all gone through over the past few weeks, I could honestly say it had all been worth it. Transitioning into married and club life hadn’t exactly been a smooth ride, but I’d take twisty back roads over a straight, desert highway any day. Adversity bred chaos, but perseverance through the eye of a storm bred loyalty and strength.
After signing paperwork and lying to the wonderful nurses who’d kept me plied with juice and cookies that I had a ride, I made my way out into an adjoining waiting room.
And then I almost shit my pants.
Sitting in the corner with his head down was my long lost father.
God, I was such a fucking dumbass for thinking I could sneak a visit with Nicole and just go on my merry way. I figured Graham had recognized me by the elevator, but I’d spent the past few hours convincing myself he wasn’t stupid enough to try approaching me after the procedure.
Nope, I wasn’t doing this. Not today.
Before he had a chance to look up, I turned my head and bolted from the room. Finding a stairwell a few yards away, I ducked inside and flew down the stairs as fast as my feet could take me.
I wasn’t scared of him, I wasn’t running for any reason other than avoidance and self-preservation. Wasn’t that what I did best whenever ghosts from the past threatened to catch up to me?
Why was that? I could stand up to just about anything and anyone, but throw a little emotional baggage into the mix and suddenly I reverted back to feeling like a child.
I only managed to make it down to the next landing before hearing the door open above me.
“Chloe!” Graham called out.
My mental state may have gone back in time, but my instincts hadn’t. I reached into my purse, spun around, and shakily pointed a Glock up at his worthless head. “Don’t,” I snarled.
He raised his hands and took a step back. “Okay… Okay, I’ll stay up here… God, you… you look just like your mom. I’d recognize you… my daughter… anywhere.”
My body instantly felt tense enough to deflect a bullet. “You lost the right to call me that a long time ago.”
“I know,” he muttered. “Chloe—”
“That’s not my name anymore!”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“You didn’t mean to what?” I raged. Maybe this was what I’d been trying to avoid. I knew all those compartments in my head weren’t actually black holes, at some point they were destined to fill up and overflow.
My gun still on the target, I lost it. “Tell me! You didn’t mean to leave me to fend for myself as a kid because I’ve always looked like mom? You didn’t mean to drop me off with fucking rapists, who made my life such a living hell that it was better to just give them what they wanted? You didn’t mean to leave me with no choice but to kill one of them and live my life on the run from the other for almost a decade? Or maybe you just didn’t mean for me to find out that you somehow managed to build a nice little life for yourself after throwing me away like a piece of trash. But I guess Nicole wasn’t cursed with being born with the wrong face, huh?”
He shook his head vehemently. “Honey, you have to believe me when I say it’s not like that. I’m so sorry—”
“Yeah, I bet you fucking are. And no, I don’t need to believe a goddamn word you say. I have all the facts I need, I was there. Do you even realize how long it took for me to have a marginally normal life after the domino effect you started? It literally happened a few months ago. Because on top of everything else, Mitch eventually caught up to me and I had to spend a year in fucking prison to protect my real family from the fallout.”
“Oh god,” he choked out, his eyes watering.
I sneered. “You’re a bitch, Graham. And I hate bitches. Mitch and Vince were fucking evil, but at least they wore it on their sleeves instead of hiding behind a facade like you’ve been doing all these years.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but just sighed and stared at me instead.
“Did you even try to come back for me? Ever?” I demanded.
He closed his eyes and dropped his head. “Of course I did…”
“When?”
“A few months after I left when I finally bottomed out. I knew