All She Ever Needed Was A Trap God (SAMPLE)

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

"Amaia... Amaia..." The sound of her mother's voice pulled her from a daze, forcing her to look away from the window.

After five years, she never imagined returning to Atlanta. Then again, she never imagined having to bury her grandfather so soon either. She exhaled at the thought before pushing her Dior frames up the bridge of her nose.

Following closely behind her mother and baby sister, Milan, Amaia emerged from the limousine that transported them from the church to where they would now lay her grandfather, Miles Gardner, to rest for good.

She wished that she had returned under better circumstances. Since she'd gotten back, she spent most of her time wishing she'd never left. She wished she could've spent more time with her grandfather before he'd fallen ill. She also wished that she didn't allow her relationship with her mother and sister to fall off so badly. Now that she was a bit older, there were a lot of things she wished she had handled differently.

"The service was beautiful, wasn't it?" Robyn queried as she glanced over at Amaia for confirmation while they ventured towards Grandpa Miles's plot.

Amaia smiled faintly before nodding her head while wrapping an arm around her mother's shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze. That it was. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the pastor's words seemed to make this transition a bit easier for the time being.

Despite the circumstances, her mother appeared to be happy to see her. However, she wasn't sure if she could say the same about Milan. She hadn't said much to her since she arrived.

It wasn't surprising, being that she and Milan rarely ever saw eye to eye. Their mother often used to joke about her and Milan being like night and day. While her nose was always in a book, Milan's was always busy sniffing out the local hustlers.

Regardless of their differences, she was hoping that things would be better between them after five long years had passed.

The feeling of her mother's trembling body pulled her from her thoughts. She folded her lips in an attempt to suppress the urge to cry along with her. Milan rested a comforting hand on their mother's shoulder while Amaia held her tighter as she wept like a newborn infant.

Amaia's heart ached for her. Being a single mother of two with only her father to rely on for as long as Amaia could remember, she couldn't even begin to imagine having to stomach the idea of burying her last surviving parent and only source of support. She and Milan were now all their mother had.

Robyn had no love in her life, mostly because she preferred it that way. Men had proven to be nothing but trouble from her experience, and Amaia had to agree. Neither of their fathers were in the picture. Milan's father had run off and married a younger woman while Amaia's dad was never around to begin with. She'd never seen him a day in her life and wouldn't know him if he walked right past her.

For years, she'd searched for him in the face of every stranger she bypassed on the street, until one day, she finally gave up. It wasn't her responsibility to find him. If he wanted to know her, to be a part of the life he created, he would find her.

As far as she was concerned, Grandpa Miles was the only father figure she ever needed.

"You just have to remember that he's in a better place now, Ma. He no longer has to suffer," Milan spoke up, hoping those words would provide their mother some comfort.