“I’m sorry he did this to you, Mom, but I tried to warn you what he was like,” I say, realizing too late that I just gave her the extended version of an I told you so, only I can’t seem to keep the words from falling out of my mouth. “You wouldn’t listen to me. You just called me a liar instead of hearing me, and now you’re here. He’s killed two men in cold blood, almost killed me twice, and sexually assaulted me. And I just . . . I can’t understand why you would choose that over wanting to have a relationship with me. Are you that hungry for his wealth that you would willingly risk your life to wear designer labels?”
Mom glances away, unable to handle the judgment in my eyes. “I’ve worked too hard to get here,” she tells me. “I’m not about to throw it all away because a man had a tantrum. The law will catch up to him sooner or later, and I will be the one left standing.”
“So that’s your grand plan?” I ask, absolutely disgusted with her. “Hope like fuck that Knight’s men are able to take him down before he manages to kill you, and then what? You’ll live the rest of your life reaping the rewards?”
“Judge me all you like, Harper-Rayn, but at least I know what I want and am not afraid or ashamed to go after it.”
I shake my head, unable to believe this woman. “He literally beat you until your lung collapsed, by the way,” I tell her. “And your face? You’re going to have to get plastic surgery if you intend to retain membership in the rich wives’ club.”
She sucks in a breath, her fingers coming to her face, only to wince at the pain. “Scars will heal,” she says. “That’s what makeup is for.”
Knight shifts by the open door, and I have to be honest, I hadn’t realized he was here listening. I thought he was still outin the hallway. “What happened, Mae? Did he return home and attack you unprovoked?”
She presses her lips into a hard line, guilt flashing in her eyes, and I see the exact moment her shoulders slump, deciding to be honest for a change. “You have to understand,” she starts. “I had assumed he wasn’t returning. I thought I had to find a plan B, so I was entertaining a male friend. You know, Julie’s husband. You would have met them at my anniversary dinner—”
“The guy who knocked you up, I assume?”
“Yes,” she says, coldly. Though it doesn’t go unnoticed how she fails to ask about the well-being of the baby inside her womb, while also admitting to sleeping with a friend’s husband. “I believe Elias must have been watching me through our home security system because he returned home in a fit of rage. My . . . company was able to slip out the back door while Elias came for me.”
“You understand how insane this is, right? You have to leave him.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she tells me. “He just needs some time to calm down, and then it’ll be fine. Everything can go back to normal.”
“And the baby?” I ask.
“What about it?” she says, glancing away. “I assume I miscarried, and in that case, so be it. Considering Elias’s vasectomy, it’s for the best. This way, there’s not a constant reminder of my infidelity, nor a screaming child for me to deal with. It should help keep Elias calm, at least until the law catches up with him.”
She’s fucking sick.
I see red, and suddenly, there is no question about whether I’m ready to raise a child, because if that baby still lives, I will never let my mother get her hands on her. On the off chance that this baby somehow survives, the second she’s born, she’s mine.
I shake my head, getting to my feet as rage burns through my veins. “For what it’s worth,” I spit, my hands balling into fists at my sides as I try not to cry. “We don’t know if the baby still has a viable heartbeat, but if she does and she miraculously survives nine months in your womb, I’m taking her far away from you.”
And with that, I storm out of the room, collecting Knight as I pass him. As far as my mother is concerned, she’s dead to me. Elias can have her.
31
HARPER-RAYN
Knight’s warm arm rests over my waist, holding me against his chest as he sleeps soundly behind me, but me? I haven’t been able to sleep a wink since the moment Mom was admitted to the hospital. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not my mother’s welfare I’ve been concerned about.
It’s three in the morning, and my eyes are starting to sting. It’s been well over forty-eight hours since I last slept, and I’ve never felt so frustrated. I just need to close my eyes and drift off into a peaceful sleep, but apparently, it’s easier said than done.
Letting out a sigh, I slip out from under Knight’s arm. If I stay here much longer, my endless groans of frustration are going to wake him, and as much as I’d love the company while I waste away during the night, I’m not going to do that to him. Not when he has such a high-risk job. He needs to be on the ball every moment of the day, and my sleepless night won’t be the reasonwhy he goes into work tired. Hell, I think I’ve already caused him enough stress. He doesn’t need any more of it.
Padding out of our room, I take myself to the couch and get comfortable under the throw blanket before finding my Kindle on the coffee table. I flip through my options, trying to find something that could potentially take me away from the horrors of reality, when a strange shiver trails down my spine.
I sit up straighter on the couch, the shiver turning into goose bumps as the odd sensation of someone watching me prickles my skin.
My heart starts to race, and I shoot to my feet, spinning around to find a figure standing in the hallway, his dark stare captivated by me beneath that vampiric mask.
I suck in a breath, my body already trembling.
He’s come for me. It wasn’t enough to almost kill me in the parking garage or to murder Dr. McKullan, but I knew that. I knew it right from the beginning. He wasn’t going to stop until he had claimed every inch of me. Until I was broken beyond repair.
I frantically search the room for anything to use as a weapon, anything to defend myself against this monster, when I realize the only weapon I have is my voice. I take a deep breath, preparing to scream for Knight, when the masked stalker shakes his head.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, little kitten,” he purrs, his voice making my stomach tie up in knots. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
