Never Say Never, Part Three (Second Chance Romance, Book 3) (2 page)

“It’s not true? I’ve dealt with more drama from you than any other person in my entire life. And now, your ex-husband happens to be an associate of mine and,”
he choked up slightly, “the people you killed were my parents.”

“I –”
but she couldn’t say anything back.

“That’s right. What you did is inexcusable, Emily. It doesn’t matter how it happened or how unhappy you were. All that matters is you took the lives of the people who mattered the most to me.”

“You don’t think that matters to me? I think about it all day. I dream about it. I wake up crying about it.”
She did care. She did realize what it meant to lose a loved one.
 

“Oh, you cry about it?”
Chase’s glare was frosty. “Pity your tears can’t bring them back. And instead of owning up to it and leaving my office for good, you have the audacity to stand there and make excuses. You’re a selfish bitch.”

It was an indefensible accusation.

“Now, get out of my office. I have business to attend to.”
 

There had to be some way to explain it to him. “Chase –”

“Leave. Or I will have you removed by security.”
 

Emily looked from Chase’s cold expression to Brian’s gleeful grin, and breathed through her nose. There was nothing she could do to convince him to let her stay. She strode to the chair on the other side of the desk and retrieved her handbag, then slipped the phone into it.
 

She refused to cry in front of Brian.

“Goodbye, Chase.”
She whispered, then let herself out of the office, defeat sinking through her pores, into her skin and down into the pit of her soul.

It was over.
 

There was no one left.

CHAPTER THREE

Emily parked the car just inside the gates of the old age home. Sunny Oaks, it was called, though there was nothing sunny about the concrete fences and the wilted trees from which the place had got its name.

She held onto the steering wheel and steeled herself.
 

She’d never deserved Chase’s love, even though she hadn’t realized what her crime had cost him from the start, but the one person who should offer her some kind of love or acceptance was in this place.
 

And she’d never showed it before.
 

“Come on, get yourself together.”
She ripped the keys from the ignition and let herself out of the car. A cool breeze brushed back strands of her hair and she forced it back into a messy bun on top of her head.
 

“Back again, I see.”
It was one of the nurses at the place, all silver haired and outfitted in white clothing. She looked about as imprisoned as Emily felt. She watered a few of the dilapidated roses in pots beside the sliding doors. “I don’t know how you handle it.”
 

“What do you mean?”
She slid her favorite tote down from her shoulder and into the crook of her arm.
 

“The old bat. She’s a handful. Don’t know how you do it, being related to a woman like that. Must be easier now, though. ”
 

Emily blinked a few times. “My mother. Yeah, I’m not sure how I do it either. But what do you mean it’s easier now?”
 

The water from the can trickled to a standstill and the nurse tucked the pale yellow metal container under her arm. “It’s none of my business,”
she muttered, then gestured towards the entrance. “You go on up now, dear.”
 

She wandered off down the pavement, glancing back every now and again. Emily narrowed her eyes and stared after her. What the hell was that about?
 

Emily dragged her feet through the brown brick halls with their equally brown linoleum floors. What a color scheme to select for this kind of place. Depressing, much? She strolled up the stairs and located her mother’s room.
 

Here went nothing.
 

“Hi, Mama,”
she said, entering through the thin wood door and shutting it behind her.
 

“What are you doing here?”
The woman coughed into her hand. Her eyes were watery, rheumy even, and she had two tubes trailing from her nostrils. “I assume not to grant me well wishes. You didn’t come when this happened.”
She motioned to the blipping machines around her bed –
it’d been swapped for a hospital-style recliner.
 

“Oh my God! What happened?”
Emily hurried to her mother’s side and grabbed at her arm, but the woman ripped it out of her grasp, without much strength.
 

“None of your damn business.”
She coughed again and settled back into her pillows.
 

“I –
No one informed me of this. What the hell?”
Emily stormed to the door and poked her head out, searching for a nurse to confront. Why hadn’t they called her? She only played the bills for the damn place.
 

“They didn’t call, Mama, I swear it or I’d have been here right away.”
 

“They did call, girl. You just didn’t answer your phone.”
 

After the drama of the past months, it was entirely possible. Another slice of guilt sank into her and she ground her teeth. There were too many affairs to balance.
 

“Please, what’s happened?”
 

“Pneumonia.” Mama snapped at her.
 

Emily came back from the door to sit in the chair beside the bed, and took hold of the rails on it. “If I’d known, I would’ve been here.”
 

“It doesn’t matter, girl, I don’t want you here.”
 

“You can’t mean that, Mama. I’m your daughter. We’re family.”
 

“You’re no true daughter of mine. You ruined your life, killed people, destroyed the lives of your children, left a perfectly good husband and for what?”
Each vitriolic sentence was punctuated by a hacking cough.
 

“It wasn’t like that,”
Emily began, but she couldn’t finish. Upsetting her mother wouldn’t achieve much. The woman would never see sense and she’d only get more acerbic with each protest.
 

