Needing Leah's Comfort

Diana smiled at me smugly. “You’re very good at hiding, but I’m very patient. I knew eventually that brother of yours would lead me to you. The only thing that I couldn’t figure out was how to get inside the gates. Thankfully, you came out of them.” She paused to laugh darkly. “You used to be smarter. This new woman is bad for you, Brennan. Both of you will burn in hell for your adultery.”

I took an angry step toward her. “Don’t talk about Phoenix like that!” I snarled.

She held her ground, smirking at me. “Phoenix? What a stupid name. A stupid name for a stupid bitch!”

“STOP TALKING ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!” I roared as I went toe-to-toe.

“She is a hoe! A slut! A whore! And a bitch!” She snapped, poking me in the chest with each word.

I grabbed her wrist, pulling her against my body as I glared down at her. “I told you not to speak about her like that! She is more of a woman than you could ever dream to be. I won’t let you fucking ruin this for me. Whatever you have to say, you can save it, because nothing from the past is going to be allowed to hurt my relationship with Phoenix. I love her, and she is going to be my wife. I don’t care that you think I’m an adulterer. I don’t care that you think I’m a bad person. My past is just that. The past. I am done living it.” I pushed her away from me, and she grunted when she hit the shelves behind her. “And while you’re at it, you need to leave Madison alone.”

She tossed her head back, laughing coldly. “Oh, yes! Another Morgan man that is fucked up in the head. Screwing and marrying his daughter. All of you are disgusting. Now, I am going to give you two options. You can either start my monthly payments again, or I will ruin your life. I will make your little whore leave you. I will make sure she abandons you. And if I can’t make her leave you, then I will eliminate her in a different way.” She pushed a manila envelope into my chest. “If you don’t believe me, then see what’s in there. I kept records of everything that Diadra did.” She smiled coldly. “I will also take this public. I will embarrass you, and I will win. So, do us both a favor and just resume the payments.”

I yanked the envelope from her hand and started to tear it up. “Fuck you, Diana. Fuck what’s in this envelope. I don’t care. There is nothing you can do or say that will make me just give up on Phoenix.”

She raised her eyebrow at me. “Are you done?”

“Go to hell.”

When I spun around and began to storm away, she chuckled darkly again. “They weren’t yours. The triplets were Michael’s kids. Diadra paid the doctor off to forge paternity papers stating that you were their father.”

I froze, stiffening almost to the point of pain. “You’re lying!”

“The saddest part of this is that I’m not. She knew you would abandon them if the girls weren’t yours. She knew that you would throw them out on the streets,” she cackled.

“I would not have done that! I loved her! I loved the girls! She knew that! She knew that I would love her even if the girls weren’t mine. We had talked about it. She didn’t have to lie. Not about that.”

She moved around to stand in front of me with another manila envelope in her hands. She held it out to me, smirking. “Check out what’s inside. I even included a recording of her saying it herself. There are also other things on that recording too. Including all of your weird sexual habits that could be misconstrued as violent. If you don’t want that information to get out, you will give me the money. And just because you pissed me off, you can double it for a year.”

She walked off, leaving me frozen in place as I tried to make sense of my emotions. If what she said was true, then my whole life with Diadra was a lie. But I knew Diana. She wasn’t a good person. She was a manipulator. She was a liar. She was a downright bitch. I looked down at the envelope in my hands, turning it over as I ran my hands over it, sighing when I felt the flash drives inside. I clutched the envelope in my hand as I walked up to the register to get my order and pay for the journal and pens. After seeing Diana, all I wanted to do was see Leah. I needed to. I was going insane. My heart was aching, and I was scared that the contents of this envelope would destroy, not just my progress, but my relationship with Leah. And I didn’t want to risk that. After paying for my things, I walked out of the pharmacy, stopping beside the trash can outside the doors, wanting to throw the envelope away. I knew I should, but I just couldn’t force myself to put the envelope inside the can. I sighed as I walked over to my car, throwing the envelope into the passenger seat before loading the bags into the trunk.

Over the next several hours, I went from store to store to get the rest of the things that Eden needed. Every store I went to, I saw Diana. It was almost like she was stalking me. I shook my head. Not almost. She was stalking me. She never bought anything. She just followed me through the aisles, smirking. I was never so happy to head back toward Eden from my outing as I was that day. In my car, I was safe from her prying eyes, but I was not safe from my thoughts. 

I hated them. I hated the doubts that the manila envelope Diana gave me caused. I hated that she had come back into my life just when I was starting to let myself give Leah all that I was. I hated everything about Diana. I hated her with everything in me. I hated the person she encouraged Diadra to be. If she hadn’t been in our lives, Diadra and my relationship would have been a lot better. We wouldn’t have been at each other’s throats, because I firmly believed that Diadra wouldn’t have been so deep into her addiction. She would have stayed clean without Diana’s influence to start them up again.

Of course, Diadra had denied my accusations, getting angry at me on Diana’s behalf, but she couldn’t see what Diana was doing. Diadra had been too close to Diana to see the two-faced snake that she was. But I wasn't too close. I saw through her act. I saw through it then, and even more now. As I pulled back up in front of Eden, I rolled my shoulders back. I was going to focus on Leah tonight. I was going to get my thoughts back under control. I desperately needed to do that. Especially after Diana’s threat to harm Leah. I wouldn’t allow that. I would protect Leah. That was all that mattered to me. I quickly dropped off the orders to where they needed to go before hurrying to Leah’s house. Before I could even knock on the door, she pulled it open, smiling at me.

“R. H. M., you’re back! How are you?” She asked as she threw herself into my arms.

I wrapped my arms around her tightly, trying to let her presence calm my anxiety. I buried my face in her neck, inhaling deeply.

“Is somebody here?” I asked.

“Yes! Armadillo came back, and Doc let him in. We’ve been talking, and—what’s wrong?”

“Armadillo is here?” I inquired angrily.
“Well, yes. We’re friends, and I wanted to clear the air between us. We—”

“Do you want him?” I snapped.

“Excuse me? No, R. H. M. I want you. I just don’t want to lose one of my best friends.” She glanced over her shoulder before tipping her face back to look up into my eyes. “Brennan? What happened while you were out today?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does. It has clearly upset you, and I want to support you. Just like you say that I can lean on you, you can lean on me too. Please, trust me,” she told me softly.

I sighed as I put my forehead against hers, closing my eyes. “While I was out, I ran into Diana. She made some statements that upset me. I’m struggling really badly to let it go.” I pressed my lips against hers as worry filled me. “She threatened you. And it scares me, because you are everything to me. I don’t want to lose you.”

She wrapped her arms around me. “You won’t, Brennan.”

I opened my eyes to look into hers. “Do you promise?”
She nodded. “I do. Just don’t push me away.”

I sighed as I nodded. “I’ll try not to. But I’m not going to lie; I’m not in a good place right now.”

She squeezed me tightly. “How about I say goodnight to Armadillo, and we can relax for the night? Would that help?”

“Yes, baby. It would.”

She smiled at me. “Okay. Give me a few minutes, and you’ll have all of my attention.”

“I can’t wait.”