The words hit one after another, brutal and final.
“Why though?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around how psychotic this woman truly is. “He would have known he was drugged.”
Laurel shrugs. “He’d already been drinking heavily, my dear. John would have chucked it up to a drunken one-night stand.”
“But why?” I press again.
The smile she shoots me chills me to the bone.
“You, my dear.” She laughs. “John isn’t the type of person to knock someone up and not take care of them. Sadie’s pregnancy would have locked her in to being part of the Black Diamond legacy and I would finally get to move up the social ladder.”
My chest burns. “You’re sick.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Laurel snaps. “Men like John Denver don’t get destroyed. They get reshaped. But your mother had to go and ruin it.”
My voice shakes. “She couldn’t live with it, could she?”
“No,” Laurel agrees, her lips turned in a sneer. “She couldn’t. She was weak.”
Her eyes harden.
“She came to me afterward,” she admits. “Told me she wanted out. That she was going to tell John everything. That she wouldn’t be a pawn anymore. That she couldn’t continue hurting him.”
A sob claws its way up my throat.
“So, I reminded her that loyalty isn’t an option,” Laurel continues. “Gave her an ultimatum.”
“But she ran,” I whispered.
“And took my money,” Laurel hisses, her jaw tightening. “Stole from me. Henry was supposed to bring her back originally, but with Sadie’s name tainted all over town, I couldn’thave that anymore. Of course, I didn’t realize you existed before, so I let Henry have his fun. Try to find my money. But, of course, he is good for nothing.”
My chest tightens painfully at the thought that my mother did what she could to protect me. To save me from being this woman’s pawn, like she had been. I sag against the restraints, breath coming in shallow gasps. Everything I thought I knew, about my mother and John, fractures and reshapes in my mind.
“She wasn’t weak,” I whisper. “If she had been, she would have stayed, but she decided to do what was best.”
Lauren leans in close, her face inches from mine.
“She failed.”
Rage ignites through the haze, sharp and incandescent.
“You destroyed her.”
Laurel straightens, unimpressed. “Sacrifices were necessary.”
My laugh comes out broken. “You killed Emma Denver. You ruined my father. You broke your own daughter. Now you are trying to cut into me because you think I’m just…what? Another loose end?”
Her eyes gleam. “You’re leverage.”
I lift my chin despite the pain. “If you think they are going to give you the money you lost and let you walk away, you are wrong. You won’t get away with it.”
“They will never know it’s me,” she says, smoothing her coat. “No one will ever suspect me. Colter will burn the world down looking for you and still miss the truth. Henry will get my money and when he does—” she glances at my bleeding arm. “—you will be disposed of. Like your mother.”
Something cold and steady settles in my chest beneath the fear.
“No,” I say hoarsely. “You’re wrong about one thing.
Laurel pauses, eyebrow arching.
