“No, we won’t,” I said with a calm voice even though my throat felt like it was tightening. I would not let her hear my voice tremble. Never again.
She looked taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“I will not be going anywhere with you.”
“Is that so?” Her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. “And when I cut you off, what are you going to do then?”
The smile that pulled at my mouth was all an act, but she didn’t know that. “How can you cut me off from my own money?”
She didn’t blink. She didn’t even breathe.
“That’s why you got so angry on my eighteenth birthday, isn’t it?” I asked her, and rage lit up in her eyes, dispelling her frozen state. “It was the day you lost access to everything. All that money Father left me instead of you.”
Her nostrils flared as her breathing picked up.
I should have stopped talking. I should have just walked away. But I was done silencing myself out of fear of her. “I wish I had been there the day they read your spoiled ass Father’s will. I wish I could have seen your disappointment when you realized that after all the lies, the fucking of other men—” I stepped closer. “After you pushed him down the stairs and made it look like an accident, you gotnothing.”
She lifted her hand in the air and I braced, letting her hit me. Her palm slapped me across my face, forcing it aside. Ignoring the sting, I slowly turned my head back to stare at her, lifted my own hand, and slapped her just as hard.
Not used to taking a hit, she stumbled a little in her Jimmy Choo heels that I’d undoubtedly paid for. Holding her cheek, she stared at me with wide eyes.
“That will be the last time you ever hit me again.” Wanting those to be my parting words, I went to walk away.
Just as I did, Mother lunged for me, her hand closing around my neck. “You will go with me now or I will slit your fucking throat,” she hissed as her nails dug into my skin.
I fought her, trying to shove her off me, only for us both to go tumbling to the ground.
Beneath me I could feel the ground vibrating. Then I heard the sound of a motorcycle growing louder. In my moment of distraction, Mother was able to climb on top of me, fighting to strengthen her grip on my neck. I smacked and clawed at her, which only enraged her more.
Roe appeared behind her and ripped Mother off me. She flailed in his grasp, yelling, demanding that he get his hands off of her.
Then someone stormed into my line of sight. A tall, Viking-like man in a Haven’s Rebels cut.
Bram.
His eyes scanned me for anything wrong. When he didn’t find it, his stare turned cold as he shifted it toward Mother.
Seeing Bram, Mother went still in Roe’s arms.
“Let her go,” Bram ordered.
Roe released Mother, who seemed too shocked to notice. Roe rushed over and helped me stand. The next thing that happened, I almost didn’t see. Bram grabbed Mother by the throat and backed her up until she hit the side of her car. He wasn’t choking her, but he was holding her firmly.
“You told me she would be better off,” he said in a low, cold voice, but it didn’t stay low. “You said she would have a better life!” he roared in her face. “You’re her mother, Beth! You were supposed to love her! Instead, you abused and used her for your own personal gain!”
His grip tightened and she began to panic. Her feet kicked as she tried to pull his hand from her neck.
“That fear you’re feeling right now is what our daughter felt her entire life, and I could snap your bony fucking neck for that.” He released her and she gasped for air as she slid to the ground. Bram stared down at her as if it was taking all his strength not to kill her right then. “You will stay away from our—no—mydaughter or so help me, you will fucking regret it.” Bram turned toward me, locking eyes with my wide ones. “Go home, Charlotte.”
I may have been in shock, because I didn’t move right away. Roe had to usher me to get my feet moving and steer me towardwhere we’d parked. It wasn’t until I was almost to my car that I finally got ahold of myself.
Roe cupped my face and made me look at him. “Are you good to drive?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Roe waited until I got in my car before he went over to his bike. He followed close behind me all the way home. As I drove, I made a plan to call JJ. I didn’t want her to have access to anything my father had left me anymore. Including the house she’d murdered him in. I would take it all. I didn’t know where she would go. Her only family was an aunt who had raised her after her parents had passed away, and Mother had cut ties with her—or the aunt had cut ties with Mother, I didn’t know. I’d never met my great aunt, so all I knew about her was that she was a wealthy lady. I was sure Mother would go groveling back to her. It didn’t matter to me. Mother could sleep in her damn car for all I cared. I just wanted her gone from my life.
Chapter Seventeen
