Forty-Eight - Kieran
Nothing prepares you for facing down your own flesh and blood. Especially when that person is your mother. My life bringer. The one who carefully cooked me in her belly for nine months, shot me out, and then ruined my fucking life.
She’s the one individual who is supposed to look after you. Not take advantage of you. Not steal from you—multiple times. Fuck. Her. The only person that matters now is Cami. I’ll protect my sister from everything.
“Mr. Knight.”
I stop dead in front of the manager’s office with a grim expression, clutching tight to Lyric in my arms. Her eyes dart around, soaking in everything happening. Maybe it was a mistake bringing her with me. But I couldn’t pass this up and let Gloria go straight to jail without knowing what I have to say.
Gloria and I are about to have a lot of words.
“Yes. I’m Kieran Knight,” I say, holding out a hand to the police officer standing guard outside the door. “I was told my mother was here?”
His lips roll tight, and he nods. “Yes. We were told you wanted to speak to her before we took her in. And that you wanted to press charges?”
“I do. For using my credit card without permission. I have the records with my finance guy. He’ll be able to prove without a doubt it was her who spent over fifty-K of my money.” I seethe on the inside, thinking about all the cash her grubby hands got onto before I was alerted.
“Okay. We’ve got her for theft of merchandise with a value of over a thousand dollars,” the officer says, looking down at his notepad.
“What exactly did Gloria try to steal?” I ask with a tic forming in my jaw again. Shit. Even saying her name now puts a bad taste in my mouth.
“Diamond earrings,” he states flatly with thinned lips.
“I’m here,” Asher says breathlessly, wiping his hand across his forehead as he jogs toward us.
“Daddy!” Lyric lights up at the sight of Asher, grinning at him over my shoulder where she’s snuggly cuddled against my chest.
“Who is that?” the officer asks, eyeing Asher with concern.
“My brother.”
At that, the officer drops his shoulders and nods.
Asher grins, stepping right into his element. Being a damn good father. Nothing lights up his face more than baking, cooking, and helping Lyric with whatever she wants.
It’s like he’s trying to prove the exact same thing I am. We are not our fathers. We take responsibility and love the little human we created. Or I created—but that’s semantics. We’re all fathers in Lyric’s eyes.
“Did you have fun?” Asher asks, cocking his head to the side with a chuckle. “Looks like you ate some sparkly ice cream.” Shit. I didn’t even think to wipe her face off before we left.
She immediately nods. “Daddy and me had lots of unicorn ice cream. I ate all mines. Daddy only took a few bites.” She side-eyes me with so much sass I choke on my spit.
How will I survive raising a tiny little River clone? At this rate, she’s going to give me gray hair before I’m thirty. And so will River. Lord. Thankfully, I have the other three guys to balance out the chaos.
“It was good, Little Blue. Daddy just had an important phone call.” That’s the understatement of the century. Vital. Life changing. All those words ring through my mind.
“Come here, Little One,” Asher says, curling his fingers in her direction as she practically climbs over my shoulder and into his embrace.
“I’ll—” I stare at the door holding Gloria, whose soft, pitiful voice wheedles through, infiltrating my damn ears and making them ring. She’s crying inside, begging someone to believe her that she didn’t do this.
“Take your time, man. Are you—” I know what he’s asking without uttering a word.
“She stole from me.” My lips roll together. “After everything we’ve done for her. She stole from me, and I can’t…” I shake my head. “After what she did to River.” My eyes cut to Ly, who listens to our conversation, tilting her head like she’s soaking it in for later. “I’m done with her.”
God. She’s going to tell River everything that happened today. Not that I’d keep anything from her. But I know kids. They’re little blabbermouths. So, it looks like I’ll be having a good old-fashioned sit down with River about what’s to come. Especially with us taking custody of Cami and having her stay with us through the summer and being financially responsible for her, too.
“Okay. We’ll be here,” he says, kissing Ly’s cheek. “Why don’t you show me your favorite YouTube videos? You can use my phone.”
