I Let Her Ruin Herself Chapter 24
Hannah came over from the elevator bank.
She crouched in front of the three girls.
“The adults will handle the adults’ problems. Would you like to come with me to the lounge first? There’s hot chocolate and snacks there.”
Shirley reached for the youngest child.
Carol blocked her.
“You told me Adrian owed Taylor, and that’s why I brought the girls here. You weren’t trying to get help. You wanted to use them to shake him down for money.”
The two women began airing years of ugly history.
Shirley said the Spencers had willingly let Derek move in. Carol said Shirley had pocketed the girls’ state benefits and enabled Derek to beat Taylor.
I didn’t join the argument. I only told security to separate them.
“I will not be giving either of you any private money.”
Then I turned to Carol.
“The girls have parents, and they have you as their grandmother. I am not related to them, and I am not a substitute for their parents’ obligations just because they committed crimes.”
Carol opened her mouth, but unlike when she was eighteen, she didn’t tell me I had to protect Taylor.
She lowered her head.
“Adrian, I’m sorry.”
“At the hospital, after I knew Taylor had lied, I still blamed you. Later, when she kept coming after you, I didn’t stop her.”
“That apology is years too late. I know I have no right to expect your forgiveness.”
She didn’t.
An apology couldn’t bring back the parents I lost in my last life, and it couldn’t erase the fact that I had been murdered.
“Take the girls home,” I said.
I arranged for a company driver to take Carol and the girls away.
Shirley still refused to leave. The head of security informed her that she was trespassing and called the police non-emergency line.
The moment Shirley heard police were on the way, she stormed out of the lobby.
That night, Hannah set a nonprofit proposal in front of me.
On the cover, it said: The First Light Initiative.