Chapter 36
I silently ask God for forgiveness because I don’t want to feel this way. After all, I’m talking to the woman who gave birth to me, but just hearing her voice makes me want to say it was a mistake and hang up.
When I lived with them, I didn’t grasp how toxic our family relationship was. I thought toxic relationships were only between couples, but now I realize they can happen with anyone. Even among friends or, in my case, family.
“What could be so important that you’re interrupting my sleep?”
“I’m your only daughter. How can you speak to me like that? Funny how you always demanded I behaved well but you don’t notice how you act. How rude you are.”
“Madeline, I’m not in the mood for your drama this early in the morning. Unless you called to tell me that this boyfriend you found in England can somehow help your father.”
“What?”
“You heard me. We already know everything here in Boston. High society can’t stop talking about how you’re involved with this man who isn’t even a Christian.”
That makes my blood boil. “I thought the high society of Boston, in fact, of the entire nation, would be more concerned that my father could be arrested at any moment for defrauding and harming thousands of people across the country.”
“How dare you say such a thing? Your father is an honest man. I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding.
Sooner or later, the truth will come out, then those people who are shunning us, excluding us from parties and events without any reason, will beg for our presence.
We are the Turner-Millers. Practically the royalty of the United States. ”
I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache starting. “Mom, I didn’t call to hear your delusions. I called to see how you’re doing, first and foremost, and also to tell you something.”
“About that Sheikh? I don’t want to hear it. I know what men like him do to Western women: they use them and then discard them like old clothes. I didn’t raise you to be the lover of a dark-skinned magnate.”
“Don’t be racist. You know nothing about Kamal to speak of him that way,” I say, but despite that, a voice in the back of my mind warns me that she’s not entirely wrong about how he used to treat women.
Wasn’t that precisely what he did before we met?
What did he do with Danna? What would he have done with me if I hadn’t gotten pregnant?
I destroy that thought right away. All the women he got involved with were given a choice. Including me. Kamal may have had multiple partners, but from my own experience, he was utterly honest from the beginning.
It only took five minutes of conversation with my mother for her to poison me.
“You’re defending him already? You must be foolish to fall in love with someone like him, Madeline.
I had plans for you until you decided to follow the advice of that crazy cousin of yours and move to England.
If you had married one of the billionaire suitors I had selected, we wouldn’t be in this situation today.
Did you know the bank froze your father’s assets?
I can’t even go to my weekly appointment at the hairdresser now because your father only talks about saving money. ”
“Mom, he’s at risk of going to jail and you’re concerned about your hair? What planet do you live on?”
“The planet of the privileged.”
That’s my limit. “Look, I just need to tell you one thing, then we can hang up.”
“As I told you before, unless it’s your boyfriend’s offer to help your father, I’m not interested.”
“What? Offer of help? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t swear. I’m talking about him having more than enough money to cover the legal costs.
The law firm defending your father is expensive, and Gabriel Lambertucci, who is an expert, refused to take the case, saying there’s a conflict of interest since some of his family’s employees were supposedly defrauded by your father’s pension fund. ”
Jesus, so embarrassing!
The Lambertucci family and mine have been friends for decades. If they’ve turned their backs on us, it’s because everything they’re saying about my father is true.
“So, will he help us?”
“Mom, I know that, as you put it, you live on a fictional planet of the privileged, where rules of conduct, honesty, and good faith are fluid concepts. I don’t. I will never use my relationship with Kamal for personal gain. Involving him in my father’s mess is not even something I’ll consider.”
“I didn’t expect anything different from you, Madeline. Someone who ran away as soon as she found out we were broke has no loyalty.”
“How dare you say something like that? You know perfectly well that I only found out we were broke after I arrived in London and you told me I had to leave the apartment.”
“That’s what you say.”
“That’s the truth.” I pause, giving up on talking about the pregnancy or the engagement.
Adley Turner-Miller is not interested in anything other than maintaining her social status with all its perks. I highly doubt a grandchild will make her change her ways.
“And so, what did you want to tell me?”
“Nothing, Mom. I hope you have a good day.”