CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN – WORSE THAN SCUM

"Well, well, if it isn't the false idol himself," he crooned in an oily baritone. "Here to lecture me on the sanctity of family, no doubt?" Lance didn't rise to the obvious bait, merely regarded his alleged father with a look of barely-masked contempt. "We're here because you've forced this absurd situation, Munroe," Lance stated in a voice of forced calm. "If you have even a shred of human decency left, you owe me the truth. Why did you abandon my mother and me all those years ago?" Kayla watched Munroe's expression closely, searching for any tiny cracks in his nonchalant veneer. But the man simply threw back his head with a bark of harsh, derisive laughter. "You always were such a naive little pup, always begging for scraps from your surrogate daddy," he sneered, shaking his head in evident disgust. "But fine...since you seem so desperate for answers, I'll indulge you one last time, whelp." Cold prickles swept across Kayla's skin at the naked malice in Munroe's voice. Instinctiv