When Her Cheating Husband’s Luck Ran Out Chapter 02

When Her Cheating Husband’s Luck Ran Out Chapter 02 The Favorite Daughter
My father let out a breath. “Let’s go inside.” In the living room my grandparents, Walter and Cordelia Larkin, sat on the couch. Walter had a business magazine open. Cordelia was pouring coffee. A plate of cut strawberries sat on the table, because strawberries were what Sadie liked. Sadie handed Teddy off to the nanny, sat down beside Cordelia, and hooked an arm through hers. “Mom, Vivian’s home.” Cordelia saw my mother and set her cup down hard enough to rattle the saucer. Her face went cold. “You made a scene three years ago. You’re back now, so keep your head down. “Sadie still gets called a homewrecker online because of you. You dragged this whole family through the mud!” Walter didn’t look up. He turned a page. “If you had half the sense Sadie has, none of this would have happened to you.” I stood next to my mother with my fists balled up. I wanted to tell them she had spent three years locked inside Ashmoor and come out with a broken leg. I wanted to ask why not one of them had a kind word for her. I didn’t dare say any of it. The last time I said anything against Sadie, Cordelia slapped me and told me I had no manners and that my mother had raised me wrong. My mother bent her knee again. “I was wrong, ma’am. It won’t happen again.” The living room went quiet. Cordelia snorted and gave her a sideways look. “She’s putting on a show. She wants us all feeling sorry for her.” My father patted my mother’s shoulder. “Mom, Dad, she was out there three years. She hasn’t shaken it off yet. Give her time.” “Josie.” He turned to look at me. “Take your mom upstairs to your room and let her rest.” “Okay.” I took her cold hand and walked her up the stairs. Cordelia’s voice followed us up. “Don’t coddle her, Adrian. She’s been stubborn since she was a girl. Leave her alone a couple of days and she’ll come around.” The bedroom door clicked shut behind us, and that left just my mother and me. The meek, frightened look she had worn downstairs dropped off her face, and her eyes cleared. She crouched down and took my face in both hands. “Josie, hand me your watch.” I blinked at her, then pulled it off my wrist and gave it to her. She dialed a number from memory, and someone picked up on the second ring. “Marcus.” I knew who that was. Marcus Wexler had been my mother’s personal attorney for years. “Set up a trust in Josie’s name. Move everything I own into it, the properties, the shares, the accounts. And start the paperwork to get her out of the country.” When the call ended, she pulled me in and held on. Her arms felt the same as they always had. They were warm, and nothing bad could reach me inside them. I slept better that night than I had in three years. ***** When I woke up the next morning, she wasn’t in the bed beside me. “Mom!” My voice cracked on it, and I ran out barefoot. Sadie’s scream came out of the master bedroom, and Teddy started screaming right behind her. Sadie backed out of the room with him in her arms, and blood was running down his little arm. “Vivian, please! If you want to kill somebody, kill me! Leave Teddy out of it! He hasn’t done anything to you!” Something dropped in my chest. I ran for the doorway just as my father came out of his study. Walter and Cordelia came up the stairs behind him. My mother stood just inside the room, white in the face, with a paring knife on the floor by her feet. She looked at us and tried to explain. “I went in to call her for breakfast. I never touched…” The slap cracked through the hallway. Cordelia had hit my mother across the face. My mother’s head snapped to the side, and half her face swelled up within seconds. “Have you lost your mind?” Cordelia’s hand was still shaking. “That is your sister’s child! How could you put a knife in him! “What did I ever do to deserve a daughter like you!” Walter stood behind her and his voice came out low. “Three years ago you blew up a marriage. You’ve been home one day and you’re already going after a baby. Is there anything left in you at all?” My father checked Teddy over, then turned and looked at my mother. Disappointment sat all over his face. “Three years in Ashmoor and I thought you’d learned something. You’re as vicious as you ever were.”