Igape at my mother in horror. “You’re pregnant?” I spit, already heartbroken for the child inside her womb, knowing the hell she will endure with Mae Slater as her mother.
“Yes,” she tells me. “I’m fourteen weeks, and I was planning on breaking the news to Elias this past weekend, but then he disappeared.”
Knight laughs, shaking his head as if somehow finding this amusing. “Well, that’s not going to go down well.”
“Excuse me?” Mom demands, staring at him as though he’s the scum of the earth, and honestly, it makes me want to punch her right in the tit. How dare she treat him so poorly.
“You heard what I said,” Knight says, striding around my mother and walking deeper into our home to grab his drink. “It’s not going to go down well, and if I were you, I’d do everything in my power not to tell him the happy news. Not unless you want to be caught out for cheating, that is.”
“Cheating?” she gasps, stepping forward and raising her hand to smack him, but Diesel appears behind my mother, catching her wrist before she even gets the chance to swing.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Diesel murmurs, the edge in his tone enough to send a chill right down my spine. “I hear he has quite the temper.”
Mom huffs and attempts to yank her arm back, only Diesel doesn’t release her, and her momentum leaves her unbalanced, wobbling around like a bobblehead doll. Diesel is relentless as he holds her stare until she visibly shrinks away from him, realizing just how much trouble she’s in, before he finally takes pity and releases his hold on her wrist.
“That’s what I thought.”
Mom glances toward me, holding her wrist as though Diesel hurt her, but that shit won’t work here, not with my friends and not in my home.
“Let’s try that again,” Knight tells her. “Elias had a vasectomy the moment he started making money. He gets off on the idea of drawing broken women in, letting them get comfortable in this luxurious lifestyle, and pulling the rug out from under them when they try to get their hands on what’s his. The only way you’ve fallen pregnant is by another man, so let me make this clear. Once he finds out that you’re pregnant, the credit cards, the mansions, the vacations to private islands will all be gone. He will put that prenup into use, and you will be out on your ass with less than you came in with.”
Mom shakes her head, fear in her eyes. “No,” she breathes. “I’ve worked too hard to get here. He can’t take it all away. I can’t go back to what I used to be. I was nothing. A nobody before him. He gave me a name in this world. I can’t come clean. I won’t.”
I stare at my mother in horror, barely able to recognize the woman before me. “He’s going to kill you, you know that, right?The moment he finds out you’ve stepped outside your marriage, you’re done.”
Mom looks at me as though I’d struck her. “Don’t say such vile things,” she spits. “He might be a stern man with a temper, but that doesn’t change the fact that he loves me. To suggest he could possibly . . . kill me is abhorrent. You need to apologize.”
“Get a fucking grip, Mom. What the hell is wrong with you? Are you that clueless, or are you just choosing to look the other way in order to maintain your high-society lifestyle?” I demand. “Elias Slater is the man who attacked me in the hospital parking garage. He took a blade and plunged it right through my waist while telling me that I will never escape him.”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare make false accusations like that,” Mom snaps at me. “Do you have any idea what kind of damage that could do to his reputation?”
“Well, fuck. You think that’s bad, just wait until you find out how he attempted to rape me right here under this very roof, then tried to finish what he started in the hospital bathroom. Your husband is a monster, and if you had even the smallest brain cell inside that money-hungry brain of yours, you would run as fast as you can.”
Mom sneers at me. “You are the devil child,” she spits. “I always knew you would never amount to anything, and after everything that I have given you.”
I scoff and step past her, making my way to the door. I open it up and let it swing wide before stepping aside and waving my hand through. “Thanks for stopping by. As always, it was a pleasure, but you’re on your own now. Your husband has put me in the hospital twice over the past few months, and instead of being horrified, you call me a devil child and tell me that I will never amount to anything. You and Elias deserve each other.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Mom says. “You’re clearly still very ill. I can get you a better doctor. Not one of these run-of-the-milldoctors the hospital assigns you. Why don’t you come home with me so I can get you the help you’re clearly not getting here?”
I laugh so hard that I actually snort. “Don’t push me, Mother. If you’re going to insist that I’m crazy, then I’ll rise to the challenge and show you crazy,” I tell her. “But this is your last chance, and it’s the only help you will get from me. Leave your husband and vow to be a decent mother to this new baby, and in return, I will help you rebuild your life. But after that, we’re done. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“No, not an option. Elias will come home to me soon enough, and when he does, we will get through this. We’re going to be a family, and I can finally have the daughter that I’ve always deserved. One who actually loves and accepts me.”
Knight scoffs and rolls his eyes before striding over to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of whiskey. He pours out a generous amount and quickly throws it back before shaking his head and glancing up at me. “Please tell me this delusional bullshit isn’t genetic.”
“Fuck, I hope not,” I say, just as horrified at the idea. Though I don’t ever recall a time when Mom was a normal mother, so maybe she was just wired this way.
Mom huffs and storms toward the door, glaring daggers at me. “I have never been treated so poorly in my life.”
“Ha. Imagine how bad it would have been if you’d had you as a mother,” I say. “Good luck searching for your husband. I truly hope, for your sake, that he’s too stupid to realize that baby isn’t his. And in case he’s not, then perhaps add 911 to your speed dial, because you’re gonna need it.”
Mom grits her teeth and stomps right past me, not even bothering with a goodbye, though I can’t imagine why. I’ve been nothing but a delight.
Once she’s cleared the door, I slam it behind her and fall back against the wood, dragging my hands down my face, feeling drained.
“You okay?” Knight asks, striding across the house as everyone else suddenly finds something else to do. He steps right into me, pulling me into his warm arms and holding me against his chest. Hearing the steady thump of his heartbeat soothes me.
“Remind me every few months to contact CPS and arrange regular health check-ins for that baby,” I say, feeling completely in shock. I had imagined a million things coming out of my mother’s mouth, but not that, and now I’m suddenly going to have a baby sister, someone who will inevitably suffer the same horrendous childhood I had. Potentially even worse being raised in the same house as Elias. Though considering he hasn’t managed to turn himself in to the cops yet, there’s a good chance he might wind up dead. Mom might just get everything after all.