“Yay!” Ly claps her hands as they walk around the corner and away from me.
“Okay, I’d like to speak to her now.” And with that, the officer opens the door to the makeshift hell housing my distraught mother.
“Mr. Knight?” a tall woman with the name tag Angie on it, indicating she’s the store manager, asks as I approach.
“Yes, we spoke on the phone,” I say, giving her a curt nod.
“Oh, Kieran! Thank God you’re here! Tell them…tell them you let me use it! They don’t believe me. They-they took your card, and then the police showed up. Tell them, Kieran, that I’d never take something that wasn’t mine.” Gloria heaves a breath, watching me with tear-filled eyes. Metal handcuffs clink against the table she’s tied to every time she tries to reach for me.
“Sorry for the theatrics, Mr. Knight. We were alerted of fraudulent charges through our computer system. But we found this in her purse first.” I scowl when Angie holds up a pair of diamond earrings glittering in the low, fluorescent lights of the room. “We watched your mother through the cameras walking around. It was brought to our attention by a few customers that they saw her tossing these into her purse after removing the packaging.” She side-eyes Gloria, glaring at her with rage sparking.
Gloria thought she could pull one over on them. And if she couldn’t have, she thought I’d talk them out of taking her to jail by paying for the earrings she stole.
No chance in hell.
My jaw tics. “Do you mind if I have a word with her before you take her?”
“Take me? No! Kieran, tell them, sweet boy. I didn’t know those earrings were in there! I’m being framed!” she cries out, wrestling with her handcuffs again, trying to scurry away from the situation like the bug she is.
“Absolutely, Sir.” Angie spins on her heel and closes the door, leaving Gloria and me alone.
The air shifts as my anger rises, snuffing out the warmth of the room. Cold shivers run down my spine as my fingers curl again at my sides.
“I swear,” she breathes with big, pleading eyes filled with tears.
“You swear what? That you didn’t take my credit card? That you didn’t spend thousands of dollars of my money? Or that you didn’t steal those earrings. Tell me which one; I’m dying to find out.” I raise a brow, pacing in front of her as she hunches her shoulders, looking as small as possible in my presence.
I’m not buying her sweet little mouse act. She’s the fucking snake in the grass. And the orchestrator of my damn demise. Everything Gloria does is for herself. No one else matters in her eyes. We’re all pawns in her little game of chess.
Well, not anymore.
Gloria sniffles, rubbing at her nose the best she can. “You gave it to me.”
“Enlighten me, Gloria. When did I give you my card?” I cock my head when her bleary eyes meet mine, filling with more moisture.
She’s not sad because she thinks she hurt me. There are only tears present because she is upset I found out.
Gloria scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief. “You gave it to me, don’t you remember?” Fucking gaslighting bitch.
“Nope,” I say with as much indifference as I can.
I learned a long time ago not to give into my emotions around her narcissistic ass.
She rolls her eyes. “Get them to drop the charges. You and I both know you can just pay for those earrings yourself. I didn’t take that card. You gave it to me before you disappeared off the face of the earth. It hurt.” More tears fall down her cheeks as she looks away, twisting her expression into anguish. “It hurt that you left and didn’t even tell me about it. Did you go on another vacation? I could have come, too. You know?”
“Vacation?” I scoff, staring up at the ceiling. After a few big breaths, I look at her pathetic self again.
“Yeah. So, let’s just go, Kieran. You know I don’t belong in prison.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” I say, placing my hands on the table she’s attached to. “It is where you belong. I’m tired of bailing your grown ass out of situations you shouldn’t have been in the first place.”
She blinks several times, turning a beautiful shade of red. “Kieran Knight, you drop these charges against me and pay for those earrings, or I’ll… I’ll?—”
“You’ll what? Move away? With what money? And with what freedom? After this, Gloria, I’m going to walk out of this room and forget your existence.”
“You’ll never see Cami again,” she hisses in a rage, pulling at her handcuffs again.
“I think you have that backward. As we speak, Asher and I are gaining custody of Cami. So, it’s you who will never see your kids again.”
