by Tijan
Here we go.
"Where were you, Samantha?" my mother clipped out. Her hands rested on her hips and her eyes bugged out. She looked ready to shriek again.
It clicked in me. I wouldn't fear her. The rightful anger was back again. She wouldn't scare me away no matter how intimidating she might've been. I wasn't eleven anymore. I shrugged as I moved to stand beside Mason. His hand curled around my waist. He anchored me against him.
She sucked in her breath. "Answer me."
"Why?" Logan sat forward on the table. His elbows rested on his knees now and his shoulders hunched down. He was getting ready for a fight.
"What do you mean why? She's my daughter."
He rolled his eyes. "Are you sure about that? You don't treat her like any family I've known."
"Logan," his father murmured, shaking his head. "Stop."
"Why?" Same question, same reaction. He wanted instant irritation.
A low growl came from Analise.
He was getting it.
"It's not your place." James sent him a pointed look and then transferred his gaze to Mason, who gripped my waist tighter.
I sunk into his side, grateful for the rock he had become for me.
Helen cleared her throat and refolded her arms over her chest. "This is not entertaining anymore." She fixed her ex-husband with a sneer. "Now that the prodigal daughter has returned, I'd like to continue our discussion as to why my sons got kicked out of your home and not her daughter."
Analise showed her teeth, it was so unlike the socialite she wanted to become since we moved into the Kade mansion. She resembled a caged animal, and it was the truth. My mom had been backed into a corner by Helen. We were all staring at her, waiting for her.
"Because." James hung his head.
"Because?" Helen tightened her mouth and lifted her chin another centimeter. "Just because? Are you toying with me, James? Our sons chose to stay here because of school. They didn't want to live in Los Angeles, and you agreed it was the better arrangement. A small town had a better environment for them. Then I hear from my sister that you've kicked them out? Mason is living with that Monson child—"
Logan grinned.
Mason bristled. "Don't start, mom."
"—and I hope to God that Logan's been with him the whole time because he hasn't been with me."
James looked back up. "I sent him to you."
She threw her arms in the air. "For one day! I got him for one day and then he took off with Charlie and Matt. They said they were going to Nate Monson's home. I thought they meant Calabasas. I had no idea they were coming here. I should've been informed when Nate moved back here." She turned towards Mason. "You should've told me."
He narrowed his eyes but remained silent. His hand on my hip turned into a fist, but his reactions stopped there. He had become a statue, or, as I shivered, he was biding his time and waiting for the right moment. I wasn't sure, but this felt like it was only the beginning.
James cleared his throat this time and wrung out his collar again. "Well, regardless, things have changed a bit in this house. I told Mason and Logan that if they didn't agree with my wishes, they would need to live with their mother. Logan was supposed to have been with you this whole time, but Mason is an adult. I cannot force him to do anything."
"You never could." Disdain dripped from her tone.
"You tell him, mom!"
"Shut it, Logan."
He hunched down. "Just saying."
Another deep sigh came from James as he stuffed his hands deep in his pockets. His shoulders hunched forward, "I understand that you're upset. I should've cleared everything with you—"
Analise gasped.
He froze for a nanosecond and then continued, "—but Analise and I made a decision together."
Helen's glare doubled with derision. She transferred it to my mother now. "I'm sure you did, by doing what she wanted for her reasons and not your own."
"You don't start," Analise rasped out. "This is not your family anymore—"
"This is my family! These are my sons and you threw them out like garbage." Helen's hands fell to her side and she jerked forward a step. Fury had replaced the cold condemnation and her eyes sparked with every bit the emotion that my mother was showing.
James glanced between them and swallowed.
"Garbage?" Analise started forward with a hand in the air. "Your son has treated my daughter like garbage. He had an itch and he used Samantha to scratch it. She was vulnerable. She'd just been dumped by her boyfriend and her friends turned their backs on her—"
"That is not true!" Logan shouted first as he hopped off the table. He started towards her, but Mason transferred me behind him and blocked his brother. As Logan bounced off him, Mason threw an arm out and shuffled him backwards. As they both moved to the farthest wall, I felt for the table. I couldn't see it anymore. Everything was rushing around me, my heart was racing, but when my hand touched it, I almost cried from relief. I folded into one of the chairs and pressed my palms against my temples. The raging headache had arrived.
My mom finished, "Samantha was convenient for him and he's made it worse. They've let her think that she matters to them, like they're going to protect her. She's my daughter. She's my family—"
"Okay, Lise. Stop." James held her with a firm hand. "Mason did not use Samantha like that and you know it. He cares for her."
My mother hit his arm down. She seethed at him, "You're blind when it comes to your sons. They're evil. You don't know the things they've done to me and now they've taken my daughter away from me. It was the last straw, James. I won't lose my daughter, not to anyone."
Helen laughed. The sound was shrill and harsh, and it shut my mother up. Her lip curled up higher. "This is so ridiculous, it's a comedy. You've lost your daughter to my sons? Is that why you banned Garrett from seeing her? Were you worried about an inappropriate relationship there as well?"
