Chapter 19

19

Iona

“ M ama!” I screamed, bursting through her front door. “Ma!”

She came bustling into the living room with my sister on her heels.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked frantically.

“It’s over. He broke off our engagement.”

“What? Wait a minute. Slow down and tell me what happened.”

“I just told you what happened, Ma. He broke up with me. He wants his wife back. I knew this was gonna happen. I knew it.”

“I need more details than that, Iona.”

I huffed. I decided to give her the full rundown of what had been going on between me and Tyrion for weeks now. Even recounting the story pissed me off. How could he be mad at me for doing what he refused to do? I’d asked and asked. I’d waited and waited, and he gave me nothing to make me feel secure in our future.

“Wait a minute,” my mother said, holding up her hands. “You sent that man’s wife divorce papers?”

“Yes. He refused to do it, so I did what needed to be done.”

“Are you out of your mind, Iona? And you wonder why he ended things. You crossed a major line. That wasn’t your place. I told you, baby. I told you, if that man was meant to be yours, then he would be. If not, there are plenty of other men out there.”

Meena snorted. “Good luck with that,” she mumbled.

“Meena, be quiet,” our mother snapped.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell my sister to go fuck herself. She was always so conveniently around whenever I had to talk to my mother about man troubles. It was like she could sense my misery and came around to feast on it like the succubus she was. I fully believed that if she could lick my tears without me popping her in her shit, she would.

Meena shook her head. “Mom, you need to keep it real with her. Treat her like a client when she’s acting like a mental patient. Honestly, Iona, I don’t know why you set yourself up like that. You never deal with a man that isn’t fully single. Is your self-esteem really that low, sis? Your taste in men is why you keep ending up with the bottom of the barrel ass niggas.”

“Oh, and your marriage is so great?”

“It is, actually. You could take a lesson from me and Daniel. You could be just as happy if you had any self-respect.”

I shoved my hand in her face. “Meena, shut the fuck up.”

“Watch your mouth in my house,” our mother warned me.

“Forget that! I’m so sick of her shit, Ma. She thinks she’s so much better than me.”

Meena laughed. “You said that, not me.”

“I can say a whole lot more, Meena. You don’t want me to get to talking, because you’ll end up with your little feelings hurt.”

“Iona, please. You don’t have the power to have me bothered, little sister. Don’t come in here trying to threaten me just because your little fiancé finally came to his senses. You should have known the minute his wife came into the picture that it was over for you. Hell, you should have known it when it took him so long to propose and not file for divorce. Face it, sis. You were there to buy him time and take care of his kid. I’m surprised it lasted this long.”

“You know, Meena. I’m surprised your marriage lasted this long too. I guess letting your husband cheat in peace worked out well for you.”

She scoffed. “Daniel isn’t cheating on me. I’m more than enough for him. Don’t project your insecurities or dreadful love life onto my marriage.”

“Girl, please. As much as you’re over here because he’s away on business, you know as well as I do that he’s cheating. No man is that damn busy. Why can’t you go on business trips with him? He’s traveling the world, and you’re here at your mommy’s house because he would rather have you at home while he entertains his mistresses.”

She shoved me. “See how jealous you are of me having a good man? Does making up lies make you feel better about your pathetic little life?”

“You know what made me feel great, Meena? Knowing that while you think I’m beneath you , I had your husband laying beneath me .”

Her eyes widened, and my mother gasped. “Iona… please tell me you didn’t sleep with your sister’s husband.”

I smirked. Daniel was a fucking creep with money. He was fine as hell, though. From the first time Meena brought him around, I could tell he was one of those slick ass, smooth-talking men. My sister was nothing more than a trophy wife to him. Having her on his arm elevated his status. She was the pretty young thing on his arm at events and galas. She made him look good when she stood next to him for photos.

While I believed he loved her to an extent, that didn’t stop him from pulling out his other trophies when he wanted to play. Hooking up with him wasn’t planned. It just happened, and it was only a few times eight years ago. It was one night when we were at an event where my mother was being honored. We had to go out of town, and my date stood me up. Meena thought it was the funniest thing that I was upset. I’d left the party after Mom got her award and went back to my room.

I hadn’t been in there five minutes before there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, there was Daniel with a sympathetic smile.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said.

“I’m fine. Bye.”

I tried to close the door in his face, but he stuck his foot in.

“Wait,” he said, pushing it back open. “I’m sorry about the way Meena treats you.”

