“How dare he?” she cries. “Katia, honey, I’m so sorry.”

Dammit.

“Come in, Mom.”

They follow me in and I lead them to the kitchen where I begin preparing tea. While it’s boiling, I turn to her. “I’m okay, Mom.”

“I never wanted this for you. I wanted to protect you from him.”

“Protect me?” I ask, confused.

“He’s a bad man, Katia.”

“I figured that out.”

“He deals deep with bad people. Criminals.”

My body flinches.

“To the point where he’s well-known on the east coast. To the point where he has contacts in numerous countries. To the point where I ran when I was pregnant because I found out.”

I take hold of the counter. I’ve never heard this before.

“Mom,” I whisper, my voice too shaky to work properly.

“Your daddy is a bad man, baby.”

My legs begin to tremble.

“He’s also involved with Marcus somehow.”

I have to sit down. Of course I expected that he had involvement with Marcus that went a lot further than I knew about, but I also never believed my husband would deal with people like him.

“You’re wrong,” I whisper. “Marcus isn’t like him.”

“Honey,” she says softly.

“No, Momma. He can’t be. He’d tell me. Marcus works here; he goes away for business and keeps to himself. That’s it.”

Her eyes soften. “Well, he knows your father somehow, which means your father now has access to your life.”

“Marcus won’t let him get to me if I don’t want him to.”

She nods. “I don’t know what Pierre is like now, so I can’t judge completely, but I do know he’s very into his family and now he knows about you, there’s a good chance he won’t stop trying to see you.”

God.

“Maybe he’s not interested.”

That’s a lie. I know he is. I saw it in his eyes.

“Honey,” she coos softly. “How could he not be?”

“Is this going to be a problem?” I whisper.

“I don’t know.”

“Tell me about him, Momma. Please.”

And so she sits down, and she tells me about him. She tells me how they met late in college and how she fell madly in love with him. She also tells me how she knew he was dangerous, but loved him anyway. When she figured out just how dangerous he was, she ran. She didn’t realize she was pregnant right away, but decided even when she did that it would be safer for me if he didn’t know.

“Do you still love him?” I whisper.

She looks away. Something in her eyes flashes. “He’s a bad man.”

That doesn’t answer my question, which tells me she does still care. Probably always has. I understand that; after all, I’m with Marcus, no matter how awful he can be, because I love him so deeply.

I don’t think that will ever change.

CHAPTER 23

NOW

Katia

After my mother leaves, I take the time to process what she’s said. I have a strong feeling my father will, in fact, show up and try for my time. A part of me wants to tell him to get lost, but the other part is curious. After all, he didn’t know about me. It’s not like he just decided to exit my life. Besides, what if I have siblings?

I’m interrupted by another knock at the door. Sighing, I go over and open it to face the same woman who was in the office clinging to Marcus earlier in the month. Ginger Barbie. She stares down at me, flicking her hair over her shoulder and running her fingers down it. Great. Just what I need. Crazy Barbie here looking for trouble.

And she’s looking for trouble. It’s written all over her face.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

She flicks her gaze inside, then back to me. “Sorry, who are you?”

“The question is,” I mutter, crossing my arms. “Who are you?”

“I’m Yasmin, I’m here to see Marcus.”

“He’s not here.”

She narrows her eyes. “He said he would be.”

Ouch. My chest tightens but I keep my face impassive.

“He’s not.”

“You’re her, aren’t you?” she mutters, studying me. “His wife?”

I’m sure she already knows this, but she’s decided being a bitch is more fun.

“And you’re her, aren’t you?” I retaliate. “The whore.”

She flinches. “You know, he told me he doesn’t even love you. Makes me wonder exactly why he married you.”

I flinch.

She laughs. “When I was here last, I asked him about you and I asked him if he loved you. He said no, then freaked out because he knew what he’d done.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that things have been so bad lately, I wouldn’t believe her. But things have been bad, so my chest clenches.

“Why are you here?” I hiss.

“I told you, he called me.”

“And I’m telling you, leave.”

“He’s interested in sleeping with me again,” she says, smiling slyly. “We had a good time together.”

“He’s fucking married,” I bark. “Now leave!”

“It must hurt,” she says, swinging her eyes back to me. “To be the woman in his bed that he’s the least interested in.”