A cold sick feeling was spreading inside. I looked up in slow motion…Helen continued, but her voice sounded far away. I heard a whooshing sound, and it grew louder and louder. I shook my head. It was only me. It was only in my head. I needed to clear it away. I needed to hear what else she had to say.

"It's not like you've tried to kill yourself? It's not like a week later your daughter was hospitalized with evidence that she'd been beat up? You didn't do that, did you? My PI certainly thinks you did, but there was no condemning evidence and your own daughter was too scared to say anything." She continued, in a nightmare, "Where was your husband at that time?"

"Stop, Helen."

She ignored James. She was only getting started. "He had left you, but he came back, didn't he? She wasn't his real daughter. He had no way to protect her so he took you back. And the way you screwed him over later, cheating on him and getting James to fall for you. I should take lessons from you. No, I shouldn't because you're crazy. Your own daughter can't even be in the same room with you anymore. I know that you've hit her again. You slapped her twice four months ago. Have you done it since?"

All the blood was gone from my mother's face. She clutched onto James with white knuckles. Her knees buckled, but he held her up and looked over his shoulder. "Stop, Helen." H He said it with more authority this time.

It worked.

Helen stopped, but she cast a wary look at me as I stepped up next to her. Then she added in a soft voice, "I'm sorry that you have such a bitch for a mother, but you might want to look into her divorce settlement. I think there'd be a few things that might interest you."

"That's enough, mom."

She turned around. "What, Mason? If you care for her as much as you say you do, you'd want her to know that the man who raised her isn't allowed to speak to her, not until she turns 18." She lifted an easy shoulder. "I would've gone for it too. He's being paid to stay away from his daughter, but she's not even his real daughter. He bides his time, waits around, and then he can talk to her all he wants. He's only got to wait another week and a half. And Garrett, who knows what she really threatened him with before he went back to Boston."

Garrett was in Boston?

Analise burst out laughing. "He left you, didn't he?"

Helen wheeled around. Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You don't know anything about that—"

"But I do." Analise's voice rose again. She felt in control once again. "He left you the week after we saw you last. And I know why." She giggled now. The sound was twisted and unnatural.

My stomach dropped as the sickened sensation spread through me.

"He went back to his wife. I know he did. He told me he was going back to her. Too bad for you, Helen. You couldn't hold onto him, and that was your only way of getting back at me. But I've got the life you wanted. I've got the man that you loved. I've got the home with your husband and your sons. And I've got a hold on Garrett that you'll never have. I have his daughter and as long as I have her, he'll never leave me, not like he left you."

Helen crossed the room in three steps. She lifted her hand and slapped my mother. It happened before anyone could comprehend what was going on, but the sound of it echoed in the air.

I jumped from the shock of it.

"Whore!"

"Mom!" Mason rushed around me and lifted Helen away as she raised her hand for a second slap.

James grunted, but held onto Analise as she shrunk back. She stayed there for a second and then launched forward. She raked her nails over his back, trying to find a foothold so she could get free from him. He yelled in her ear, "Stop, Lise!" Logan rushed and took hold of my mother's arms. He lifted them in the air and James wrapped his arms around her waist again. My mother was in the air as they tried to wrestle her down. Her entire body was convulsing back and forth, desperate to get free.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"How long does mom have to be in the hospital?" It must've been the third time I asked dad. It'd been so long, and she was still in there. He always said the same thing, another day, but it seemed longer than that. Two whole days had passed since he picked me up from Jessica's.

"She's coming home this weekend, honey."

"Really?"

"Really." He gave me a smile and hunched down for me. Then he cleared his throat. "Honey, I want to talk to you about that night you found your mom in the bathroom."

"Yeah?" I could tell he wanted to talk about it. Dad's voice always changed when there was something important he wanted to say, but I looked away. I didn't want to talk about that night. Mom was fine. Dad was back. Everything was fine. I knew it. I was fine.

"Yeah, honey." He cleared his throat again and folded up his sleeves over his arms. "Listen, Jolene called me from the hospital when she picked you up. That was nice of her, wasn't it? I'm glad the social workers found someone to watch you so quickly. Were you a good girl for her? She didn't have to go down to the hospital to pick you up. Wasn't that nice of her?"

I shrugged. "I guess."

His smile relaxed, and he expelled a deep breath. "Good. Um, do you have any questions about your mother?"

"She's coming home this weekend?"

He nodded. He didn't say anything.

Things weren't okay. When he stood and walked to his back office, I knew things weren't okay. I was eleven, I wasn't four. But mom was coming home. She'd make everything okay. She had to; I didn't want to stay at Jessica's house again. Her mom wasn't nice.

"Sam!"

I blinked suddenly when Mason touched my arm. "You okay?" He still had an arm around Helen, but she had calmed down and leaned against the wall. Her eyes closed as exhaustion settled over her face. Her hair had been yanked free from the bun. It spilled down, but she didn't smooth any of it back. It stayed how it fell.

"Uh." I blinked again, clearing the memories.

"Logan!" My mom shrieked. She tried to bat him away as he kept a restraining hand on one of her arms. James ducked his head into her side. A scratch was on his cheek, some blood already spilled from it. "Get away from me!"

He hissed when she swung down again, but jumped back. She sagged forward, crumbling to the floor before she slapped a hand to the ground and pushed herself back up. Her eyes were wild, her hair was a mess, and the front of her dress was ripped. A tan bustier covered her up, but the dress was in ruins. She started to grab it and rip it off, but I stepped towards her.