I went cold at her words. My heart slowed…
She continued, sounding like she was enjoying herself, "It's laughable! You're so nuts. Way to pick 'em, James. I thought you had a doozy on your hands with the fourth mistress. She was your secretary? No, that's not right. She was your assistant. And she hated me. I could always tell, but this one." She shook her head. "This one takes the cake."
Garrett had been banned? I started to stand up…
"Shut up, you bitch!" my mom shrieked.
Helen snapped her mouth shut, but her eyes glittered from suppressed anger. She shook her head again. "I'm the bitch? Look at what you've done to my family. You kicked my sons out. How dare you! And how dare you, James! When it involves my children, you bring me into the discussion. This relationship between our children makes it a family situation. I should've been brought in and brought up to date. I wasn't aware of the intimacy that they've reached—"
James barked out a laugh. "Are you joking with me?" He turned to face her squarely but kept Analise behind him with a hand on her wrist. His gaze settled on his ex-wife. "No, Helen. How dare you. You didn't know the level of intimacy between them?" His shoulders shook as more laughter poured out from him. "You walked in on them. And that was on your watch. He was at the hotel with you."
She sputtered out, "Not in my room. He had his own room."
"That you allowed." He pointed a hand at Mason, who was very still and very silent. "You know what our sons do. They have sex. They drink. They've both been in physical altercations. How many times have you bribed officials for them? I've done it a handful of times. I know you've dirtied your hands a few times, more than a few times. You can't stand there and spout that you thought Mason was this innocent son of ours."
"I didn't." Her jaw clamped shut, so tight. As she gritted her teeth together, the movement was visible. "I've never said that Mason and Logan are innocent little boys, but they're my little boys. You had no right to throw them out of the house."
"I didn't. I said they couldn't live here if they didn't comply with my wishes, and it's with
in reason to wish that my own son would not have sexual intercourse with his future stepsister, not under my roof."
Helen snorted. "Your roof? This was my father's home. Don't you forget that."
James raised his voice, "I got this house in the divorce settlement. It is my home. Let's not have you forget that!"
She threw her arms over her chest again and folded them. "It doesn't change the fact that you kicked our sons out, for any short amount of time or for any reason. You kicked both our sons out. Only one of them is sleeping with the girl."
"You didn't want Logan with you?"
"Of course, I did, but I wasn't given the chance to make sure that he came to me. He showed up one day, stayed a day, and took off with his cousins. I thought my son wanted to see me and I relished that time with him. I had no idea he was supposed to be there the entire break."
"He couldn't stay, not when he supports their relationship."
"Then kick the girl out!" Helen yelled.
She wasn't ladylike anymore, nor did she remain cold. The fury had taken over, and she was heated in anger. Her chest rose up and down at a rapid rate.
"She's my daughter," Analise yelled back. She started forward, but James crowded her back to the sink. "This is my home now. This will be my husband. My daughter will stay in my home. She has no other home to go to."
Helen reared her head back. "Are you kidding me?"
James closed his eyes.
Analise's eyes bulged out, even more enraged. She tried to launch herself forward, but he blocked her with his body. As she started to crawl over him, he turned to face her. He tugged her back down. She twisted around his side and snarled, "Get out of this house. Get out right now!"
"No," Helen clipped out. "Garrett told me about your quick little divorce, but as far as my private investigator knows, you haven't married my ex-husband yet. So, no, this isn't your home. You have no legal right to throw me out either, although I shouldn't be surprised. Isn't that what you do? Throw people out when they don't fall in line and pretend you're not crazy? Isn't that why you really kicked my sons out or why your own daughter isn't living here anymore?"
The room fell silent.
David and Analise were divorced. It was final.
I shook my head. I'd process that later.
Then Helen's cruel snicker filled the room. "I can't believe your nerve. You don't think I didn't come here with the facts? Do you not have any idea of who I am? You're going to be my sons' stepmother. You better get your act together, honey, because if you harm one hair on my sons, I'll slap you with a lawsuit. And you won't have any chance at winning because your insanity, Analise, has been well-documented."
"Shut. Up." But Analise paled, and the words slid were whispered from clenched lips.
"Oh, yes, honey." Helen's control was back in place. She drew upright. Her chin lifted, her jaw squared into place, and her shoulders smoothed so her suit was impeccable once again. There were no wrinkles. She was a glossy version of an ice queen. "You don't think I'm aware of how you threatened Garrett from seeing his daughter? That if he even tried to make contact with her, you would take your daughter and disappear so he'd never find her again." Her eyes shifted to James. "I don't think there was much merit in that threat, but it scared the hell out of him. Or maybe," the cruel smirk on her face appeared again, "there was another reason Garrett would be scared for his daughter. Tell me, Lise, have you ever hurt anyone before?"
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 nig
ht. 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.
She stopped. Her eyes jumped to mine, widened, and her mouth opened.
"Stop."
She did.
As I took another step closer, Mason murmured behind me, "Sam."
I shook my head. He didn't move away, but he didn't stop me. Logan straightened as well. The adults grew still, but James spoke, "I don't think this is the best—"
