Does he know I know? Or is this usually the way he reacts to daughters of the women he’s fucking?
All the tiny hairs lift on the back of my neck, and I swallow a lump of fear as slow realization dawns.
He smirks, pinning me with an arrogant look that says if I get in his way he’ll destroy me.
I bury my fear, shove all emotion aside, and confidently lift my shoulders, staring coolly at him with a look that confirms it’s “game on.” A brief look of admiration flits over his blue eyes before they darken in warning.
“Go.” Mom extracts herself from his embrace as the two of us remain locked in our face-off. “Let me talk to my daughter. All will be okay.” She pecks his lips, and I puke a little in my mouth.
“Later, beautiful.” He kisses the top of her head while maintaining eye contact with me, and another blast of ice-cold fear slaps me in the face at the calculating quality to his gaze.
I underestimated this man.
He’s not just a monster.
He is something else.
Something I’m much more afraid of.
He’s the devil incarnate, and he’s determined to make my life a living hell.
Bile churns in my gut as my mind whirls at the potential implications.
I watch her watching him leave the room with my heart deflating.She has feelings for him.My life is about to become ten million times harder.
The door slams after him, snapping me into focus. I shove my emotions deep inside and concentrate on learning as much as I can.
“I’m so sorry, Harlow.” She cautiously walks toward me.
“How could you, Mom?” I shake my head, unable to hide my disgust. “Dad’s only gone four months, and you’re already fucking someone else?”
She flinches at my words and my tone, but I won’t apologize for speaking my mind.
“I’ve known Neo since I was eleven years old,” she explains. “He was my childhood sweetheart and the man I was engaged to when I met your father.”
My stomach drops to my toes as I realize this is even worse than I feared. “What? Why have I never heard of him before?”
My mind is whirling ninety miles an hour as I struggle to process this latest puzzle piece.
Dad told me he’d had to win my mother’s heart, but he never told me she was engaged to another guy, and Mom has never spoken of any other man but my father. I knew she was only twenty when they met, after Dad moved back here to take up a position with a leading law firm, and that he was thirty and steadily progressing his legal career.
Mom’s from Prestwick, and they didn’t have much money growing up. At the time my parents met, she was attending business classes at the local community college and she had plans to set up her own business. My dad swept her off her feet, and they were married within the year, and I arrived the following year. Dad helped make Mom’s dreams come true, and I have never ever doubted what they shared was the real deal.
Until now.
Because now, I’m wondering if Dad was only a meal ticket for Mom.
If that dangerous asshole that just left this house is really the love of her life.
If this is all part of his game plan.
Or it’s possible my mind is warped from my fucked-up life experiences and I’m fitting the wrong pieces in the wrong holes.
“Were you fucking him when Dad was alive?” I bluntly ask, while I watch her struggle to form an answer to my previous question.
“What!” Her eyes pan wide. “Of course not! I have always remained faithful to your father.” Tears prick her eyes. “I loved him so much.” Her voice cracks, but I’m immune to it.
For the first time in my life, I don’t trust my mother, and I doubt I ever will again.
