ℂ𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕖𝕠𝕟 𝔾𝕝𝕠𝕨 ➃

55. The Apple & The Tree - ✭SETH✭

A/N:
I've come to the realization that Seth feels the need to butt his way into nearly every book of this series.

I glare at the door in front of me, the one my daughter just slammed in my fucking face, debating whether or not I should knock it down. Her words pissed me off, not because they didn't hold any merit, because they undoubtedly did.

I loved my wife in times when most would think I shouldn't have, in times when it didn't make sense. I loved her even when she was married to another man. I loved her always; stupidly at some points, which was Monica's entire point.

It appears the apple didn't fall too far away from the fucking tree.

I think back to Malyssa telling me about Monica and Boston on the way here. I had not believed her at first, thinking she was trying to play some type of game with me but then she'd handed me the papers. A fucking marriage certificate with my daughter's name on it.

I lost my complete and utter shit.

My only daughter, my precious baby girl, married to some guy I've only met one fucking time. The same guy who broke her heart during the holidays. She'd told me they'd broken up, that she was going overseas to clear her head and study. Then there was that professor, the one that in photos appeared to be a little too close for comfort to her.

I'm a man, which means I know exactly what his hand on the small of her back in nearly every picture meant. It was protective, suggestive. He thought she was his and he was subtly letting people know that. I'd questioned Monica about him while they were over there and she didn't offer much so I minded my fucking business.

Little did I know she was married to Rhoen Rearick's son the entire time. The same son that came here with another woman, as Malyssa had also informed me. So that was awesome to find out. Not only is my daughter married, that her husband has been fucking another woman for nearly three months. She deserves better than that, better than someone who won't wait for her.

I think to her neck and the scratches there. She'd fought over him, for him. Monica doesn't fight anyone. She's the quintessential example on non-confrontational, guess this guy was the exception. She loves him.

I grit my jaw and place my hands on my hips, continuing my standoff with the door in front of me. I sense someone come up behind me. "Leave her be." Malyssa hands me a whiskey neat and I happily take it from her. "Give her some time. She's been through a lot in the last couple of days."

"That's the whole fucking point. If she wasn't with Rhoen's kid she wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Oh get your head out of your ass, Seth. It is what it is. Your daughter went off and got hitched to a guy that reminds her of her own damn father. There are worse things." She downs her drink in one go. "Like the fact that she may or may not have watched Luke put bullets in two people."

I round on here furiously, " what the fuck did you just say?"

"Well, it's why they switched rooms." I just assumed it was because Luke is accustomed to absurd lavishness and is rather particular, finicky really. "So, there's that." I slide a palm down my face in irritation. "Luke said she handled it... oh, how did he put it..." She taps her chin a few times. "Ah, that's right, 'rather smashingly' other than the fact she had a rather long vomiting session afterward." I glare over her shoulder at Luke who is currently refreshing his Bombay and tonic. "Don't look at him like that. He was just protecting your daughter."

"Yeah but you're telling me my daughter witnessed one of your husbands murder two people."

"That is exactly what I'm telling you." She shrugs like it's no big deal.