"Jack did." I press my palm flat against the wall. My chest hurts. Everything hurts. "The money I've been sending him? For the surgery payments? He kept it. Every single dollar. The debt is still there. It's bigger now. And he knew. He knew what he was doing to me."
The silence stretches. I hear her breathing change. Processing.
"Kristen, I... I didn't know."
"You never know." Tears blur my vision. "You never see what he really is because he smiles and says the right things. But I need you to see it now, Mom. For one fucking time in my life, I need you on my side."
She makes a small sound. Hurt. "I'm always on your side."
"No." The word tastes bitter. "You're on the side of the man you wish I'd married. The version of Jack that doesn't exist. But I can't keep fighting him and you at the same time. I can't do it anymore."
"I'm sorry." Her voice breaks. "Kristen, baby, I'm so sorry. I thought I was helping. I thought if you two could just talk?—"
"He doesn't want to talk. He wants to win."
I know she doesn't hate me. That's the worst part. She genuinely believed she was doing the right thing. Matchmaking. Fixing. Playing peacemaker because that's what mothers do.
But her good intentions might cost me my daughter.
"I have to go," I whisper.
"Kristen, please?—"
I hang up.
The phone slips from my fingers. Clatters against the marble floor. The sound echoes through the empty hallway like a gunshot.
I need to get to my room.
That's the only coherent thought left. Everything else is static. White noise. The roar of panic drowning out rational thought.
My legs move. One foot in front of the other. Past the formal living room. Past the study where Pietro sometimes works. Up the sweeping staircase that felt like a fairy tale two weeks ago and now feels like a prison.
Jack filed for custody.
My mother told him where I work.
The Sartoris are criminals.
I kissed Nico last night.
The pieces tumble through my head, sharp-edged and cutting. Every step sends another one slicing through my composure.
Unstable behavior.
Maybe Jack's right. Maybe I am unstable. What stable person makes out with a mafia guy while her daughter sleeps down the hall? What stable person takes a job with criminals because she's too desperate to ask questions?
Criminal connections.
They'll take Lily. They'll give her to Jack because he wears nice suits and knows how to charm judges. Because he'll showup with his perfect hair and his rehearsed remorse and everyone will believe him.
Everyone always believes him.
I reach my door. Shove it open. Make it three steps inside before my knees give out.
The carpet cushions my fall. Expensive fibers against my cheek. I curl into myself, arms wrapped around my stomach like I can hold the pieces together through sheer force.
But I can't.
