Chapter 53

Spike met us in the foyer. “Mother. Father.”

Quinn called Portia “Mother” all the time. It sounded a hell of a lot warmer than what Spike had just said.

“Valentine.” And icicles dripped from that one word.

I shook my head and wondered how bad this could get.

No big surprise… it got much, muchworse.

In spite of the fact that they had an audience, they blamed him for ruining his sister’s engagement. “We’ve had to return all the wedding gifts!”

They also blamed him for that bastard Giles Stapleton being behind bars, totally overlooking the fact that Stapleton had kidnapped their son and planned to eventually kill him. “You’ve ruined his life!”

They sneered at the invisible dog, which Spike had named Polonius, and the baby dolls. “Really, Valentine. You’re not a child.”

They turned a cold shoulder on Paul, dismissing their son’s relationship with the man who had rescued him from a life on the streets.