“Oh, and I hear you’re an escort now. Is that how you can afford the new clothes?”
 

Emily’s heart went cold. An escort? That was the kind of lie Brian fabricated.
 

“Where did you hear that?”
Emily scrunched the leather of her handbag, begging her mother for any answer than the one she dreaded.
 

“From Brian of course. He’d the only real relative I have left. I respect and trust him, which is more than I can say for you.”
 

“Mama, he’s a liar. He’s turning you against me.”
 

“Bullshit,”
the old lady coughed, not bothering to wipe the spittle from her parched lips. “He visits me often, my Bri. And he tells me all the sordid news, so don’t for a second think I don’t know what’s really going on in your life.”
 

Emily shook her head. There was nothing she could do to stop this. Her mother was ill and she still didn’t see the truth about Brian.
 

“He used to beat me.”
It was her last ditch attempt.
 

“Lies. All lies. And even if he had, you would’ve deserved it. You were always a wanton girl.”
 

Emily stood and walked to the door, unable to take any more of the abuse. She’d come expecting…
well, she hadn’t expected this. Not total disdain and rejection. Perhaps it was what she deserved.
 

“You were a disappointment from the day you came into this world.”
Mama said it to her back, and it was a knife straight through to her heart.
 

“Goodbye, Mama. Get some rest.”
She left before the woman could shoot any other insults at her. The walk through the brown halls swam by in a haze of tears and disappointment.
 

She’d wanted so much to be loved. She’d wanted so much to believe she deserved it.
 

Emily started her car a few minutes later and let the engine lull her.
 

Determination tickled the back of her mind, egging her own to fulfill the one wish she’d promised herself.

She had to see the kids.

CHAPTER FOUR

A day had passed since she’d been to her mother and a week since Chase had rejected her. Every time she tried to contact him, the call went straight through to voicemail.
 

The message was clear. He didn’t want anything to do with her, and she didn’t blame him for it, she blamed herself.
 

At least she was in her own place, at least she’d spotted a couple job interviews in the paper. There were options, but they all seemed bland without him.
 

Emily glared at the front door of Brian’s house. The construction which had once been her home as well, but was no stranger than fiction. Inside, Becci and Jared were probably having breakfast or doing something fun.

Brian’s Audi wasn’t in the drive.
 

If she had a choice, she wouldn’t be out here, he would. She’d be at the breakfast table, serving up pancakes with a smile and joking about what they’d do that weekend. Her and…
 

No.
 

She swallowed hard.

Emily got out of the car and slammed the door shut. She didn’t bother locking it, but strolled up to the house as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Inside, she was raw, burned to a crisp. There was only so much she could take of this. She had to focus on getting the kids back.
 

The clang of the doorbell reverberated through her. There were footsteps on the other side and she held her breath.
 

The door creaked open and Amanda peered through the crack. “You need to leave.”
 

“Oh come one, Amanda. He’s not here. His cars not around.”
Emily leaned back for a second and checked the side of the house near the garages. Nothing.
 

“It doesn’t matter. He’s got camera s here, Emily.”
 

“You sound afraid.”

“I can’t talk,”
she whispered, then raised her voice, “You must leave right now. My husband is going to take out a restraining order against you.”
 

Amanda was different somehow. She had this air about her, as if she was weighed down.

“What’s bothering you?”
Emily asked, real concern cropping up in spite of the way Amanda had behaved in the past while.
 

“I’m asking you nicely,”
she whispered back, “please leave.”
 

“I came to see the kids and I’m not going until I get my chance.”
 

Amanda came out of the house and onto the porch, then shut the door behind her just as she’d done each time Emily had come to visit.
 

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Amanda folded her arms and glanced up at the roof. Emily followed her line of sight and spotted the object of concern. It was a surveillance camera, shaped like an orb secreted just under the eaves.

It was sleek and black.
 

“Like Brian’s soul,”
Emily whispered to herself and gave her first real chuckle in days.
 

“Pardon?”
Amanda asked and Emily waved a hand.
 

“I don’t care about Brian and his camera. Bring the kids out back so I can have a chat with them.”
 

“I can’t and I won’t.”

“Why not. Surely you understand how important it is for me to see them?”
 

“I –
Look, they’re not home, all right? Even if I could send them out, I wouldn’t though.”
Amanda inched back to the door, separating herself from Emily’s gaze.
 

“Where are they, then?”
She didn’t buy it for a second. This was just Amanda’s easy escape from the situation. Sure, Brian was a tyrant and he’d probably verbally abuse and threaten her if he found out about this discussion, but it wasn’t Emily’s problem. Amanda had chosen this, in spite of years of complaints from Emily.
 

She’d turned to her old high school friend time and time again throughout the marriage, to complain about Brian’s missing hours, his rough treatment, and his disdain for the kids.