“You can’t fucking do this, Kieran!” she cries out, slamming her fists into the table. “I’m your mother!”
“My mother? Were you my mother when you brought strange men to our apartment and kicked me out without shoes on? Were you my mother when you got married and let some man put his hands on me? Leaving bruises and broken ribs? Were you my mother when you fucking offered Asher money to leave the love of my fucking life behind? Which instance were you my goddamn mother?” I heave every word, spitting my rage at the woman throwing a fucking temper tantrum in front of me. My lip curls back when she throws her head back, manically laughing in my face.
“Oh, please.” She levels me with a thunderous look, losing all the theatrics from before. “If I hadn’t done all those things, then you wouldn’t be here. Life is fucking hard, Kieran, and it’s even harder when someone leaves you with an ungrateful brat. I did you so many favors in life, including not informing you of River and the bastard child.”
Don’t hit your fucking mother. Don’t fucking throw her into the river down the way and go to jail for murder.
“Bastard child?” I ask with a calm I don’t feel. It’s nothing but storms and fucking violence brewing inside me.
Gloria scoffs. “It wasn’t yours anyway. She was fucking around with that damn Van Drake boy. Probably for the better. He seemed happy to help her raise the baby.” My fucking blood boils to a dangerous rate at the sound of his name.
“So, that’s why you did it then when you offered Ash the money? And forged restraining orders. So, River couldn’t ruin the gravy train of money coming your way?”
“Those restraining orders were nothing. Judge Drake and I concocted that plan, and then he sent Van away so she couldn’t poison anyone else with her lies. I also let Asher know about the videos Van had stashed on his phone,” she says, rolling her eyes again. “It was easy to put the pieces together and rid you all of the vermin she was. Nothing but a slutty Central girl looking for an easy paycheck.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” I say with a little chuckle. “Is that the whole reason behind it? Because you saw yourself in River and wanted to get her away from me?”
“She was only going to bring you down,” she howls. “I knew girls like her.”
“You mean girls like you? That’s what you did. You sunk your claws into the first man who reeked of money so you could move us to a mansion on the greener side of town. But nothing was greener about that fucking house. You can’t sit here and tell me that you enjoyed his fists?”
Her face hardens at the talk of the abuse she endured under Nigel’s roof. “It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s in jail.”
“Again, because of you. I’m curious. Did you think all his wealth was going to come to you once they slammed the prison door shut? I bet you never imagined they’d freeze every asset and sell it, did you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to go like that,” she says through clenched teeth. “All that was supposed to be mine. I…” She rolls her lips together.
“Do tell, Gloria,” I say, spreading my arms wide. “There’s no one here but me.” And the cameras in the corner of the room. It seems my mother has a lot to confess to now that she’s caught.
Her back stiffens, and her chest puffs out. “His partner and I had it all planned out. So, we called the feds and set it up so it looked like Nigel was the one skimming money. Once Nigel was out of the picture, we were going to take over and elope. It was all supposed to be mine, but he fucking…he fucking took off too, with the rest of the money. He left me.” She sniffles again, heaving an angry breath.
“So, you both set Nigel up to go to prison and then, he fucking left you, too? That’s hysterical.” I can’t help but fucking laugh at Gloria and the shitty life decisions she’s made. Now, she’ll go to prison for theft and more fraud.
“There’s nothing funny about it! He took all the fucking money and left me homeless, hungry, and without a cent to my name! Kieran, he left me like everyone has always left me.”
Ah, there it is. Gloria has always looked for love in all the wrong places. Manipulating herself into other people’s pockets and circumstances. But the one thing she’s always been afraid of is getting left behind.
Seems like her nightmare is about to come true.
“That’s when I stepped in, huh? I offered you a cushy life here. All you had to do was sit back and let me take care of Cami. But you couldn’t do that, could you? You had to go and fucking ruin it by spending money that wasn’t yours. You stole my card. You stole my fucking money. And on top of all that, you stole my life with MY daughter.”
