Ran Away Pregnant Came Back Alpha Heiress (Amelia and Damien) novel Chapter 223

Chapter 223

Damien’s POV

After the girls sneaked a few cookies, they returned to the living room where Claire continued to try to befriend Stacy while totally ignoring Amy.

I sat with the two girls on the couch, me in the middle seat with Amy farthest from Claire, Stacy closest.

“It’s so nice to be able to spend time with you, Stacy,” Claire said. “You are already growing up so much. I blink and you’ve grown another six inches. It feels like only yesterday that you were a baby in the hospital.”

To my knowledge, Claire didn’t have much memory of that time, since she spent most of it unconscious, but I didn’t say anything. She probably didn’t mean it literally, anyway. Her point was valid. Stacy had grown up a lot. Both girls had. They were sprouting like weeds and I could barely keep up.

“I guess,” Stacy said.

Claire hummed. “I suppose it must be hard with your other mother gone.”

“My mom,” Stacy corrected. “Yeah, I miss her.”

“How can you miss someone you’ve never met?” Claire asked.

I cast Claire a sharp, warning look. She saw it but chose to ignore it, looking back at Stacy.

“But I did meet her,” Stacy said. “The other day, Amy, Daddy, and me saw her in the woods.”

Claire sat back in her chair a bit. “You… what?”

Gods, I wished sometimes that my girls had a filter. If I could have gone my entire life without Claire having found out about that strange doppelganger in the woods, I would have been happier.

I couldn’t be mad at the girls, they were too earnest to keep secrets. But in this case, I really wished they hadn’t overshared this particular thing with this particular vile woman.

“In the woods, we saw her.” Stacy looked at Amy and me for validation.

“We did!” Amy said. “We saw Mommy… Or… well, Daddy thinks it was just a lady that looks like Mommy. But Stacy and I aren’t so sure.”

Claire gave Amy a fleeting glance. While she did, her disgust was clear on her face. I distracted Amy by smiling at her before Amy could see the look. Amy shouldn’t have to be a victim of Claire’s ire just because she was borne to Amelia and not Claire.

“Honey, that wasn’t your mom,” I said.

“It could have been an angel,” Amy replied, hopeful.

It broke my heart how much she wanted that to be her mom. If only that was possible. If only Amelia wasn’t dead. But she was. I had gone to her funeral. I had seen the box that held her ashes.

“I’m sorry, Amy, but it wasn’t,” I said.

“It could have been,” Stacy said insistent.

Later, we would go through the photo albums, and we would talk about Amelia. I would remind the girls that there mother had passed and that the woman in the woods could only be someone who looked like their mom, not

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their mom herself.

But I wouldn’t do any of that in front of Claire. Claire had no respect for Amelia, not even after her passing, and would only try to tarnish Amelia’s memory.

I missed Amelia so much. I wished she could be here to raise her children alongside of me. With her here, I wouldn’t have need for these long talks. Together, we could answer the girls more difficult questions.

For now,

I could only steer the conversation elsewhere. “Stacy, why don’t you tell Claire about what you made in art class?”

Fortunately, Stacy easily switched gears and no one brought up Amelia or the woman who looked like her again for the rest of the visit.

Claire’s POV

The minute my daughter, her ungrateful father, and that brat of a sister were out of my house, I went to the study and picked up the phone.

Despite the time that had passed without me talking to many of my old contacts, I had never deleted any contact information. I still had all the numbers of my old associates, and assuming they hadn’t changed their numbers, had the ability to reach out to them.

Not many of them were much use to me anymore. But I knew better than to throw things away that might later find usefulness again. In this case, I looked up Sienna’s old number and called it.

The phone rang a few times before she answered.

“You should know,” Sienna said, “I’m only answering this call out of sheer curiosity. Genuinely, I thought you were dead.”

“I didn’t die,” I said.

“Had your kid?”

“Yes.”

“And somehow managed not to get exiled?” Sienna asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “I have many medical ailments since the birth. Damien could not kick me out without it being a death sentence to me.”

“Surprised that stopped him,” Sienna said. “What do you want, Claire?”

“Answers,” I said. “I just spoke with my daughter that she spotted a woman who looked like Amelia near the woods. Now, I was under the distinct impression that Amelia had died, so why did my daughter spot someone who looked just like her?”

“You think I know the answer to that?” Sienna said, scoffing.

“Yes,” I said simply.

She laughed. “You think, even if I knew the answer, that I would tell you?”

Though she couldn’t see, my eyes narrowed. She did know something then, but was choosing not to tell me. What a vicious little deceiver.

“Do I have to remind you of the part you played in this? You got away with murder Sienna, and with only a few

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words, I could shine the spotlight on you.”

“And who would believe you, huh? Your reputation is shot, Claire. You did this to yourself. You played us all for fools, moving us around like puppets. I’m not going to fall for any of that again.”

This wasn’t going as I had hoped. “You will tell me what I want to know,” I said, threatening.

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