The Aftermath (The Hurricane, #2)(10)

“No f*cking way!” I answered without thinking. This bitch had done enough damage. Frank might be behind bars, but the bitch was still messing with Sunshine’s head just by being here.

“It’s okay, baby.” Em soothed me with her hand on my knee. “Let’s just listen to what she has to say.”

I didn’t like it at all, but my girl knew her mind, and she didn’t question any decisions I made about my useless bitch of a mother. I nodded to show I was okay but clenched my jaw shut, trying not to interfere.

“You’ve got five minutes, Mum. The guys will leave but O’Connell stays with me.” This calmed me down slightly, but not by much.

“Okay,” her mum agreed quietly.

Tommy, Liam, and Kieran shuffled out of the booth, taking the last of their burgers with them and shooting daggers at Em’s ma the whole time. Once they’d left, she sat down gingerly at the table.

“What are you doing here, Mum?” Em asked suspiciously. “I haven’t seen you leave the house in years.”

“Frank’s trial starts soon, and his barrister asked me to come down to London so he could go over my evidence.”

“I hope you’re not here to ask me for anything,” Em answered. “If you want to stand up for him and lie in court, that’s up to you but that animal deserves to go away for life, and I’m going to do everything I can to see that happens.” Her spine stiffened as she spoke, and I couldn’t have been more proud of her.

“Yes, no, I mean that’s not why I wanted to come here,” she answered, getting all flustered. “Frank has asked me to give you something but that’s not why I came,” she clarified.

“I knew you were here for him. Just give me whatever that psycho wants you to deliver and leave,” Em said angrily.

“Please, Emily,” her mum pleaded.

“Please what, Mum?” she replied. “Please be nice, please don’t argue, or please forgive you for doing absolutely nothing while that man beat and raped me?” She didn’t shout. She didn’t even raise her voice at her mother. Instead she was eerily calm. Tears were streaming down her mother’s face, and with a resigned sigh, Em rubbed her own tiredly with her hands.

“Just go home, Mum,” Em said softly. The woman pulled a long white envelope from her tattered bag and slid it across the table toward us.

“You have no idea how sorry I am for my part in what happened, and I don’t ever expect you to forgive me, but I’d like to explain myself to you someday, and I’d like the opportunity to know you. I don’t expect you to hear me out anytime soon, but can I come by the cafe from time to time, just to say hello and see you?” she asked hopefully.

“I don’t know. You’ve had years to get to know me. I can’t help feeling that whatever you’re doing is in Frank’s best interest.”

“Believe me, if Frank knew I did anything other than follow his instructions, I’d be beaten black and blue when he next had the opportunity.”

After a long pause of me clenching and unclenching my fists and silently willing her to tell her mother to get f*cked, Em finally answered. “Fine, but only now and again, and I’m not talking about Frank,” she agreed.

“What the f*ck, Sunshine?” I asked her. Her only response was to link her fingers through mine and squeeze my hand tightly.

“I understand,” her mum replied, “and thank you.”

Slipping quickly out of the booth, her mother paused to stare at Em like she was trying to memorize her face, then dropped her gaze to the floor and walked out of the cafe. As soon as she was gone, Em slumped against me. Letting go of her hand, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. I knew, even before she hiccupped, that she was crying because her tears began to soak through my shirt. My heart broke for her. Sunshine rarely ever cried. She was a pro at bottling up her feelings and going quiet when something was bothering her. But her ma had cut old wounds wide open, and now her pain was bleeding out. I didn’t have it in my heart to complain about her giving in to her mother and allowing future contact. That conversation could wait for another day. Right now, Em needed me, and I knew only too well how deeply the wounds inflicted by a bad parent ran.

“Come on, love. Let’s get you home. I’ll run you a nice hot bath, you can put on a shitty chick flick, and we’ll fall asleep cuddling. Sniffing back the tears, I saw the ghost of a smile as she wiped her face with her hands.

“That sounds nice,” she said. “Let’s open the letter first though. Whatever’s inside won’t be good and I just want it over and done with” she said, looking at the envelope in disgust. The fact that Frank had even held it made it tainted. I wanted to snatch it away and open it when I was on my own, shield her from whatever was inside. But Danny was right. No way would she put up with that shit. Quickly, like she was ripping off a Band-Aid, she tore open the letter and pulled out a sheet of paper, folded around a single photograph. She glanced at it briefly before allowing it to fall to the table and burying her face in the crook of my neck. She didn’t make a sound but the warm, wet tears against my skin broke my heart. I picked up the note with shaky hands to see what had moved her so badly. In bold black type was printed the message:

You are MINE. You have always been MINE.