Her Two Wilde Billionaire Bad Boys (Wilde, Nevada 3)

Danielle felt tears of happiness well up in her eyes as the entire group cheered.

* * * *

Following Sheriff Champion and h

is wife, Danielle walked between Lance and Chuck to his office. She was so nervous. She hadn’t seen her mother in ten years, and hadn’t really thought about her much for quite some time. She had moved on. Now, she was headed straight to the woman she’d run away from, the woman who had deserted her emotionally long before that.

“How are you feeling?” Chuck asked.

“I’m not feeling much.” Inside, Danielle felt detached from her own self. Ten years. “My mother hasn’t been in my life for a very long time.”

They walked up the steps, and Danielle steadied her breathing. Had her mother changed? Or was she the same woman who’d allowed Miguel to beat Danielle? The same woman who’d refused to save her when the monster shoved her in that closet. The same woman who had married the man who killed Pauline and had nearly killed her, Michael, and Harry today.

If I don’t feel anything, why am I coming to see her then? Because the truth was, she still remembered the woman who had tucked her in at night when her dad was still alive, the woman who had read bedtime stories to her to help her fall asleep. She missed that woman. Would she find the mother she’d once known inside the sheriff’s office? That was only a childish dream.

Still, like it or not, Merle was her mother.

Danielle stepped into the sheriff’s office and saw Merle sitting in a chair. Her mother’s face was bruised, but she was still as beautiful as she’d remembered.

Merle jumped up and rushed to her, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“My baby girl.” Her mother sobbed, hugging her.

Danielle didn’t know how to react, and she felt her entire body stiffen.

“I’m so sorry, Danielle.” Her mother stepped back, wiping her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Let’s give the ladies a moment, gentlemen,” Chuck said softly.

Sheriff Champion nodded. “Let’s clear the room.”

Danielle wasn’t sure she wanted to be left alone with her mother. What would she say to Merle? What did she want to say?

After the door closed, she came face-to-face with the past she’d been running from for so long. The hurt she’d suffered came bubbling to the surface like the lava from a volcano, hot and deadly. “You say you’re sorry. Are you sorry for allowing me to be beaten by that madman? Are you sorry for stealing from all those poor people? Are you sorry for the hell you put me through after daddy died? Are you sorry for being the worst mother on the planet? What? What are you sorry for, Merle?”

Her mother sobbed, but it didn’t move her. Not one bit.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. I tried to find you. I swear. I never stopped looking. You’re my baby girl. I was a horrible mother. You deserve so much better than me.”

“Tell me why you let him hit me? Why didn’t you leave him and take me out of that hell?”

“He threatened to kill you, Danielle. I tried to leave. Don’t you remember? He found me packing a bag. He beat me and broke my arm.”

A memory from long ago floated to the surface of her mind. “You wore a cast for a few months. I remember that. Why didn’t you try to leave again?” she asked, though the hardness in her heart was beginning to melt.

“I was terrified, baby. I only wanted to keep you safe. I thought if I could make Miguel happy, he would leave you alone. I cringed every time he beat you. In the beginning, I would always attack him. Every time I did, he beat me and would beat you even more. The last time I tried to stop him, he slammed my face into the floor and he told me if I ever tried to stop him again, he would kill us both. I knew he would.”

“I had no idea.”

“I kept it from you, baby. Your life was hard enough. You were only a child.”

The pieces were coming together. Back then, her mother had told her to obey every word Miguel gave her, to keep quiet and out of his way. Until Miguel had hit Pauline over the head with the lamp, she’d known he was cruel but she’d never dreamed he was capable of murder.

“I even talked to the bastard about giving you away. I thought it was the only way to stop him from beating you, though I knew I would die without you.”

Danielle let out a long sigh of pain. “I overheard you talking with him about it.”

“Oh my God, baby. I didn’t know.”