Chapter 2

Leo panicked. "No!" he shouted.

Julian's expression shifted too, and he rushed to smooth things over. "It's Sugar's first time meeting you. She's probably just not used to you yet. Give it a few days, and you two will get along fine. Leo picked her out especially for you. Don't let it go to waste."

I looked between the two of them. Both were tense, both clearly worried their little plan might fall apart.

I nodded. "Mommy loves this present. Her name's Sugar, right? I'll take good care of her."

Leo let out a breath of relief, and the tightness in Julian's shoulders eased.

I smiled and crouched down, ruffling my son's hair. "Why don't you two go get her a place to stay? She likes you both, so I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever room you set up. Let me spend some time alone with Sugar first—just the two of us, to get to know each other."

I herded father and son into the study, then led the alpaca out to the yard. We'd barely taken two steps before it opened its mouth to spit again. I sidestepped it easily. The saliva hit the ground and hissed, bubbling where it landed.

That was no ordinary alpaca spit. That was pure resentment—Nadia's resentment.

Julian lingered at the door a moment longer before finally shutting it, satisfied.

Alone in the yard with the alpaca, it tilted its head at me, eyes full of open defiance, and opened its mouth to spit again.

I was ready for it. I pulled a long pole out from behind my back, a U-shaped fork fastened to the end, and pinned its neck to the ground with one precise motion. Its legs kicked wildly, but it couldn't break free.

I leaned in close and lowered my voice. "From now on, I'm the one who spends the most time with you every single day. Cross me, and you won't like what happens. I could run this fork straight through you right now. Don't think I won't."

Fear flickered in the alpaca's eyes, and it let out one last, desperate shriek.

The two of them came running out at the sound. When they saw me holding the alpaca down with the fork, their faces twisted with anger.

Julian's face went ashen. "Evelyn, what do you think you're doing?!"

Leo barreled into me like a little cannonball, shoving me back. "You mean lady! Don't you hurt Sugar!"

I stood my ground and pulled the fork back. The alpaca scrambled up at once and ran a few steps toward father and son, staring me down.

I put on my most innocent face. "Why are you two overreacting like this? Sugar and I were just playing around. Here, feel it—it's stuffed with cotton. It wouldn't have hurt her at all."

Both of them froze, mouths opening and closing, at a loss for words.

I smiled. "Like I said, I'm just trying to bond with her."

It took Julian a moment to recover before he patted his son on the back. "Go apologize to your mother. You shouldn't have said that to her just now."

Leo apologized, clearly reluctant.

I turned and walked back into the living room, hiding the chill in my eyes.

Not this life.

This time, I'd make her pay back every single thing she owed me—one mouthful at a time.