Josh Pov
I walked to my kitchen counter p*ssed and breathing fire. In the book, both Thalia and I were monsters, in fact, everyone around Amber was a monster and I could only imagine how devastating it would be if she grew up and read that book.
Reality sank in, I never imagined how our past lives would impact her. Never, I was consumed with getting her back that I had not planned at what age I was supposed to tell her the tale that I turned her mother into a monster that castrated me for life.
No matter how hard I tried to hide it or pretend, it was a fact that I bred that evil Thalia. A Thalia that never laughed or smiled. She was so different from the bubbly shy nerdy Thalia I first met who had her headway in the clouds for me. The girl who basically worshiped and stepped on every step I made.
She made me the center of her universe but I turned and spat on her. I had no idea if it was guilty but never had I recalled what I did to her from her point of view.
For years I had told myself she and her father were the villains while my father was the victim but after Jessica questioned why I could stomach Thalia’s face and not hers. It hit me, even though I had tried hard not to show my emotions but her question kept harming the back of my head.
However I resented being in the same room with Thalia, that’s why I always visited Amber at night in order to avoid her and her boyfriend. If I was stuck on an Island with Jessica and Thalia, I think I would stomach a woman that castrated me rather than the one that slept with my father. Would I? Or I was just overreacting but there was one way to find out.
I needed to stop Jessica from writing that book, yes I needed the money but not at the expense of my daughter’s sanity. The media only knew a quarter of what I aired out to tarnish my father’s image. What they all knew was that I was used and I liked it that way but the whole story involved a lot of villains.
I walked to my bathroom and washed up, I really wanted to finish up my assignment before nightfall. Yes, I enrolled myself in an online law class, I always wanted to be a lawyer and the s*it that happened just gave me a will. But I still needed an office job to pay for the classes and I had applied to a lot of companies.
I doubted Thalia was still on the revenge quest to block me from finding work. If so I would have received rejections already even though I had not received acceptance letters. Or maybe I had already dented my image and no one would want to hire a man that stole his wife’s company.
I sighed as I waited for a cab. I was born in riches but was slowly adapting to the new low life. I got into the cab and headed to Thalia’s. It was the first time that I was visiting in the afternoon or after the incident when she found out I used to visit in the night.
I had tried to go there the following night but I found the combination to the door changed and when I texted Nestor, I was shocked to learn the sick p*ycho had thrown him out.
Somehow that was good news, once the sick p*ycho was out of the picture and Nestor on Thalia’s throat, it was going to be easy to win my case. I was playing two games and they had no idea how.
However, ever since that day I had not seen Amber, two days had passed and I missed her a lot. For the past two days, I had pretended and lied to myself that I was busy when in actual fact I did not want to ask Thalia for my baby. I figured I had no issue seeing her face but the main issue was asking for my daughter.
The process of being polite and not causing her to rain hell or continue with her hell. I realized that was my main problem, as I walked to the gate, it was different with Jessica who I could insult the life out of or throw out. That was the main difference between the two women that showed me how hell felt like on earth.
The cab had dropped me outside Thalia’s residence but I stood at the gate just staring at it like an insane person. I had no idea how many minutes passed before I came to that realization.
All of the sudden, the gate opened, I clenched my hands into a fist, realizing they were watching me. There was no time to turn back so I walked in. Deep down I wanted Nestor to be around, he was a very cool guy and easy to negotiate with.
However, as soon as I opened the door I was met with Thalia on the other side of the door. She had folded arms across her bosom, big bosom, she was always blessed in that area. But I noticed her eyes looked tired like she had not slept for days.
“How… were you able to make Kendra sleep?” she asked.
I glanced at her confused.
“Nestor said you are the one that used to put her to sleep,” she added.
I raised my eyebrows, “so you are saying Am. .. She has not been sleeping for two days?”
“No, I did not say that, it was just difficult to…. Put her to sleep,” she added with so much shame.
I could not believe what came out of her mouth, they practically punished my little angel. They should have called me but they chose to punish her instead. Yeah, I was good at putting her to sleep while they were sleeping and snoring in each other’s arms. I was very sure she was not getting some sex from the sick p*ycho.
However, while they were asleep I used to sing to her. She was a late sleeper, especially since she took a lot of afternoon naps. Thalia and the fool had no idea about that, I wondered if she knew anything about her daughter.
“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked.
“Why didn’t you visit?” she replied.
I chuckled, she was full of herself, if I remembered correctly, she was the one that went to wake up her s*upid sick p*ycho boyfriend when she found me putting Amber to sleep.
“last time..”
