she judge Malcolm. She doesn't know him. She witnessed how protective he was of me when she came to mine and Gabby's villa.

Bentley's chuckle has me frowning. "Did you even let her speak?"

I give him the middle finger. "Did I say anything that wasn't true?" My brothers shake their heads. "Was I wrong to say what I did?" Again, they shake their heads. "If you want to have a relationship with her, that's up to you. But right now, I can't deal with her and her selfishness."

Kiro chuckles. "I forgot how pissy you can get. But you were right, whenever she decides to be a mum again, she can contact me, until then, I don't want to speak to her. I'm sick to death of her bitching about Dad and how much of an arsehole he was."

"Yeah, like we need a reminder. She wasn't here to deal with the aftermath of what he wrought. Had she stayed around she'd have realized just how much we were affected by it," Jake grumbles. "If she tells me I'm like my father once more, I'm going to go to Gran Canaria and—"

"Snap her neck?" I input.

Bentley throws his head back and laughs. "Drown her?"

"Decapitate her?" Kiro adds.

"Jesus, you are all blood thirsty little shits." Jake shakes his head, but the smile on his face tells me that he's not in the slightest bit upset. "No you fucking idiots, although, they all have merits."

"Mum's made her bed, Jakey boy," Bentley says. "Now she has to lie in it. She can't expect us to be fine with her decision."

"She'll be back when she needs something," I tell them. I highly doubt that she'll be able to stay away from us. She'll need money and for that she'll have to go to my brothers.

"She'll go to Wayne or Francis," Jake says with a shake of his head.

"Nope, they told her to fuck off too," Bentley informs us and I can't help but smile.

Good, now she'll understand just what she's done. Having her entire family pull back and leave her be will surely show her that she fucked up.

"This is Antonella we're talking about. The woman who lied to us for our entire lives just for her own personal gain," Kiro growls. "I don't for a second believe the bullshit she spewed about working for the cops for that long. No, she's done all this for herself."

That's something that we as siblings haven't come to an agreement. Wayne and Francis are in agreement with Kiro, while Bentley, Jake, and I believe her story. Maybe we're naive in doing so, but I don't have a reason not to. I think I prefer to believe she's telling the truth, not to know that both my parents are absolute bastards.

"Enough about her," Bentley says. "Let's get back to why you stayed behind and didn't go with your husband."

I roll my eyes. "For the hundredth time. Malcolm isn't my husband."

My brothers all grumble. "Well don't you think he should get a move on and do something about it?" Kiro growls. "He's taking his sweet time."

I cross my arms over my chest. Great. They're all ganging up on me now. "Mine and Malcolm's relationship is none of your business."

"That is where you're wrong Ray-Ray. Everything that you do is our business," Bentley says, there's no anger in his voice, but his eyes are filled with concern. "Why is the arsehole not marrying you?"

I glare at him. "Don't call him an arsehole. Look, right now, we're focusing on the baby's arrival and I'm happy, okay? I'm actually really happy."

None of them look best pleased but they all nod. "Fine, we'll leave it alone, but once our nephew is born, he'd better put a ring on your finger," Kiro tells me, his eyes narrowed as I smile sweetly at him. "No." He wags his finger. "Don't look at me with that sweet as pie smile. It doesn't work on me anymore. Remember?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just glad that you're all here and that I can spend time with you."

Bentley's eyes narrow. "Now back to the question at hand. Why are you here and not with Gallagher?"

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