You!

Ramira led us to the back of the restaurant, where she rented out an entire section for our dinner, which I more than appreciated. I still was not feeling 100%, and if I vomited, I didn’t want to upset anyone. For about half an hour, we talked about nonsense while we ate until the topic turned more serious. I swallowed nervously when Ramira pinned me with her ‘looking into your soul’ look.

“How are you feeling, Leah?”

“I’m okay. I’m just anxious. I was wondering if you could prescribe me something for anxiety. I get this weird feeling in my chest sometimes and—”

“Yes, of course I will. On one condition: if you don’t feel better by Friday, you go to the doctor.”

I sighed as I nodded. “I promise.”

“Alright, good. Now, Maddie, honey, I heard you were giving Caleb some trouble in his group. He wanted me to talk to you about your anger.”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “He deserves my anger and then some. He shouldn’t be treating—”

“Ramira! Madison! What an absolute pleasure to see you here,” a woman gushed as she plopped down in a seat across from me.

Both Ramira's and Madison’s faces immediately darkened. The woman reached over to Madison’s plate to pick up a breaded shrimp before putting it in her mouth.

“You know, that brother of yours is stupid,” she said. “He should have just talked to me. He should have just given me what I wanted. He—”

“IT’S YOU!” I exclaimed, leaning forward toward her, making her attention snap to me.

“And you are?!”

“My name is Phoenix!”

Realization dawned in her eyes before she burst out laughing. “You’re Brennan’s new little slut!”

Madison slammed her hand down on the table. “That’s enough, Diana!”

“No, Madison, it’s not!” I told her, keeping my eyes glued to Diana’s. “Why do you hate him so much? Huh? What did he do to you that was so bad that you have to destroy him? Why can’t you just let him go and let him move on?”

“Hate?” She cackled. “You think this is about hate? Not even close, you little whore! This is about money. Pure and simple. He should have never stopped the monthly payments.”

“Payments?” I scoffed. “So, a piddly- ass $1,000 a month is enough to break a good man down? It’s enough to make you want to destroy a soul that has done so much for so many people. If you had needed help, he would have helped you. Hell, he still would probably help you. Because that’s the kind of man that he is! You and Diadra tried so hard to destroy him, but let me tell you right now, I will never let you destroy him! You will never win! And I hope that when this is all said and done, you burn in hell for what you’ve done to him. To us!” I paused to take a deep breath as my body trembled in anger. “I love him in a way that he’s never known. I will continue to love him in the same way. You think that because you managed to separate us for a little while, you won? Well, let me tell you that you haven’t! I will be with Brennan. I will love him past the day I die, and one of these days soon, he will have forgotten all about you and what you have done to him. You won’t even be thought of! Just like Diadra! Nothing but a forgotten relic of his past!”

She leaned across the table to get in my face. “Are you finished?” She hissed. “I don’t give a fuck if you love him. I give an even smaller fuck about him loving you. He is nothing. Just like you. I can make his life miserable, and I will until he pays me my money! There is more than just the faked paternity test. So much more.” She sat back in her chair, looking down at her nails before meeting my eyes again. “You are foolish to think that he wouldn’t leave you in a heartbeat if he knew that he had another child out there. That Diadra gave her up because she hated children. She hated him. Nothing about their relationship is true. Not even that itty, bitty little piece of paper that said they were married.”

I stared at her in shock. “Wait, he has a living child?”

She burst out laughing as she eyed me smugly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would! If he has a child out there, he should be in their life. He is an amazing father—”

“Is that what he told you?” She laughed. “He was an asshole. He was never home. He—”

I launched myself across the table to slap her, shaking violently. “You can say whatever you want to say about him, but he is a good man. A good man that doesn’t deserve what you are doing to him. I don’t believe anything that you say! You thrive in chaos. You thrive on hurting people. You want money? That’s all you’re after? I’ll give it to you if you leave him alone!” I reached into my purse to grab two of the stacks of bills that Brennan had given me. I threw them in her face. “There’s $2,000. You come to me every month, and I’ll make sure you get your money.”

She looked down at the money before looking up at me. “Why are you so willing to pay me off?”

“Because he’s worth it. I’m sorry that you’ve never had anyone love you the way I love him, but I wish that one day you get to experience it. It’s the purest thing in the world. I hope that you wake up and realize that making him feel lower than dirt is not how to do it. You are capable of working. You are just lazy. I hope you don’t have kids, because you are setting a really poor example for them,” I told her, my voice thick with tears.

“You know nothing about me! My daughter is just fine! She is growing up the right way!”

I shook my head as I met her eyes. “She can’t be. Not with a mother like you! If she does what you do to earn money, then I pray that she never does it to the wrong person, because unlike Brennan, most people won’t tolerate it and will hurt her.” I stood up, placing my hands flat on the table. “You have a chance to make this right, Diana. You have a chance to prove that you can be a good person. But that’s only if you want to, and right now, I’m not confident that you have anything to offer this world. And that includes your daughter.”

I felt disgusting saying that about a child, but sometimes the only way to get someone to understand was to play just as dirty as they did. She chose to use Brennan’s children against him, and so here I was, giving her the same tasteless treatment. I needed to get it into her head how wrong what she was doing truly was. I leaned across the table to peer into her eyes.

“You are a pathetic excuse for a woman and a mother. How would you feel if someone told you that your daughter wasn’t yours? How would you feel if someone did to you what you were doing to Brennan? Can you imagine the heartbreak you would feel? Can you imagine the sorrow and longing to beg your children for forgiveness that you would feel? No? Well, let me tell you about it. Crying for years over their loss, unable to heal because you blame yourself. Afraid to love because you’re afraid that everyone that you care about will end up leaving you.

Burying everything in your life so deep that you almost forget about it until someone enters your world that wants to be there for you. You’re so terrified that you will lose them that you push them away, and that is what makes them walk away. Not the fact that you love them. Just your fear. And then someone comes into your life and dredges up all of your deepest fears. You find out that the children you loved so much aren’t yours. You find out that the woman you loved with every ounce of your very soul was nothing but a pathetic user. She used you for what you could give her. Can you imagine how that feels? Can you imagine the agony he is going through day after day because of what you are doing to him? I bet if the positions were reversed, you would have already given up. And to be honest, I can’t even be mad at you. Because you do not understand. You still have your daughter. You can still go home every day and hug her. You can help her with her homework and tuck her into bed at night. You get to celebrate her birthdays with her. You might even get to see her get married and hold your grandchildren.” I straightened up before wiping a tear away from my face. “I hope that causing someone that much pain is worth the measly few grand you will get. Because from where I’m sitting, no price is worth spending eternity in hell.”

I walked away from the table, needing fresh air as my stomach rolled violently. When I stumbled, an arm wrapped around my waist to keep me upright.

“It’s okay, Leah. I got you,” Maddie whispered as she guided me out of the restaurant.

Once she got me seated in the car, I shifted so that I was on my side, watching her as she started to drive back to the house.

“How can anyone purposely cause someone else pain like this?” I whispered. “And how can I blame him for the way he reacted? I abandoned him, just like she did. I’m just like her. Just like both of them…”