Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 25

"Daddy. Daddy, wake up!" Ara urged her father as she continued to poke him in the ribs.

Mike groaned and cracked one eye open as he noticed his younger daughter sitting beside him on his bed. "Ara, what's wrong? Are you alright?" He checked the clock on his nightstand and groaned again. "Sweetheart, it's six in the morning. Why are you awake this early?"

"Because Aunt Lia is downstairs and she was calling for you and Mommy. It woke me up and then Mira sent me here to wake you up. Mira's gone down to talk to Aunt Lia."

Ara continued to chatter but Mike wasn't listening anymore. The moment Aunt Lia had left Ara's lips, he had sprung up from his bed. Collecting Ara in his arms, he almost ran out of his room, following the angry shouts of his eldest as she repeatedly told her aunt to leave.

Downstairs, Mira continued to glare at her aunt as the older woman tried to move past the teenager to go further inside.

"Cordelia, what are you doing here this early in the morning?" Mike snapped, as he came face to face with his sister-in-law.

"She kept ringing the doorbell, so I had to open the door. I'm surprised it took you this long to hear her. I wonder how on earth  Marv's still asleep despite the commotion she was making," Mira said, interrupting whatever Cordelia was about to say.

"Michael," Cordelia gushed, ignoring Mira's words. "I heard the dreadful news about Delphi from Mother a few days ago and I just had to come and see how my baby sister was doing."

"She's fine. And she'll be better if you leave without waking her up," Mira snarled at her.

Mike dragged a tired hand across his face, but he didn't have the energy to tell Mira off about being disrespectful. The sight of Cordelia's five suitcases were already raising up his blood pressure.

Placing Ara on the ground, he shot Mira a warning glance. "Cordelia, I would have to ask you to leave my home now. You're disrupting the peace and quiet that your sister currently needs. If you wish to meet her, call her first."

Cordelia pouted at Mike's words and simply shook her head. With strawberry blonde curls and caramel eyes, she had easily been the prettiest girl of his batch at Francesc's. In fact, when Mike and Delphina's marriage had been announced, many had said that they had chosen the wrong McCoy sister as Michael's bride.

Cordelia remained unfazed by Mike's dismissal and instead took a deliberate step towards him. She smiled coyly and ran a finger across his arm. "Mike, the children are going to need a mother. And you too, will need a wife."

Mike, however, took a step back in disgust and rolled his eyes. "And you think you are suitable for that role?" He practically spat at her.

Cordelia smirked and batted her eyelashes. "Well, we've known each other since we were kids ourselves. I think I'll be a good wife to you. As for the kids, I am their aunt.... I can be a good mother to them."

Mira growled and Mike scoffed at Cordelia's words. "Cordelia, you have had three divorces because you can't help but cheat on your husbands. Moreover, you have been gallivanting all over Paris and Rome, and God knows where else for the past 14 years! Do you seriously think I'm gonna let someone like you raise my children?!"