Page 72 of Untamed
“She’s not going to be easy to deal with.”
My lip twitches. “I know.”
“But I trust you’re the man to do it.” He clasps my shoulder and squeezes.
“I need her to wake up,” I admit meekly. “I can’t lose her. Her or our baby.”
“You won’t. Thea is strong-willed. She’ll come back to us.”
It’s not lost on me that he referred to her as Thea. I’m not sure whether he realizes it or not, but that subtle change in his mind will mean the world to her.
Ford takes the seat opposite me, and I take this opportunity to ask him a question that has eaten away at me for eighteen years. “Did you ever love her?” I ask. “Veronica.”
“No.” He holds my focus. “I did what was expected of me. The right thing.”
My phone rings, and I cringe.
Not a-fucking-gain.
Ford gestures toward my pants. “Answer it. It might be important.”
As soon as I see Miko’s name on the screen, I blow out a deep breath and prepare for the next onslaught.
THEA
My head pounds, my mouth is dry, and a dull buzzing sound causes my temple to throb in agony.
“Ugh,” I moan as I slowly bring my hand to my head. “Where the hell am I?”
“You’re in the hospital.” My mother’s deadpan voice makes my heart skip a beat. There’s no emotion there.
I push my hands into the hospital bed and shift to sit up, resting against the pillows.
Her blue eyes bore into me with vitriol, and she makes no move to assist me.
There’s not just hatred in her eyes; there’s danger. Daggers seething through me with vengeance.
She hates me with every ounce of her being. Every breath she takes, she despises me.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I whisper the words I’ve always wondered.
Her hands are clasped in her lap, and she tilts her head from side to side as if judging how much she should tell me. She licks her perfectly crafted red lips, and a sly smile spreads over her face. “Because falling pregnant with you ruined everything forme. You ruined my life. I had to spend the next eighteen years being second to something I never wanted.”
My breath hitches at her cruel words. They hit me so deeply it feels like someone is ripping me apart from the inside out.
How utterly wicked to despise your own daughter so much.
My hand finds my stomach, and her attention moves to my hand.
“And now you’re pregnant with Massio’s child.” She scoffs. It comes across as callous, and the memory of her words rushes back to me. They slept together. A sob leaves me, the betrayal cuts me to my core, pulling me apart bit by bit.
“You’re nothing but a common whore,” she spits out.
“Like mother, like daughter, then!” I bite back, unable to help myself.
Delight flares in her eyes. “Oh, you really have no idea how alike we are, do you?”
I flinch at her mocking tone and the way her demonic eyes bore into me.
