Page 65 of Black Mark's Heart

Nigel and Sienna were upstairs next to the rumpus room and my music room, which was perfectly situated over my bedroom, so I wouldn't wake the kids while practicing. Unfortunately, this separation made it hard to get all four kids down to bed at once.

We walked up to the second floor where Timothy was sprawled on the floor, Henry and Jacob roughhousing with him, while Sienna and Nigel were having a pillow fight on the sofa.

"Enough!" Rebecca yelled. The kids all stopped instantly. "Sienna and Nigel, clean your teeth and go to bed now. Tim, go settle Henry to sleep," Rebecca directed. I smirked, picking up Jacob, who tried to run and hide. He was lightning fast when he got his speed up. Both he and Henry were of a size, Tim being just a little bit shorter but probably broader than Darius.

"You heard the boss," Tim laughed. "Let's go, Henry."

Once the kids were settled and confirmed asleep, not just pretending, the three of us retired to the lounge room. "So, what are you doing for your birthday next week, Mora?" Rebecca asked.

I gave her a sad smile. "I was supposed to be attending the Halloween Ball my father throws," I informed them. "However, since I've sort of run away, and it would be the official deadline for the ultimatum I gave your brother, I'm thinking I'll stay home and drown myself in a bottle of wine instead."

"You're pregnant," Rebecca reminded me.

"Yeah, I know. I was thinking of adding it to the bath water and bathing in it," I laughed.

"What was the ultimatum?" Timothy asked.

"To choose me," I muttered. My hand automatically drifted to my prominent belly. "To choose us."

Rebecca teared up. Tim shrugged, "He might still. You should go to the ball."

Rebecca elbowed her husband. "Get off it, Tim. He will always choose Lynwood. You know that. Don't give her false hope."

Tim rubbed his ribs. "I'm just saying. Dare has no way to contact her. If he did choose her, and she doesn't go to the ball, how will he tell her?"

"He could find her if he wanted to," Rebecca grumbled.

"How?" Tim asked. "Even her family don't know where she is."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "She's been performing still. It wouldn't take much to search her name and find where she'll be performing. He pays child support, he could follow where the payments are being withdrawn..."

"I closed the account," I cut in. "So he can't do that."

"What?" Rebecca frowned. "Why did you do that?"

"I took Jacob and left. He shouldn't be paying for a child he can't see. I closed the account and opened a new one so his money couldn't go in."

"Would he know that yet?" Rebecca asked astounded.

"He was paying on the first of each month. The bank would have notified him three weeks ago that my account no longer existed."

"Why are you turning down his money?" Rebecca was gobsmacked.

"I just explained..."

"I know what you said. Mora, he chose that money over you. You should damn well take a piece of it," Rebecca looked appalled.

"Bex," Timothy warned. "She's trying to be nice, and the guilt of taking Jacob away is probably worse if she still takes the money."

Well, at least someone understood.

"She got nothing out of that marriage except heartache and his brats to take care of." Rebecca smacked Timothy's leg. "Not that Jacob is a brat," she quickly excused. "You should at least get something after all this."

"I have Jacob and I'll have number two," I tried to reassure her. "That's enough for me."

"Relax, Bex," Timothy crooned. "He'll just put it in trust like he did for our kids."

Rebecca huffed, "That doesn't help her now."

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