“You don’t have to apologize for your wife being a bitch. She’s acted the same way my entire life. In her mind, I’m a second-class citizen and unworthy of anything good.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?”

“Which part? That she thinks that or that I’m not worthy?”

“That you aren’t worthy.”

I shrugged. “Love has never loved me. I made myself over, and I’m still single.”

“Maybe because you’re dealing with men who are beneath you. You’re a beautiful woman, Iona. You just need a man that can handle you.”

I scoffed. “So what are you gonna do? Hook me up with one of your middle-aged friends? I don’t think so. I don’t fuck old men.”

He chuckled. “I’m hardly old. Same goes with my friends.” He reached out and pushed a curl from my face. “As for fucking… you’d be the one getting fucked every which way.”

I swallowed hard. “Daniel… you should probably go.”

“You want me to leave?” he asked, pushing his way into the room.

He closed the door and pushed me up against it. His hand slipped beneath the split in my dress to cup my pussy.

“Mmm… damn, Iona.”

“D-Daniel, please…”

“Please what?” He peered down at me with seductive eyes. “You look so damn good tonight, baby. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you.”

“You-you couldn’t?”

He shook his head as he pulled my panties to the side. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to touch your walls. I told myself if I ever got the opportunity, I’d have you bent over for me.”

“You’re married to my sister.”

“Your sister likes to pretend she married for love, but we both know it was for money. I take very good care of her in every way. Tonight, I’m trying to take care of you.”

The next thing I knew, he’d dropped to his knees and buried his face between my legs. It wasn’t long before he had me face down, ass up, deep stroking my pussy to oblivion. Us messing around lasted all of a month before we called it quits and never spoke on it again. That man gave me some of the best sex I’d ever had. His stamina was out of this world. As wrong as it was, it felt good to have one up on Meena’s smug ass.

“No, I didn’t sleep with him…” I finally answered. I paused as I looked Meena square in the eyes. “I fucked him. Oooo, you should have heard the way I had him calling my name. Daniel didn’t think I was beneath him at all.”

The slap to the face by my sister was warranted and didn’t faze me at all. I drew back and returned the gesture, only my hit came in the form of a punch to her pretty face. That set it off. Before I knew it, we were rolling around on the floor going blow for blow, with my mother screaming for us to stop.

“Stop it right now! You’re sisters! I raised you better than this!”

Her words went in one ear and out the other. All the pent-up anger I had toward Meena came out through my fists. Then I imagined she was Evenie, and I became enraged. This was all her fault. If she’d just stayed fucking missing, I wouldn’t have been compelled to go to such lengths to move her out of my way.

“Iona, stop!” my mother screamed.

She slapped me hard across the face, breaking me out of my fit. I looked down at my sister, who was now sporting a busted lip and a bloody nose. My mother pushed me off her and helped her to her feet.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she screamed at me.

“You stupid bitch!” Meena yelled. “You’re a fucking animal, and you belong in jail or a mental institution. If Tyrion had any sense, he would get a restraining order on you now.”

She spit blood at my feet, then snatched away from our mother before hurrying into the downstairs bathroom. My mother looked at me in disbelief.

“You have taken things way too far, Iona. Your sister’s husband?”

I waved her off. “It was eight years ago, and it didn’t last long.”

“I don’t care! You crossed a line. That’s your sister—”

“Yeah, my sister. My sister, who has made it her life’s mission to make me miserable. Have you not been around, Ma? Meena lives to remind me that I’m not as good as her. She never fails to remind me that I’ve never been as pretty, popular, or as smart as her. She’s spent my entire life being the bane of my fucking existence. So yeah, I slept with her husband. The less attractive, unpopular sister was desired by her man, and it felt damn good.”

My mother slapped me so hard that my head snapped back.

“Get out of my house. Don’t come back over here until you are ready to apologize and seek help for all of this pent-up anger. You’re going to ruin yourself, Iona. I don’t want to watch you self-destruct.”

I laughed and threw up my hands. “Wow. The award-winning psychologist doesn’t have the answers.” I backed away to the door. “I’m not apologizing to your daughter, because I’m not sorry. If she keeps antagonizing me, I’m gonna make it my mission to fuck her husband again,” I added, loud enough for Meena to hear.

She came charging out of the bathroom. “Bitch, I will kill you!” she declared, running toward me, only to have our mother catch her.

Manic laughter left my throat as I opened the front door and walked out.

Damn, that made me feel good.