Page 287 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol 4

He cleared his throat again. “We just talked about honesty in this house. And drinking. I don’t want to be standing here in another few weeks talking about drugs instead. Spill it.”

“We were talking about Felix Green,” Kennedy said. “He’s this kid we go to school with and he’s really bad news. But Brooklyn’s been hanging out with him. I’ve tried to stop her but she won’t listen. He’s the one that gave us alcohol at his house Friday night. He’s such bad news.”

What the hell, Kennedy?

“That’s not…” I started, but my uncle cut me off.

“You two best be staying away from him then,” my uncle said. “I don’t want either of you mixed up with someone like that.”

“Kennedy’s exaggerating. Felix isn’t bad news. At all. He’s nice and…”

“I said to stay away from him.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

He was new to this whole parenting thing. But “because I said so” was not a sufficient answer. Before I could press him, Kennedy cut in.

“Also, is it possible that Brooklyn is related to him? Because we don’t know who her father is and I have a hankering suspicion.”

“What?” my uncle asked. “No.”

“Are you sure they don’t have the same dad? Or maybe he’s her cousin? Or…uncle? Is that possible? That would be pretty freaky.”

“She’s not related to Felix,” he said. “It’s time for you to head home, Kennedy. I need to speak to Brooklyn alone.”

Even on Friday night, I hadn’t been scared of my uncle’s reaction. Maybe it was the booze in my bloodstream that made me unworried. Or maybe it was the fact that he always seemed pretty happy. But today? He looked really pissed.

“Sure thing, Uncle Jim,” Kennedy said and gathered her notebooks.

I’d wanted Kennedy to ask my uncle about my father. But not at all like this. What had gotten into her? “Traitor,” I mouthed silently at her.

“You’re welcome,” she mouthed back.

When the door closed behind her I got up from the table. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Now hold on one minute there, kiddo.”

I froze in my tracks.

“Why are you hanging out with kids like Felix? I’m in over my head here. First the drinking. Now the mention of drugs. And dating? You’re sixteen years old. You don’t need to be dating anyone. You don’t need to make the same mistakes your mother did. Are you acting out because of her? I can make an appointment with a therapist. We can get you someone to talk to. Someone that can help you through this.”

Every word out of his mouth made me feel smaller and smaller. But the word mistake? That’s what hurt the most. I wasn’t a mistake. I shook my head. “I don’t need professional help. Missing my mom isn’t something I can work through. I’m never going to stop missing her.”

“I didn’t…”

“And she wasn’t 16 when she got pregnant with me. She was 19. And she wanted me. I wasn’t a mistake. I wasn’t." I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes. "My mom wanted me.”

He cringed at my words. “I meant unplanned. Your mother hadn’t planned on getting pregnant when she was a teenager.”

Wasn’t that the same thing as a mistake? My mom always said I was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. But when she first found out? Of course I was unplanned. Of course I was a mistake. I had just never thought of it that way. My mother hadn’t wanted me. Just like my uncle didn’t want me either. I was the unplanned mistake that had shown up on his doorstep with nowhere else to go. “May I be excused now?”

My uncle didn’t say anything this time when I retreated to my bedroom. I slammed my door and threw myself down on top of my bed. And I let myself cry. I let myself cry for being stuck here with an uncle that thought I was a mistake. In a city I hated. Without my mom.

I was vaguely aware of the apartment door opening and closing. Maybe my uncle would leave me too. Just like my mom had. There was a lump in my throat that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I cried.

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