Over the Edge

Ch.26-Release from Obligation

~Rhys~

Sometimes you’re going through your day, and then it hits you. That thing you have to do, that you know you should’ve done ages ago but never had.

I was on my way home from dropping Emma off when it hit me. And I had found myself on the highway headed to a place I had unwittingly burned into memory.

Now I was standing on the stone steps, staring up at nothing less than a mansion, sure it probably even came with its own butlers and cleaning service.

It was disgusting.

I walked up the steps and rang the doorbell, half-hoping nobody would answer the door.

But of course someone did.

“Do you have a meeting with Miss Herring?”

Herring. Her maiden name. “Yes.”

“Name?”

“None of your fucking business,” I spat, pushing passed the elderly man in the crisp tux. The house was huge on the inside. Ornate and elegant and everything I hated. I could feel my skin crawling and wished I could just find her and get out as fast as possible.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave—”

“Where is she?” I demanded. “Is she here?”

“Sir, I—”

“Rufus? Who on earth is making such a ruckus down here?”

I shouldn’t remember the voice, but I did. I remembered it like any child would, that small part inside of every person that could never forget.

I turned slowly to face the woman, satisfied when I saw how unalike we were. Her black hair and green eyes and short build. The sharpness to her features.

She was nothing like me.

There was no greater relief.

“Hi, Mom,” I greeted tonelessly, hands shoved in my jeans pockets. She grabbed the railing of the stairway she was on, holding it in a white-knuckled grip.

“Rhys?” she croaked. “My son—”

“Don’t ever call me that,” I spat.

“You are dismissed Rufus,” she said. The man behind me walked away. “Rhys, what are you doing here?”

I snorted. “I can’t believe you remember me. It’s only been almost sixteen years.”

“I think a mother should always be able to recognize their son.”

“You are not my mother,” I stated so sincerely I nearly believed it. “You have no right to call yourself by that name.”

She winced. “I suppose I deserve that.”

“A whole lot more, too. Can we talk?”

She nodded, sweeping a hand out to an open door. “Yes. In the library.”

I walked with purposeful strides and didn’t bother looking at anything along the way. I didn’t want to commit anything about her life to memory. I never wanted to come back, either. I sat down in the tall-backed chair and waited for her to do the same in the one across from me.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” I deadpanned. “Except answers.”

She licked her lips but nodded. “Sure.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Rhys . . .”