Billionaire Romance: Seduced by the Billionaire by Emelia Joye

I don’t understand, Lynn. She’s your child, isn’t she?”
     
    “Yes, she’s my
adopted child, Tonya.”
     
    It was almost
there. All the clues were laid out for her to take in, but she wouldn’t take
any of them. No way…
     
    With swollen
eyes, she swallowed her horror and asked again. “So, what’s the point you’re
trying to get across here? Don’t tell me…”
     
    Mrs Lynn cut
in, “Yes, she’s – she’s the child of the couple who died in the car accident…”
     
    Spectra of
lights danced in her eyes as her vision blurred, disallowing her to see her
surroundings. Stuck in between her jaw and shoulder was the telephone. She
couldn’t hold it properly. It was too heavy. She felt like the entire galaxy
had suddenly collapsed upon her shoulder. Everything seemed loaded. She
couldn’t take it anymore…
     
    “Hello? Tonya,
are still there? Please…” Mrs. Lynn cried out, but her husband quickly jumped
in to comfort her.
     
    “Let her alone,
for now, honey. She needs time to take it all in. Please, I beg you…” Tonya
overheard him spoke. How she wished to have someone to ease her anguish too.
But she had none… not even one. What about Penelope?
     
    “Tonya, I’m so
sorry about this. Please, have a rest now. We’ll call you tomorrow, okay? Have
a good sleep.” Mr Jacobson hanged up.
     
    “Have a good
sleep? Yeah, right…” Tonya mocked. Her gaze was fixed on the floor, floating in
the mid-air, detached from her consciousness. The telephone fell down. She did
not care. Her brain was frozen, numbed with guilt and shame.
     
    Still staring
at the floor aimlessly, she tried to think of any reason to live but found
none. Mellissa wasn’t at home. Really? Penelope was sleeping, unbothered by her
master’s grief.
     
    “Why? Why didn’t
I kill myself before all this shit happened? Am I that wicked to be punished
like this?” Tears formed around her eyes, edging to trickle down, but she was
holding them back, afraid to break down and lose her mind completely.
     
    She stood up,
and with idle pace, she walked like a drunkard woman in the street of Chicago.
Her weight pressed down against the soft brown carpet. Few step at a time, she
was heading to the kitchen to end her misery. Why did it need to reach this
far?
     
    Over the
kitchen’s island countertop, pots and pans were scattered all over the place.
It was as if the house was ravaged with sand of thieves. It was messy as hell.
A spill of alcohol was everywhere, and the smell was unbearable. It was too
strong for Tonya’s ancient nose.
     
    Her nose
twitched, compelling her to postpone her death. She walked around the island,
and sure enough, she knew it wasn’t Penelope who was raping the kitchen.
     
    “Mellissa?”
Tonya’s sympathy for herself shifted to her daughter.
     
    “Whatttt? Go
away, you bitch…” Mellissa’s head swayed on both sides, an indication she was
severely intoxicated.
     
    “Watch your
language, Mellissa. I’m your mother!”
     
    “Fuck you! You
fucked my life, and I don’t have a mother like you. Without you, Thom would’ve
never left me,” she enraged, utterly oblivious of her rudeness.
     
    Whoosh… her
mother’s palm struck her cheek, forcing her to wake up and return to her
senses. Tonya felt terrible about it, but she had to stand on her ground and
show who the boss was.
     
    Stunned and
hurt, her mother’s slap seemed to have an everlasting effect on her that cast
the alcohol’s spirit away. Mellissa kept her gaze away from her mother who was
now flooding the kitchen with tears and mucus.
     
    “Why? Why did
you do that?” Mellissa asked desperately. In her entire childhood, her mother
had never laid a finger on her, and now that she felt Tonya’s vexation, she
fathomed that her mother was going through a hard time right now.
     
    “Thom? What’s
so special about him that you can’t seem to let him go? He’s that special to
you more than your own mother?”
     
    “Yes,”