“Mom took that picture. I think she enjoyed torturing me.” He tied the other shoe. “I had made my bed and she wanted me to remember it. Funny thing was I had no regrets about Ava. From the first moment I held her I loved that child.”
“I could see that too in the pictures. You couldn’t take your eyes off her.”
“Your family and my sisters loved her too,” she told him.
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“But not your mom and dad?” He asked.
Skylar glanced up as he sat her foot on the ground carefully. “Luka, she was always cruel. You know that. She wanted the four of us to do something different with our lives than what she had done. She was fond of the phrase, Luka Shaw’s bastard.”
He flinched.
“It was so hurtful. I didn’t know how she couldn’t love that innocent little girl. I hate to say this but I’m just as glad they aren’t around still to hurt her not that I wanted them to die.”
“I get it Skylar. You could have told me. I would have come back to get you both.”
She chuckled. “You know if they had lived I might have had no choice. Since they died I was so overwhelmed I could bury what you had done to me and pretend that you never existed except for every day of my life I looked into my daughter’s eyes and saw you.”
He extended his hand to her and helped her to her feet. “I’m going to get the truck and pull up front. You stay inside until you see me.”
“I will. Don’t get into trouble.”
“Remember, I said I had too much to lose.” He was looking at her waiting for her to respond.
“I do remember that.”
“I will remember that as well,” he promised Skylar.
He stopped at the nurses’ station to tell them he was getting his truck so Skylar didn’t have to walk any further than was necessary. Her nurse promised she would have Skylar waiting inside at the doors.
At the elevator he wondered if Isaac had convinced Tag to leave. The Mayor had something on his mind. Most likely something about his arrest. He was probably pretty pissed right now. Luka chuckled. You don’t go shooting off a rifle at someone creating a situation with consequences if you aren’t prepared for the shit to hit the fan, Luka thought.
He took the elevator to the lobby and exited. He was breathing in and out like he used to before a cage match. He was getting into the zone where nothing and no one could touch him. He strode through the lobby to the front doors expecting to step into the sunlight and see Tag with Isaac right outside the doors and he was not disappointed as he exited into the bright sunlight.
Tag pulled himself away from the expensive vehicle that was meant to impress. Luka was not impressed. He had more money than Tag could dream of having. He had rubbed elbows with celebrities. He might be Jacob Shaw’s kid from the wrong side of the tracks a long time ago but he was now Luka Shaw undefeated champion of the MMA heavyweight division. He had the belt and the balls to prove it. Tag meant nothing to him. He didn’t give a fuck if he was the Mayor of Haley Cove. That was smalltime compared to what he had done. He wasn’t intimidated.
“Now Tag, I told you, you can’t confront them here. Skylar is recovering from her accident.” Isaac was walking after Tag. He grabbed his arm to stop his forward progress.
“And I told you to fuck off.” Isaac was pissed when Tag shoved his hand away from him.
“Let him speak his mind Isaac because when I bring Skylar out he’s not saying a word to her,” Luka told him.
“And who is going to stop me?” Tag smirked at Luka.
“I am,” Isaac said.
Tag looked over his shoulder at him. “You’re going to stop me?” Isaac spoke into his radio attached at his shoulder.
“I have a disturbance at the hospital. I need backup.”
His dispatcher came on the radio asking him for more details. It didn’t take much before he was told that more officers were being sent. Tag glared at Isaac. “You can’t harass people coming out of the hospital Tag,” Isaac informed him. “No matter who you are.”
“Her child lied about me. That obnoxious brat has always hated me and now she’s ruining my reputation. I expect a full apology and for her to admit she’s lying.”
Luka chuckled then he rubbed his hand across his chin. “Ava spoke the truth about what she saw Tag. She will not be issuing any apologies. So deal with it.”
Heading past Isaac and Tag, he hesitated when he heard the threat loud and clear. “Then she and Skylar will suffer the consequences.” Luka turned and glanced at Tag.