Devious Intentions (Carson Cove Scandals 3)

“If it’s as much as you mean to me…” I looked up at him. “Then I do.”

I’ll never forget what we went through to have this moment…

Damien and I made love so many times that we couldn’t move a muscle by the time we finally collapsed in exhaustion. We didn’t set an alarm or worry about anything until the sun was in the middle of the sky the following day. Damien was the first one up. He made breakfast and brought it to the bedroom. The coffee gave me enough strength to sit up and actually start to eat. I still felt like I could have slept for several more hours. When I finally checked my phone, I had several text messages, and multiple missed calls from my mother. I knew those would come eventually. I read through the messages and then put my phone down.

“Is everything okay?” Damien looked over at my phone.

“It’s my mom.” I sighed. “She wants to talk to me.”

“I’m sure she does.” Damien nodded.

“I just don’t know if I’m ready.” I shook my head back and forth. “I believed there was some semblance of decency in her—but when she sided with Edgar and went along with his plan to force Jenny to get married. I think I lost every bit of respect for her that I had left.”

“She’s still your mom…” Damien took my hand. “Right now, she’s probably lost, scared, and really confused—just like my mom was after my father left her.”

“That doesn’t undo what she did.” I looked over at my phone. “He got rid of your mother because he knew she wouldn’t go along with his plan—mine was just so desperate to have the kind of life she always wanted that she didn’t care if someone got hurt in the process.”

“Nothing will undo that.” He squeezed my hand. “You’ve just got to decide if you can move past it.”

“Not right now.” I reached over and silenced my phone. “I just want to be here with you…”

I’m not ready yet.

I sent my mother a text message the following day to let her know that I was okay, but that I wasn’t ready to see her yet. She agreed to give me some time and even offered to leave Sinn Manor when I wanted to pick up my stuff. I took her up on that offer and made plans to collect my belongings a few days later. I didn’t ask Damien to help because I didn’t want him to have to return to the place where he had endured so much pain, but he wanted to come with me. It only took us a few hours to pack what I had unpacked. I still had several boxes I hadn’t even bothered to touch since I moved out of my old house.

“What do you think will happen to this place now?” I looked over at Damien after everything was packed in his car.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m sure my father is going to be facing some financial difficulties once Addison has Jenny’s trust fund restored—and his lawyers will want to be paid.”

“I guess that means my mother will get evicted at some point.” I looked down and sighed.

“Yeah, probably so.” He nodded.

“You could always buy it.” I opened the passenger side door and sat down.

“Nah, I don’t ever want to see this place again.” Damien sighed, and then he chuckled under his breath. “Besides, it’s a fucking wreck.”

“That’s true.” I laughed and pulled my door closed as Damien walked around to the other side of the car.

“Shit…” Damien pointed at the driveway as soon as he opened his door. “It’s your mom. I guess we stayed longer than she expected.”

“Or she planned to ambush me even after promising to stay away.” I shook my head. “Screw it; I’m just going to talk to her—maybe it’s better if I tell her what’s on my mind.”

“Are you sure?” Damien put his hand on mine. “Don’t say something to her that you may regret…”

“I won’t regret it.” I reached for the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I wasn’t entirely ready to talk to my mother but seeing her in the driveway made me realize that I was just delaying the inevitable. I wasn’t going to stop talking to her forever, even if there was a part of me that felt like she deserved it, so I walked towards her car. As soon as she realized we were still there, she mouthed I’m sorry and started to back out. I could have let her go, but I waved for her to stop. It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have in the middle of the driveway, so I walked towards Sinn Manor. I knew she would get the hint.

It will be better to get this off my chest anyway.

“Thank you for talking to me.” My mother walked inside and closed the door. “Leigh, I’m so sorry. I had no idea Edgar was capable of those awful things!”

“Mom.” I turned towards her and shook my head. “Yes, you did. You took his side when he wanted to force his seventeen year old daughter to marry someone she didn’t even know!”

That had a little more bite in it than I intended, but I don’t regret saying it.

“Leigh, I thought he had her best interests in mind.” She grimaced. “She was out of control, and he said that he was worried she wouldn’t have anyone to provide for her after he was gone—it sounded like he was talking from the heart. He even teared up…”