Irreplaceable (Underneath it All Series: Book Three) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read Online Free Page B

determinant of how beautiful someone was, but the scowl on Donna’s face turned anything that might have been beautiful hard and brittle.
    Just in case she hadn’t made it obvious, she confirmed her disdain with a scowl. “That wasn’t a compliment, sweetheart.”
    “I’m well aware,” I fired back. Years with my mother had given me a thicker skin (and sharper tongue) than most. “And I’m not your sweetheart.”
    Anger flashed in Donna’s crystal blue eyes and before we could waste anymore of each other’s time, I added, “It’s clear you have some sort of history with my mother, but I’m not here to hash it out with you. I want to know how she is.” Anger was alive and well in me too. Anger directed at my mother, for leaving a legacy that I had to navigate my way through, whether I wanted to or not. Now, Donna Whitewater had joined the list, her hair seeming to defy gravity more and more by the minute. Any second, she’d let out a banshee screech and tear off her scrubs to reveal that she was really the Wicked Witch of Falcon.
    Most of all, I was angry at my myself. Leaving the people you loved high and dry was in my DNA, courtesy of the woman that had soured Donna’s mood. If I was smart, hearing that she was no longer in critical condition would have been enough, and I could carry on before my mother got her hooks in me. In Rose. Instead, I was channeling my grandmother, who stood by my mother through it all.
    “If your baggage is impeding you from doing your job, perhaps you can point me in the direction of a nurse who actually cares about my mother’s wellbeing.”
    That got her attention and the annoyed look on her face morphed into something almost conciliatory. “That won’t be necessary. Your mother’s room is right this way.”
    There was no apology for her rudeness or a signal that we were about to power walk to the room, so I turned back to the waiting room to look at the two people I cared about most in this world. I did the dorkiest thing I could have done and flashed them a thumbs up sign. Instead of pelting the glass with fruit, Rose made a heart with her two hands and Jackson flashed a thumbs up back at me. Tears stabbed my eyes like a thousand tiny needles, but I had no time to cry because Donna was practically a speck on the horizon.
    I flew down the hall after her, white walls, white floors and the smell of disinfectant and sickness whirling around me. I’d barely run the length of the hall but by the time I was in step with the charge nurse, I could barely catch my breath. She didn’t slow, but she found the time to cast a smirk over her shoulder. Even if she was amused at my expense, I’d take it over drawing a line in the sand. No one won if we battled it out. It didn’t change the past and only served to complicate the present.
    And while I was eager to blame my mother’s demise on someone, to have a target, the closer we got to her room, the more I felt my anger dissipating. Turning to mist as I remembered walking through the sliding doors. There’d been a family who’d lost someone huddled near the front, holding each other. And then there was those already parked in the waiting room, their faces perking hopefully when we entered, and instantly collapsing back into worry when they realized we weren’t the doctor with an update. A lot of families in this building would wait for hours, only to receive the glimmer that surgery or whatever procedure was a success, but the patient wasn’t out of the woods. Some would be faced with a reality that no longer had their loved one in it, filled with regret and all the things that were left unsaid. All the adventures and birthdays that wouldn’t be celebrated. First birthdays that wouldn’t even be reached. Lives lived but unexpectedly cut short.
    The tears that were slicing a hot trail down my cheeks were suddenly selfish and I wiped my face in between pants. My mother was hurt, but she’d be okay. There would be no grief