Page 46 of His Princess

“Well....” It may have started out that way, but I was all in now. “I love him.”

Mom’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She was pretty, always had been, and still was, even with her neck beginning to turn pink where Matt had had his hands on her. “Oh, no. No, no, no. I never realized how beautiful you would look this way.” She flashed me a real smile. “Just like me! No wonder he.... Listen,” she said, scooting closer and darting a glance at the doorway. Her knees bumped mine. “Men don’t love you, Quin.”

“What?” I sat back, hurt all over again.

She flashed me an amused smile. “Not you in particular, sweetie. Anyone. They love to fuck. They want to get off. That’s it.” She frowned. “I would’ve thought you realized that.”

Confusion had me biting my lip because that really was how this had started. But Colt....Matt and I were more. “I think Matt loves me,” I whispered, not so sure now.

She sat back and some of her initial anger returned as she shook her head. “I thought the same.”

I yanked my hands away from hers. “You cheated on him. Maybe if you hadn’t done that he would still love you.”

She grabbed my shoulder and shook me.

Pain radiated up to my neck, and I shoved her off.

“That shouldn’t matter if someone actually loves you,” she said, and there was no lie on her face. She really believed that. At least, I thought she did. She lied all the time, though, so how would I ever know? I used to think she didn’t lie to me, but maybe she always had. Maybe this was why some of our escapes from her husbands were so scary. They realized they’d been had by an expert con artist.

“That isn’t how relationships work, Mom,” I mumbled.

She shrugged and brought her purse into her lap, a nervous habit I’d seen over the years. She rested her hands on it and patted it while glaring at the doorway as she leaned close again. “Colt’s a monster if he forced you into this,” she hissed, but then her smile was back, sending me on a roller-coaster ride between confusion, love, and frustration. I did love her, but what the hell was going through her mind right now?

“Mom—”

“If you like this—” She tilted her head until she bonked her forehead against mine. “—other men will spoil you to get it, I promise you. You’re dazzling, sweetie, even all messed up.” She tucked my hair behind my ear. “There are richer men than Colt out there, and you’re young. You’re beautiful. There’s a whole big world to see,” she said wistfully. “And you can go dive right in.”

“Mom, thanks to you, I’ve seen it,” I said, giving her a small smile. I rested my hands on hers where they were fidgeting with her open purse. “And a lot of the experience was a fairy tale thanks to... you.” I swallowed hard, then sighed. A ton of it had been a nightmare, but there were bright points. I’d gone swimming in the Mediterranean during warm summer months. I’d seen Greek islands and toured the art hotspots in Paris and Italy, and we’d done so much more together with whichever man she was currently seeing. Ski trips. Broadway shows. Hell, we’d even done Coachella. I knew those good things were the only ones she remembered when she thought back on her life. “I don’t want other men. I want Matt.”

She shook her head and bared her teeth. “He’s abusive.” She touched her throat.

“He’s never hurt me,” I said. More things wanted to fire off my tongue in her direction, such as how anyone would be furious about what she’d done, but I knew the truth wouldn’t help right now.

Her eyes glinted with some emotion that scalded me. “And you think it’s fine he did this to your mother?” Her voice was getting louder, and she glanced at the doorway again.

“I—”

“Leave with me,” she whispered. “He won’t stop us. I’ll drag him through court for every cent I can, prenup or not.” She flashed a real smile, her happiest one, and my stomach turned. “If you leave at my side right now, he’ll cave.”

“You mean if you have me as leverage,” I said, sitting back and crossing my arms. I tried not to glare at her, but it was impossible.

She shrugged. “Of course. See, you get it.”

Anger had me clenching my sharp fingernails against my arms. The pain snapped me back to reality as the one question I’d been waiting to hurl at her when—if—I ever saw her again sprang to the front of my mind. “Why are you back?”

She pouted and stomped her foot against the floor. “Roland Sayers. The CEO and owner of Sayers Oil.”

She said all that as if I should know exactly what she was talking about, but my mind spun. I glanced up at the ceiling, but then a memory tickled me. We’d fried some things in my cooking class, and an oil bottle with a green label popped into my head. “Like, the fryer oil?”

She dipped her head in acknowledgement. “I met him while he was in town, and he swept me off my feet.” She grinned and clapped her hands, like a little kid describing their trip to an ice cream shop. “He bought me jewelry and upgraded my wardrobe to something exceptional. You should’ve seen the shoe collection.” She sighed and rested a hand on her chest. “He wanted to make me wife number four.”

“And you were fine with that?” I asked, not exactly confused, but after my experience with Matt, I couldn’t imagine jumping to a new man because he bought me shoes.

“I sure am!” She glared at me. “But number three was still in the picture. He wanted to add me into his harem, but I am not that kind of woman.” She shook her head as if she’d suddenly started going to church every Sunday.

I snorted. “Too many directions to split the profits.” I spit out the cynical words, not bothering to try to keep my tone polite.

She laughed, a high, tinkling, wonderful sound that drew people to her from across rooms, and she batted at my arm with her hand. “You do get it! I thought I would come back, tell Colt I’d been off for a bit of rejuvenation, which I did do.” She patted her face, but if she’d had fillers, I couldn’t tell. “And then I thought I would see if I could work some magic on him.” Her good mood faded until she was scowling at me. “Except you beat me to it.”

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