Gloria’s head snaps up, locking her gaze on me. “Your daughter?”
“If you had managed to do an ounce of research on the girl you were damning to a life without the boys and me, then you’d have found out that River West is Corbin West’s daughter. You know, West Records’ founder. Then, you’d have known that she received an inheritance. She’s also our band manager now. And the baby she had? That was mine. She’s four now. Well, five on Saturday.”
“What?” she hiccups, staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights.
“So, thanks for all your meddling,” I say sarcastically, tossing a hand in her direction. “But, I’m pressing charges now. You stole over fifty-K from my bank account, not to mention the additional twenty you tried to spend here. Don’t expect any visits from us while you rot in prison.” I stand straight up and waltz toward the door with a light feeling pulling my shoulders out of my ears. “Your lease is gone. Everything in your apartment is ours. You were afraid of people leaving you with nothing. Well, now you really have nothing. I won’t bail you out. No one will. Your desperate acts won’t work on anyone. Have a good life, Gloria. I hope you fucking rot.”
Parting shots fired, I slam open the door with force, nearly knocking it off the hinges, and race out of the room. Once outside the door, I look over my shoulder at the devastation I left behind. There she sits, the woman who thought she had it all, but now, she has nothing. Her vacant eyes stare straight ahead, and she hasn’t moved an inch since I walked away.
Good.
“I’m all done here, thanks,” I say, giving the officer a tight smile. “Um. Did you happen to get that interview on camera?” I ask, shutting the door behind me. “Because it sounds like Gloria had a few sleazy things up her sleeve.”
“Yes, Sir. We’ll look into it with the feds and let them know what we caught.” The officer extends his hand, and I grab onto it, shaking it with a breath of relief.
“Thanks, Officer. If you need anything else from me, here’s my number.” Quickly, I jot it down on his notepad and walk away.
I’m sure in the future there will be more I have to do. Maybe go on the stand and tell the court how awful she was. For now, I’m walking away with my head up and my anger gone.
Gloria is in the past.
“Hey, Man,” Asher says, standing up from a bench outside. My eyes fall on Lyric as she smiles at his phone, swaying to an upbeat kids’ song blasting from the speakers. “Everything good?”
“That was a shit show,” I confess, rubbing at my forehead. “She stole earrings, but yet, stole my card, too. She…” Asher clasps my shoulder, gently squeezing in support. “She admitted to fucking everything. She set up your dad to go to prison.”
“Good fucking riddance,” he mumbles, shaking his head.
“She admitted to what she did to River and… Fuck… I don’t know how to feel about this,” I whisper, swallowing hard. “She was a horrible fucking mother…”
“But she was still your mother.” Asher nods in understanding. “That’s how I felt about my dad. I hated him with every fiber of my being. He was an abusive loser. But he was still my dad and… It’s confusing.”
“It is.” I trail off, staring at Lyric, mentally making a vow to never be a bad fucking parent. I’ll make mistakes, but I’ll own up to them every time.
“We got this, man. Every step of the way. Okay? We’ll make sure Cami is ours. We won’t have to worry about her getting hurt by Gloria.”
“You talked to the lawyer?” He gently squeezes my shoulder again, dropping his hands.
“Yeah. Talked to him earlier about applying for custody. He says we have a really good chance since we’re the brothers, and no one else in the family would volunteer. So, we probably won’t have a fight on our hands. It helps we’re financially secure and can prove we’ve been taking care of her, anyway.”
“Thanks, Asher. I don’t think I could have gone through with this…with anyone else.”
“What are brothers for?” he asks as a smile pulls at the edge of his lips.
“Brothers,” I hum, clapping him on the shoulder. “How about we get this baby home? We’ve got lots to plan for.”
“Plan for?” Lyric asks, staring between us.
“Yup!” I say, picking her up from the bench. “Let’s go home.”
Together. As a whole fucking family. No more Gloria. No more stalkers. It’s just us rebuilding what we had before into something bigger and better.
This is our future.