Page 107 of Forever Yours

A man came around the corner, so similar in looks to Justin, even though I knew they weren’t related at all. Same dark hair, except his was sprinkled with salt and pepper at his temples. Same brown eyes. Same cleft chin.

He walked toward me, obscenely white teeth on display when he smiled.

“You should have announced you were back,” he admonished April. “You must be Elijah. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” he said, holding out his hand for me to shake. “You look just like your mother.”

I lookednothinglike my mother. I was the spitting image of Dad. I’d never been so grateful for anything in my life.

I glanced down at Brad’s proffered hand, then at him, before shaking it.

April finally caught on that something wasn’t right. She just didn’t know what it was.

“Elijah is starving. I was going to make him something to eat.”

Brad didn’t even give his daughter the consideration of an acknowledgment.

“Take his bags upstairs and put them in the blue room.”

“I can do it,” I replied, disliking Brad the more he spoke.

He waved me off. “Nonsense. You’re a guest.”

“Dick,” April muttered under her breath as she took my suitcase and bag upstairs.

Seeming not to hear what his daughter had called him, he ushered me forward.

“Beverly just reheated some of Benton’s lasagna for Justin. Benton is our personal chef. There’s plenty. Come. We can eat in the dining room and get to know one another better. How was the flight from California?”

California. Stanford. Un-fucking-real.

My eyes sliced to Mom, and her grip on Justin tightened. She hadn’t said one word. Neither had he.

Seeming to come out of her stupor when Brad looked at her expectantly, Mom smoothed down her hair, the light catching on the large solitaire diamond of her engagement ring. She cemented on the fakest smile I had ever seen.

“Hello, Elijah.”

Justin kept inching back the closer I drew nearer. He looked terrified, and I knew why. He wasn’t afraid of me. He was afraid of Fallon.

Mom made no move to greet me. No hug. No kiss.

“You look well,” she said.

The bruises were gone. No evidence remained from what the guy beside her did to me.

I felt oddly calm. It was weird and not how I’d expected to feel. I’d been a bundle of nerves and insecurity up until that second. But all I felt at that moment was apathy toward her and antipathy toward Justin.

“So do you,” I replied.

Mom had classed up. Iconic red-soled Louboutins donned her feet, and she was wearing a black silk wrap dress, not the usual jeans and tee I remembered were her preferred outfit because she said they were comfortable. Her hair was dyed an unnatural shade of red, brighter than April’s, but the significance wasn’t lost on me. April thought Brad ignored her because she looked too much like his first wife. A wife, it seemed, he was trying to replace with look-alikes. I’d bet Fallon’s trust fund that April’s other stepmothers either had red hair or dyed their hair red to appease his preference.

“This is my stepson, Justin,” Brad said, introducing us.

“We’ve met.”

I enjoyed a little too much the look of panic that crossed Justin’s face.

Brad seemed genuinely surprised when he asked, “You two know each other?”

Justin retreated another foot when our eyes locked.

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