Black Knight (Royal Elite #4) by Rina Kent

She’s not here to save me.

“Why are you here, Samantha?”

“I’m your mum and you’ll address me as such.”

“Nope. You kind of, sort of, stopped being my mum the moment you abandoned me in the streets while I was crying and calling your name.”

She stands up and I expect her to come at me or something, to try to prove her biological status, but she heads straight to the drinking cabinet Lewis always keeps at the corner of the room. She curses when she finds nothing, her fingers shaking.

“Remember that drinking problem I have?” I tilt my head to the side. “Dad banned alcohol from the house because of it.”

“He’s such an expert at throwing away good liquor.” She rubs her neck and her fingers tremble.

I reach into the side cupboard and retrieve a small bottle I keep there, then throw it her way. “I see where I got that problem from.”

She clutches the bottle and opens it with over-eager fingers. “Vodka, seriously? Don’t you have any wine?”

“Everyone picks his poison of choice, I guess.”

“Whatever.” The moment I see her gulping the liquid like she’s been in a desert, a sense of disgust hits me.

It’s so hard, I physically clutch the counter for balance.

I look like that. Just like her.

Now that I think about it, she always walked around with a cup of wine in her hand. She even mixed it with my redberry juice once, and that was my first sip of alcohol. I finished it all and was acting weird. That’s how Dad found out about it and they had a huge fight.

Then he took me to the doctor and I might have had my stomach cleaned.

Maybe that’s why Dad has been an extra dick about the drinking since the beginning of this year.

“Are you even sorry?” I ask.

She wipes the side of her mouth, but doesn’t give back the small bottle. “Sorry? For what?”

The fact she’s asking is enough to say she’s not, but I speak anyway, “That you left your only son behind with a man who isn’t even his biological father.”

“You know,” she murmurs.

“Yup, kind of figured about all the cross-breeding.”

“Just so you know, I don’t appreciate sarcasm.”

“Just so you know, I don’t fucking care.”

She shakes her head. “I didn’t leave you with a stranger. Lewis considered you his son from the very get-go. Besides, he and Calvin came to an understanding a long time ago to supervise on their biological children from afar. Why do you think Calvin picked you up sometimes and Lewis picked Kim up at others? Or when the four of you had fathers’ days out in the park and all that rubbish? They had it all planned.”

I figured Dad and Calvin were exchanging information behind the scenes, but I never thought they were this much in tune about how everything was playing out.

“Did the arrangement bother you?” I ask. “Is that it?”

“I didn’t care.”

“Of course you didn’t. That’s why you left.”

She says nothing, and her silence is more painful than her words. I thought I was immune to pain about now. Turns out, I was fucking wrong.

“And why did you come back?”

She sits on the sofa again and takes another drink of my vodka, more gracefully this time since she doesn’t have an itch to satiate.

“Whatever happens, you’re my son, Xander.”

“Bullshit.”

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me.”

“Listen here, Xan, as your mother, I demand respect.”

“Bullshit,” a stronger male voice says from behind me.

Dad.

That was faster than I thought. He probably was in Silver’s father’s house nearby.

He places his briefcase on the table and strides inside to stand beside me. “You heard him.”

“Lewis.” She smiles. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I told you not to ever come here.”

“Wait.” I stare between them. “You meet? Are you like tea parties’ mates? I thought she was in fucking Brazil or something.”

“Can you leave us alone?” Samantha’s hand trembles around the bottle’s lid.

“Fuck no,” I say.

“Just go.” Lewis motions behind him.

“I can’t believe this.” I stare at her. “You’re here for him, not me?”

She taps the lid of the bottle, keeps her posture, but says nothing.

I scoff as I exit the room, but not the scene. I hide behind the corner and do something I used to when I was a kid – eavesdrop on my parents’ fights, hoping they’d end soon.

When they didn’t, I went to Kim because she was the only one who weaned down the chaos. She still is.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Samantha?” Lewis yanks on his tie.

“You’re not answering my calls.”

“That’s because I don’t want to. Take a hint.”

“You don’t get to ignore me, Lewis.”

“Watch me.” He stands by the table, towering over her. “I told you last year that would be the last fucking time you’re getting money from me.”

“Mike’s business went bankrupt again. We need help.”