Estelle ignores her and glares at me with the heat of a thousand suns. “Where. Is. That. Woman?”
I rise and glare right back. “Leave,” I growl.
“You will tell me where that woman is right now,or else.” The damn woman stands even taller, and I feel something primal and ugly and irrepressible that I haven’t felt in years.
I feel rage.
Pure, undeniable, furious rage. I take a single step toward her and stop.
“Dylan,” my mother whispers.
I think.
Can’t fully hear over the roaring in my own ears. “You are a fucking nuisance,” I growl at the old lady. “Do you have any idea how many people you’ve hurt by trying to play God? I’mgladTavi’s gone. I’mgladshe’s done with you. You don’t fucking deserve her. You think you sawthe gates of hell when you almost died? You don’t know hell. You don’t have a fucking clue what hell really is. You have twenty-four hours to publicly apologize to your entire family, leave Tickled Pink, and transfer Tavi’s entire trust fund back to her with zero obligations, terms, or restrictions, or I will make every last minute of your life a living, breathing, inescapable hell. Are we clear?”
Her eyes flare wide, and she stumbles three steps backward.
“Dylan.”My name in my mother’s voice echoes through the tunnel of rage flowing through my veins.
Should I shut up?
Go meditate?
Take a run?
Talk to a friend?
No.
Not for this.
This is Tavi’slife, andfuckif I’ll stand aside one more minute to let this demon in a grandmother’s clothing hurt the woman I love.
I don’t care if Tavi doesn’t come back.
I can deal with the pain if I know she’s safe.
But I can’t deal with myself if I don’t put an end to Estelle Lightly’s reign of terror.
“Are. We. Clear?” I repeat to the ever-shrinking older woman.
“Sounded clear to me,” Michael Lightly says. I jerk my head up, surprised to see more people funneling down my driveway and onto my walkway.
Tunnel vision.
I have tunnel vision when I’m pissed.
And I amso fucking pissed.
Michael takes a step back, too, holding his hands up as if to say,I’m harmless. I’m on your side. “If she won’t help, I will. I might look useless, but I know a thing or two about financial law and loopholes. Foundwhat I needed. I can get Tavi her trust fund back if my mother doesn’t come to her senses.”
“Happy to help with hell,” Carter adds.
“Oh mygah, Dylan, you are, like,a hero.” Lola swipes at her eyes. “I’m so glad Tavi has you.”
“He’s not being unreasonable, Gigi,” Phoebe says. “Taviisa good person. Sheisdoing good things in the world, and she was before she got here. I deserved all those times I fell in the lake and more. But Tavi? She’s always known who we are. Looks a lot like you couldn’t stand the fact that she taughtherselfto be better than we were raised. That’s not really the path to heaven, is it?”
I can’t stop clenching and unclenching my hands. My chest is heaving. I want to throw something.
