I’m torn in two directions, painfully opposite ones. And somehow I know this will get worse before it gets better. I straighten my shoulders and steel myself for what’s coming, and do what I always do: I prepare to step in and protect all of them.
“Just keep up what you’re doing. We’re dealing with?—”
I sigh because I’m not sure how to finish that sentence. I’m not surewhatwe’re dealing with other than our mother doing things she shouldn’t.
“We’re dealing with a problem. But the good news is it’s in the process of being handled. We’ll meet you at the reception.”
“I’ll see you there,” she says.
I switch back over to the main channel, desperate for news. But it’s silent.
A stronger sense of foreboding settles over me.
Voices sound from the edge of the pumpkin patch, safely away from the direct reception site. I tear myself away from the soft light of the battery-powered candles and soft bulbs strung through the trees and plunge into the shadows.
Figures come into focus, and my chest tightens as Lukeand my mother come into focus, nose to nose. Tension rolls across the ground.
My mother is here. Not hiding in Colorado this time. Whatever she’s done, she wanted to witness for herself.
The Jackson brothers hover close behind him, like an army of men at the ready. Ella is tucked into his side, possibly a little worse for wear. It’s hard to tell in the darkness.
Panic and relief chase each other, rolling through me in waves.
Then I see Sebastian Gold, and the relief I felt disappears in a snap. He’s not exactly dangerous, but he’s someone who always leaves behind more questions than answers. I suppose most people in power have a way of doing that.
But if he’s here, it’s not for a slice of cake.
Words cut through the air, something about a breach and fine print. I can’t make sense of what they’re talking about, only that Ella’s pale, Luke’s furious, and my mother looks—smug.
Whatever this is, it’s bigger than Holly and Cade’s wedding.
Bigger than me.
And in this moment, I realize just how much my mother is capable of.
It hit me then—this wasn’t about Ella’s wedding. It was about the farm. About Ever After’s magic. About the kind of love she’ll never understand but refuses to let survive.
My mother never sent me here to keep Ella in line.
All my efforts to “trick” my mother into believing this wedding was bigger than it was—a direct effort to take the heat off Ella’s immaculate planning—were a complete waste.
None of it ever mattered.
She knew.She knew how happy we were back here.
Maybe she knows about Holden, maybe she doesn’t. The only thing that matters is that she’s fully stepped into the adage ofmisery loves company.
She dangled the only thing that’s ever mattered to me, knowing she could use it to make me do what she wants.
Holden would tell me this isn’t my fault. I mightalmostbelieve him.
The world around me comes rushing back all at once.
Sebastian’s voice cuts through the quiet like a blade. “I wonder who tipped off the press then.”
There’s no hesitation in the next words that leave my mouth. “It was my mother.”
It’s clear as day, standing here and watching everything I helped build collapse in real time. My mother doesn’t just destroy what she can’t control—she uses the people she loves to do it for her.
