Chapter18
Saturday was moving day.But tonight, his mother had asked him to be home for dinner.Why?he had no idea, but he would use the opportunity to tell her he had another place to live.His own place.
His mother’s dining room gleamed as though it had been frozen in amber since his childhood.The chandelier cast its steady glow, the table polished to perfection, the lilies in the vase stiff and white as bone.
Everything in its place.Everything under control.Except for his feelings, which were raw.
“Marianne called me this morning,” his mother said, her voice smooth as she speared a delicate bite of salmon.“She enjoyed dinner very much.She said she thought you were… charming.”
Marianne, that was the name of the blonde his mother had paraded around, a woman with all the personality of wet cardboard.She must’ve been the so-called “appropriate” match his mother had thrown in Nicole’s face.Not happening.Tripp clenched his jaw, every muscle tight with the urge to confront his mother, to call her out for every lie, every manipulation.
But not yet.
Not until this trial was finished.That reckoning would come, and when it did, he’d make damn sure she never had the power to rip Nicole out of his life again.Trust was fragile, and his mother had already smashed theirs to pieces once.He’d be damned if she destroyed it a second time.
Next time, she wouldn’t see him as her obedient son; she’d see him as her reckoning.
Tripp cut his steak with slow precision, his jaw tight.“I’m sure she did.You made sure of it.”
Her eyes flicked up, bright and sharp.“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Tripp said evenly, “that you’ve been arranging my social calendar without my consent.Again.I’m not interested in Marianne.”
She wouldn’t listen to reason.She never had.She’d keep scheming, pushing, clawing for control until she got what she wanted.Unless he shut her down now, brutally and decisively, she’d never stop.
Her mouth curved, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.“You’re too busy to do it yourself.And really, Dustin, it’s not a crime for a mother to want her son settled with the right kind of woman.”
This time, he wouldn’t bend, he’d break her hold, even if it meant burning every bridge between them.
He set his fork down, folding his napkin with deliberate care.“I’m not calling her.I’m not seeing her again.The answer is no.Bring her around, and I promise to embarrass you.”
His mother loathed embarrassment, despised humiliation.If this didn’t bring her to heel, nothing ever would.
A flicker of irritation crossed her perfectly painted features.“She’s from an excellent family.Educated, gracious, poised.You could do much worse.She’s exactly the type of woman you need.”
Her persistence was relentless, corrosive, and if she didn’t back off, it would destroy what little remained between them.Especially if she dared to stand against Nicole.He wouldn’t let her sabotage them again.Not this time.
“A brainless, conservative, blonde is your idea of the perfect woman for me?You don’t know me very well, Mother.I could do much better,” Tripp said softly, leaning back in his chair.
She gave a sharp little laugh, brittle as glass.“Better?You mean Nicole Reyes?”
The name landed between them like a curse.
“Yes,” Tripp said.He didn’t flinch.
Her knife clattered against her plate.“You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious.”He leaned forward, his elbows braced on the table.“Tell me something, Mother.How would you react if I got back together with her?”
His mother froze, silver poised in her hand, before she set it down with slow, deliberate grace.Her voice, when it came, was venom wrapped in silk.“Nicole Reyes was a mistake.She nearly derailed your future once, and she will do it again if you let her.That girl was nothing but a ladder-climber.A nobody.My son needs someone to help him reach the next level.Someone with a pedigree.Someone with connections.”
“For what?”
“Judge?Senator?President,” she said.
Tripp lowered his elbows off the table and resisted the urge to clench his fists, but his voice stayed calm.“Not happening.Nicole was everything.She is everything.And I was a fool to let you convince me otherwise.”
Where she’d ever gotten the notion he wanted a career in politics, he had no idea.What mattered now was that she faced the truth, owned what she’d done to him and Nicole, and made a choice.Either accept Nicole, or resign herself to becoming an old, bitter, lonely woman.
