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My back straightens and I watch as each and every one of his words truly sinks in. “Don’t get me wrong, mother,” he continues as she begins panicking, her chest rising and falling with rapid movements. “If it came down to saving either you or Winter, I would choose her every fucking time.”
Ida’s stare remains locked on mine and she watches me with such disgust that it makes me uneasy. “You told him,” she spits at me, not letting on what she’s referring to, but she doesn’t need to. I know exactly what she’s talking about and so does every one of the guys standing around me.
“How could I not?” I throw back at her. “You threatened to kill his unborn child and slit his throat just as your husband did to my father, and as much as you hate it, I love him. So, what kind of woman would it make me if I didn’t share that little snippet of information? You’re a monster, Ida. You’re a coward, and a low life, and I refuse to sink to your level. I’m not here to play by your rules, I make my own.”
She clenches her jaw and my gaze shifts to Carver’s as he leans forward, closing in on his mother. “The only reason I haven’t thrown you into a cell or ended your miserable life is because my sisters need their mother, but God knows they could do so much better. I won’t be the reason they have to grow up without you. I won’t be the villain in their stories, but push me, mother, and I swear on your miserable husband’s grave that I will see it through. Those girls deserve so much better than what they’ve got.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Carver laughs and grabs his mother’s bound hands and yanks her up from the high back chair. “You raised me,” he says darkly. “You know exactly what I’m capable of. You’ve feared it since the second I was born.”
Ida swallows hard and Carver shoves his hand into her back, forcing her forward and making her stumble toward me. I step out of the way and as Carver passes me with his mother, the buzzer sounds for the front gate.
Carver doesn’t stop as Cruz pulls his phone out of his pocket and brings up the surveillance cameras. His brows furrow and he stares for a short moment before finally letting us in on the secret. “It’s my mother,” he mutters, just as confused as Carver had been about seeing his. He buzzes her in and the gate slowly begins to peel back.
The curiosity gets to us all and we follow Ida and Carver to the front door, ready to meet Cruz’s mom. Carver pushes her the whole way, his strength at her back making her escape impossible, though that doesn’t stop her attempts that each come along with screeching grunts and curses.
We reach the front door and Grayson pulls it open just in time to see Cruz’s mom bringing her car to a stop at the bottom of the circle driveway. We all stop and wait, but Carver just keeps going, forcing his mother down the stairs, intent on walking her all the way back to the Carver estate in the most obvious way possible. Hell, discreet has never been a word in Carver’s vocabulary, and the more Dynasty members that see her humiliation, the better.
Dianna Danforth steps out of her car—the fancy, expensive one that resides in her garage, not the soccer mom SUV that the boys and I destroyed. She instantly looks up, her eyes going wide as she watches Ida being marched down the stairs. “Do I want to know?” she asks, sucking in a shocked gasp.
Carver shakes his head. “Imagine the worst possible thing a mother could do to their child, and then triple it.”
Dianna’s eyes go wide and she drops her gaze to Ida in horror.
“Mom,” Cruz rushes out, raising his hand and indicating for her to hurry up the stairs, not wanting her exposed to Ida’s ugliness any more than necessary. Dianna snaps out of her shocked stare and starts making her move up the stairs, going as fast as she can while still maintaining her ladylike nature.
Her pace fastens as she reaches the top few steps and launches herself at her son, wrapping him into her arms in a rare show of affection—though, I would too if two out of three of my children had just been kidnapped and then returned in less than perfect condition. I’d hold on to them every chance I got. “How are you doing?” she questions, pulling back and meeting his confused stare. “I haven’t heard from you since the funeral. Are you well? Eating properly?”
“Yes, Mom,” Cruz laughs. “I’m fine. What’s going on? Is everything alright?”
“I, ummm, yes,” she says, turning her gaze on me with a knowing smile that has my heart racing, trying to figure out what could have possibly brought her here today. “Jackson and Lachlan have finally started talking about the ordeal that Paris put them through and they mentioned that there was a girl who came along with the boys to rescue them. Was that you, Elodie? Did you save my sons?”
