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Permanently.

Because she'd been right about one thing. I'd benefited from her lie. And I hated that.

I hated wondering whether anything I'd accomplished was truly mine. Whether I'd earned my position or simply inherited the consequences of someone else's manipulation.

But most of all, I hated that my mother didn't regret any of it. Not one second. And now she was alone in a truck with Damon Lockhart.

A man who'd done nothing to deserve being caught in the crossfire of Claudia Parson's particular brand of maternal love.

My phone buzzed again. I grabbed it. Another email. I was going to develop a twitch.

“Mikayla?”

I looked up. Marie, one of the massage therapists, stood in the doorway. “Ready for your massage?”

I practically launched myself out of the chair. “Never been more ready for anything in my life.”

Behind me, Aunt Reba called, “Tell Damon we expect a spring wedding!”

I didn't turn around.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him!” Aunt Laura chimed in.

Some people might think she was kidding, considering my family, I doubted it.

The massage room smelled like eucalyptus and expensive serenity. Soft instrumental music played in the background. The lights were dimmed. Everything about the space screamed relaxation.

Unfortunately, my nervous system hadn't received the memo.

I lay facedown on the table while Marie worked a knot out of my shoulder that had probably been there since my first board meeting.

“You carry a lot of tension,” she observed.

“Occupational hazard.”

“What do you do?”

“Run a company.”

“Oh, how nice.”

I smiled into the face cradle.

Nice. Sure. If by nice she meant being responsible for thousands of employees and their families, managing an international corporation, and constantly wondering if I was a fraud. Then yes, it was very nice.

“So,” Marie said conversationally, “you and Damon.”

My eyes opened. Of course the masseuse that worked in the five-star spa on the ranch would have an opinion about my nonexistent relationship.

“Yep.”

“Now, it's none of my business…”

I braced myself. Nothing good had ever followed those five words.

“But I've known Damon for years, and I've never seen him like this.”

I frowned. “Like what?”