I gritted my teeth. This was just like her—twisting events to fit her agenda. It didn’t matter that everyone in the room knew she was a liar. She was of the belief that if she said it enough, people would begin to believe her. It was a typical manipulation tactic, but I’d been around her son enough to know how manipulators worked.
“Oh, cut the fucking bullshit,” Hudson snapped, making her turn to him. I shook my head at him, trying to tell him to stay out of it, but Hudson ignored me. “You’re just a vindictive bitch. You don’t deserve any of what Kreed has given you. You’re nothing but a whore and a fucking gold digger?—”
Her palm cracked across his cheek so hard, his face swung to the side. Corvus gripped his arm, tugging him back a couple of steps. Rage clouded my vision, leaving me unable to see Hudson’s reaction to her slapping him. Bonnie had done a lot of fucked-up shit to Hudson—throwing things at him, to be the biggest—but she’d never hit him.
And today would be the first and last motherfucking time she ever touched him.
I gripped her arm and spun her around to face me. She recoiled at the anger burning in my eyes. I never lost my cool, especially around her. I was always calm and composed in the face of her shitty actions, but I’d had fucking enough.
I was laying my cards on the table, and she was fucking out. Her days of hurting Hudson were over. I didn’t care that he was an adult now and that I knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself when it came to her. It wouldn’t stop me from still protecting him. From trying to shield him from her wild, unstable antics.
“You and I are done,” I snarled.
Her jaw dropped. She’d expected my love for Hudson to keep us together, but she was wrong. Maybe, at one point, it would have. But now, my feelings for Hudson meant I would forever put him first. She’d ripped enough away from him, and now, I was going to give it all back.
Starting with myself.
“You can’t be fucking serious,” she finally snarled.
I nodded, my jaw clenched. “Oh, I’m fucking serious, Bonnie. You and I are over. My attorney is already drawing up divorce papers, and you should be served sometime on Monday or Tuesday.”
Rage clouded her vision, and her face turned so red, she resembled a tomato.
“Because your son and I?” A dark smirk tilted my lips. “We’re together.”
She jerked back from me as if I’d burned her.
“What?” she whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
Hudson
* * *
My ears were ringing because… What the fuck?
Had I heard him correctly? Had he really just said all that to my mother’s face? Was he really divorcing Bonnie?
Was he divorcing Bonnie for me?
My attorney is already drawing up divorce papers, and you should be served sometime on Monday or Tuesday. Because your son and I? We’re together.
I’d never been the kind of person people chose. In fact, the only person who’d ever always picked me over everyone else was Corvus. He was my best friend, my brother in every definition but blood, for a reason. And sure, Kreed had chosen me when he married my bitch of a mother to give me stability, but I thought I would have to fight a lot harder and a lot longer to make him leave her for me. So I could have him.
And he was just… tossing her aside like yesterday’s trash for me?
My lungs weren’t working. I was good at taking everything in stride, but suddenly, I felt extremely out of my element. I didn’t know how to even begin to understand what was happening because this didn’t happen to people like me. I’d been let down my entire fucking life, yet Kreed was giving me what I wanted. He wasn’t fighting me any longer. He was just… handing himself over.
I swallowed thickly, feeling shaky. Corvus squeezed my arm, sensing my spiral, but it wasn’t as if we could get out of the kitchen so I could get some fresh air. Some space. Fucking something. Kreed and Bonnie were blocking the only exit.
“You can’t be fucking serious,” my mom finally spluttered, just as fucking shocked as I was. “You two… You two are fucking?”
Kreed shrugged one shoulder. “More than that, Bonnie. I’m his, and he’s mine. I plan to divorce you and marry him.” I needed to sit the fuck down, but I was afraid if I moved, I’d crumble. I was unsteady, my nerves fucking shot. I was pretty sure I was on the verge of a fucking panic attack.
This was everything I’d ever wanted. So, why the fuck was I panicking? I didn’t panic. I took everything in stride. Let it roll right over me.
“You two are not?—”
