Chapter 99 - LADY RAVENWOOD
This is beginning to irritate me. I paused. Took a deep calming breath and fought for self-control. The hell, Lucas Nicholas dragged me here for this? He must have lost his mind. Didn't he when Alexandria, his wife ran away with her lover on their first wedding anniversary?
"Lucas," I said in a menacingly sharp tone. That could have rendered an ordinary man run in fear. But Lucas was no 'ordinary' man.
"Bring Ace to Lady Ravenwood, Milton. It would complicate things if Ace changes his mind before meeting her." Lucas said instead, looking at the other man, obviously trying to ignore me.
"Yes, Mr. St. Alexander."
"What is this all about Lucas? I swear I'll kill you after this."
"I'm very sure you will likely do that after you realize my connection with Lady Ravenwood." He responded strangely. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Before I could react, Milton was already on his feet. Lucas didn't move so I followed Milton alone.
Lady Ravenwood? It didn't ring a bell to me. Who was she?
Milton said nothing. I followed behind him until we reached a door. He made no move to open the door so we could enter. Instead, he stared at me without betraying any emotion on his face and said. "You may enter Sir Greyson."
He bent into a graceful bow before retreating a step backward. The frown on my forehead deepened. I'm not liking this. My intuition tells me something disastrous is about to happen.
I gingerly turned the knob, pushed the door, and entered the room which I realized was an incredibly large library. The pleasant scent of books wafted into the air, it brings so many nostalgic memories. My mother used to bring me to our library and read me books when I was a child but that was in the past now. I forced myself to focus on the present.
The wooden shelves were filled with thick books neatly organized by fiction and nonfiction. On other shelves, books written by popular and best-selling authors were arranged in alphabetical order.
As I moved deeper into the room, my shoes sunk into the thickly carpeted floor. In the center of the room, there was an office table and a swivel chair but it was empty.
Just on my left, an elegant sofa set stood. It was empty too. There's no sign someone was inside.
I was about to move back to the door when a soft flicker of movement caught my attention. From behind the shelves, a woman with golden-brown hair pinned on her head into a perfectly made chignon emerged. Her soft sapphire eyes glowed with tears.
She's still beautiful just like the last time I saw her. She ages so well.
I wanted to run to her, wrap her tight into my arms but I stopped myself when the memories of how she left me that night returned. My eyes fluttered close. But even with my eyes closed, I can't escape the sight of her face. It was still there inside my thoughts.
I will never forget her face. It was the same face who haunted me in my dreams until I woke up gasping for air. I thought I would feel nothing after seeing her again. I was mistaken.
If there's someone I ever loved too much… It was her. But she ruined everything when she left me. I trusted her when she told me she will return but the liar that she is—she never really intended to fulfill her promise.
Fury which had been concealed within me for years bubbled to the surface until I couldn't breathe anymore. It took me a great amount of self-control not to scream at her and wrap my fingers into her lovely neck.
She moved with slow, reluctant steps. The hem of her delicate ball gown rustled on the carpeted floor. Each step she makes the more my hatred increases.
"My son…" She whispered. The tears on her cheeks flow more freely, almost soaking her flushed cheeks.
I clenched my jaw tightly and turned my fingers into a fist. Whatever tenderness I felt for her was gone. It had been replaced by hatred and disdain when she left me.
"You don't have the right to call me your son, Claire. The son you abandoned was long since dead. He died of hopelessness the night you left him shivering with fever." The chill in my voice could have frozen the underworld.
Ms. Ravenwood stiffened. Her shoulders fell. She looked at me with longing in her eyes.
Another heart-wrenching sob erupts on her throat.?She stopped walking when my laser-sharp eyes met hers.
I couldn't feel an ounce of pity as I look at her tear-stricken eyes. I'm not capable of any emotions except disgust and contempt.
"Ace… please." She raised her gloved fingers to touch me but I pull away. She disgusts me. I don't want to feel her touch because every time I look at her, I only see the woman who left me when I needed her most.
Claire, my mother left me on the hell where Ybbrahim raced me with an iron fist. His wife Samantha was no different, she too is as evil as her husband. I couldn't forget how she used to whip me over and over again until I lose consciousness. The series of abuse would not happen if only my mother didn't leave me that night.
"The night you left me… That's the day you signed off as my mother." The words dig so hard that she sobbed harder. Her slender shoulders shook violently.
Things happened almost fifteen years ago but the same shot of pain still stabs my heart as if it happened just yesterday. I learned to live my life without her in it but why did she need to return?
The door to the past only opened. The horrible memories returned to torture me again.
No! No! Claire shouldn't have returned!
A woman who leaves her child alone—whatever reason she may have—didn't deserve to be a mother at all.
She is not my mother. My mother died fifteen years ago.
Visit freewe𝑏no(v)el.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience