Cloris Briggs doesn’t do disheveled. Not even when her daughter was just kidnapped by a cartel-connected psychopath.
Lucie leads us into the study where it’s private and quiet, away from the kids and animals.
Mom sits on the leather couch like she’s posing for a portrait. I take the chair across from her. A shiver at the chill that slips down my spine, the familiar distance between us making me feel a twinge of sadness.
“Marlowe,” she says in a quiet voice. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. You look exhausted.”
“Really, Mom? I was drugged, tied up, and held at knifepoint by someone I thought was my friend. How else would you expect me to look?”
She flinches.
Good. She should feel lucky that I’m holding back all the other things I want to say right now.
She looks down at her hands. “I came as soon as I heard what happened. I was in Tokyo when?—”
“I know where you were. Declan told me. You’re always somewhere.”
More heavy silence. The clock on the mantel ticks. My pulse thrums in my ears.
“They found your father,” she says finally.
“I know. He’s been on a private island, the one he bought for me. Living it up while Leon was using me to try to find him.” The bitterness burns my throat. “Did you know? About the gambling?The cartel debts?”
Mom’s composure cracks. The tiniest bit.
“I suspected. Your father always had... vices. The gambling, the women. I thought I could manage it. Contain it.” She looks down at her hands. “I didn’t know how bad it had gotten until he disappeared.”
“You knew about the threats against us. The danger we were facing.” My heart pounds harder with each word. “And you didn’t tell me about any of it. Declan showed up offering protection, and you just packed my bags and shipped me off without any explanation as to why.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By keeping me in the dark. Like always.” My anger-infused words rip the air. “You let me walk around with a target on my back without knowing why. I didn’t know who was after me or what Daddy had done. I had to piece it together myself while people were trying to kill me.”
“I didn’t want to frighten you?—”
“I was already frightened. I just didn’t know the real reason why. Do you have any idea what that’s like? Being hunted and not understanding what’s happening?”
I’m on my feet before I realize I’ve moved. “But that was just more evidence of you trying to control me, every last aspect of my perfectly curated life.”
“Marlowe, I was only trying to make sure you had a better future than I did. I wanted to give you everything because I know from experience how hard it is when you have nothing.”
I shake my head. “I’m not you, Mom. I want a life of my own. I want to make my own choices, live according to my dreams. The ballet, Mom? That was your dream. Not mine.”
Her eyes go wide.
“You bought my way into big roles because you couldn’t accept that maybe, just maybe, I wanted something different.” My voice shakes. I don’t care. “I’m good at dance. I work hard.My feet bleed and I cry, and I push through because that’s what you expect. But it was never what I wanted.”
“I didn’t know you felt?—”
“Because you never asked.” I spin to face her. “You decided what my life would be. Ballet lessons at five. Company auditions at sixteen. It was grueling. And when Daddy disappeared and danger came knocking, you decided again. Bodyguard. Fake husband. Keep Marlowe safe in her little gilded cage.”
My chest heaves. Blood roars in my ears.
Mom is quiet for a long minute.