“Let’s not talk about last time because you were wrong to visit my daughter without me being aware, any judge would agree with that,” she replied in a stern voice like she was warning me.
“Our daughter, point of correction and you have to sing to her. That useless Nany you have employed knows nothing about taking care of Amber!”
“It’s Kendra, I swear on my father’s grave, if you continue calling her by that s*upid name then we will just settle everything in court or I will disappear with her from the face of the earth!” She yelled on top of her voice.
From the popping veins on the sides of her face, I could tell she was serious and had no time for a court hearing. She meant the second part loud and clear. I only stared at her, I did not waste my tax fare all the way to argue with her.
I had had enough arguing for a day. She cleared her throat, “Okay so it’s about singing, you do not look like someone who sings. Ooh I forgot, I never knew the real you, four good years of pretense,”
“Thalia stop it, just stop it, I did not come here to argue with you or recall the hell we both did to each other,” I interrupted her.
“Kendra is sleeping,” she abruptly replied.
“I did not come to see Am…Kendra,” I replied.
“You see how you are confusing yourself with her name, now imagine how confusing it is for Kendra?” She asked.
Before I could shut her up again, the maid walked in with Amber in her hands crying. Both Thalia and I ran towards the maid intending to grab the baby. Our commotion was so loud that we almost bashed each other, but it caught Amber’s attention and she stopped crying, staring at us confused with her big brown eyes.
We both felt embarrassed and ended up staring at each other and we were only forced to move apart when we heard a loud throat clear. We looked up at the stairs and it was the sick p*ycho, looking sicker than ever.
“What a reunion,” he mocked.
“Brandon, what are you doing up?” Thalia ran up to him.
“I smelled a rat so I decided to take a walk,” he said and joined us. I ignored him and took the opportunity to grab the baby from June. Amber smiled immediately. I held her in my arms, “did you miss me, did you miss me,” I tickled her, sending her into laughter.
I looked around and noted that everyone had their eyes on me like I was some terrorist. It was obvious Amber was giving them a hard time for the past two days but there she was laughing at my tickles.
“Stop tickling the baby!” The psych yelled. I had noticed that as soon as he showed up Thalia was not in the race to grab Amber. She typically ran to her dying boyfriend. She loved him more than the baby.
What kind of a s*upid mother was she? Then thinking about it critically, what I saw was a plus sign. If the p*ychodropped dead, she was going to shatter, leaving me with the chance to capitalize and slowly steal Amber from her.
“I’m not tickling her hard, it was just a small rub below her belly, you should try it sometimes if you want her to warm up to you,” I mocked.
“Thalia, what is this buffon doing here? Please do not tell me it finally grew some balls to visit at an appropriate time!” the p*ycho mocked, he was very irritating. One day I was going to really shut him up but not in front of precious Amber.
I breathed in slowly, the only little human being that was preventing me from running to where he was standing was the little angel in my arms who had her little mouth curved in a smile waiting for me to tickle her again.
She always did that. It was only that smile that tamed me from not finishing him off. In fact, he always looked like he was suffering and someone needed to end his miserable life.
All of a sudden, my eyes felt the weight and a tear dropped, landing on Amber, she closed her eyes, surprised by the odd texture that landed on her face. I quickly began wiping her face but more tears dropped.
“J*sus Christ he is going to drown the baby. Thalia, get Kendra away from him,” the P*ycho yelled.
Thalia moved close to me and tried grabbing Amber but I turned facing my back to her. “Would you just give me a second,” I yelled.
My yelling scared Amber, forcing her to send out a loud cry. I positioned her on my back with my back facing Thalia and began patting her.
“Kendra, mommy is here, Josh, give her to me,” Thalia ordered
“I will hand her to you, will you just give me a minute to calm her down,” I whispered, making sure not to scare the baby. I still had my back to them and I could only hope they were going to tame their mouths.
Like some miracle they both kept quiet and only Amber’s cry filled the air until she stopped, for a second I wished she had not because my snorting took over the room. It was embarrassing, I was never an emotional person but I could only guess I had been holding on to a lot the past few weeks and it was pouring down in front of the two people that finished and destroyed me.
They both kept quiet and just watched me without saying a word. I heard footsteps and only assumed they both took a seat but i was not sure. It was getting awkward so I spoke up, “Jessica plans to write a book on everything that went down between the two of you, Victor and I,” I explained.
There was silence, I was expecting them to be all over, making threats and making phone calls but they were both quiet. I wiped my tears and turned. They were both staring at me with faces that were difficult for me to read. I had no idea if they were bothered by what I had said or not.
