Page 245 of Wicked Brutal

“You don’t know that.”

“Neither do you.”

Her eyes fill. I take both her hands. “Tobias comes.” She nods. “The baby comes.” Another nod. “And you come.” She starts shaking her head. I tighten my grip. “All three.” Her mouth trembles. “All three of us get out.”

For a long time, she doesn’t say anything. Then she whispers, “Okay.”

I don’t know if she believes it and then I remember. “Wait.”

I leave her in the kitchen and run upstairs. The ultrasound pictures are exactly where I hid them.

When I come back down, Mom is still standing beside the island. I hold them out.

She stares then takes them with shaking hands. “Oh.” Her thumb traces the white edge. “This is the baby?” Her face crumples again. “My grandbaby.”

“I heard the heartbeat.”

Mom’s eyes snap to mine. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Was Ryan there?” I nod. “And Tobias.”

Her eyebrows lift. “He knows?”

“Yeah.”

“And he hasn’t said a word?”

Despite everything, I smile. “He keeps his secrets.”

Mom lets out a watery laugh. “That he does.”

“He thinks the heartbeat sounds like a horse.”

She looks down at the picture. Then laughs again. A real one this time. Small. Broken around the edges. But real.

For maybe thirty seconds, we’re just standing in a kitchen looking at an ultrasound picture. A mother. A daughter. A baby.

Then Mom looks at my bruised face. And the moment is gone. She carefully hands the pictures back. “Hide those.”

“I will.”

“And Ally?”

“Yeah?”

“Get out.”

I take the pictures. “We are.” She closes her eyes. I kiss her cheek. “All three.”

This time, after a second, she whispers it back. “All three.”

Then I go back upstairs, sit beside Tobias where he’s sleeping, and open my messages.

Things changed tonight. We need to talk.

Ryan: What happened?