Second Chance for the Mafia PrinceÂ
Reality Check Part IIÂ
Lucky DrawÂ
“I never thought you stupid, January. I never had friends. here in America. My security was always so tight and so intense that it was impossible. You and I got on like a house on fire and then Gulliver said he was interested in you. I told him to back off because he was engaged to Duchess. He wouldn’t and he threatened to send me away. I just,” Thisbe blinked fat tears, “I didn’t want to lose the only friend I had so I went with it because I knew if I told you the truth, you would leave him, and I wouldn’t be permitted to see you and I couldn’t bear it.”Â
“I’m hearing a lot about how it all affected you but it’s all sounding a bit selfish to me.”Â
“You’re calling her selfish? You who absconded with my child?”Â
“How did I know you wouldn’t put us all in danger, Gulliver?” she turned her attention back to him. “Oh, there were times over the years where I thought, fuck, this would be a hell of a lot easier if her father was in the picture. Then I would remember I didn’t know you. Everything about you was a lie. Everything you told me Was fake. You are a dangerous man. You have committedÂ
Reality Check Part IIÂ
Lucky DrawÂ
crimes, and I don’t care that you tell me you’ve never been arrested. Men like you always have someone to take the fall for your activities. No accountability. No remorse for the hell you create. I think Kaylee being around you is a risk to my daughter. You can’t be trusted to be real and truthful and honest with her and because of that, her heart is at risk of being destroyed the way you destroyedÂ
her mother’s.”Â
She watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat and shook her head angrily.Â
“Acting all emotional now, Gulliver? You came in here without a shred of remorse. You marched in here thinking you have some kind of upper hand because I stayed away with Kaylee. Not once has it occurred to you that your opinion doesn’t mean fuck all to me. All the words you spewed as excuses for your crappy behavior and not once did I hear apologies or sincerity in your words. You still think you did what was right.”Â
“I was keeping you safe.”Â
“You were lying to yourself and to me. You weren’t keeping me safe; you were keeping me in the dark. My Barents,” she looked at them cuddled on the sofa, tell2:43Â
Reality Check Part IIÂ
Lucky DrawÂ
each other everything, including the hard stuff. I’ve lived with them my whole life. Things I never noticed as a kid, I notice now as an adult. I know when Mom is pissed at Dad because he’s said or done something to set her off. I know when Dad is ready to move into the garage because she’s on his last nerve. I also know they fight like they fight because they love like they love, without reservation and without hindrance.”Â
Her mother gave her a smile, and her father nodded hisÂ
agreement.Â
“When I was a teenager, Mom and I went to the mall with one of the girls in my class and her mother. Dad gave us a budget because it was slow in the shop and money was tight. Mom went over it by a decent amount but so did the other mother. The other mother said she’d hide the extra bags in the back of the closet and bring them out later because there was no use fighting over something that was already done. We got home and the first thing Mom did was tell Dad she overspent and showed him -what it was she bought. No lies. No hiding. She straightÂ
up owned her shit. I know he was angry about it. He gave her shit with me right there because she dipped too far into the account and the insurance on the car might Bounce. She offered to take things back to the store, Bat43
Reality Check Part IIÂ
Lucky DrawÂ
he picked up a side job and made up the difference, but she felt bad. I asked her later why she didn’t do what the other mom did, and she said she didn’t hide shit from her husband, full stop. That day has always stuck with me.”Â
He rubbed the back of his neck, “January.”Â
“No. I felt the same way. I told myself I’d never hide anything from you. So, when I was in class and I felt nauseated and it dawned on me, maybe I was pregnant, I went straight to the on–campus health center. I asked for a pregnancy test. They did one right there and confirmed I was pregnant. I went to find my driver, and he was not where I’d last seen him so I figured I’d grab an Uber, go home and you could let the driver know I was home already. My mother kept no secrets from her husband, and I wanted their kind of relationship and so you were going to know what I knew, when I knew it.” She saw the stricken expression on his features, “and then my world came tumbling down. All the honesty I thought we share was a lie. I was there to tell you about Kaylee and instead -I learned you were only using me as a plaything.”Â
“You still hid my daughter.”Â
4/made sure my daughter,” she corrected him, was neve?Â
Reality Check Part IIÂ
Lucky DrawÂ
going to grow up with the stigma and humiliation of knowing that her own blood relatives considered her unworthy. It’s what it boiled down to, right? Your grandfather and your family picked a rich woman with a background and a connection to the family and didn’t approve of some jewelry design college student. I wasn’t good enough. Your own words that day were that any child we had together wouldn’t be an heir. Do you really think I want her to know you thought of her with such little regard? She wasn’t worthy of your family, Gulliver. I was protecting her. I made sure every single day of her life she knew she was wanted, loved, respected. Don’t stand in this house thinking me hiding her gives you edge over me. All it does is reinforce what I already know.”Â
“And that is?”Â
“You consider us inferior to you in every way, and you think we should be grateful just to exist in your presence. You need a reality check, Gulliver. I don’t need you. It don’t want you. I don’t like you. I sure as fuck don’t love -you. I think you’re an arrogant, self–serving prick who wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing any of us for his own gain. I might not be able to stop you from having at relationship with Kaylee but there is no chance in hell I’ll ever be with you again.” 1Â
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Second Chance for the Mafia PrinceÂ
Negotiation Part IÂ
