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The coffee machine finished and I picked up my cup, but held onto it carefully. Just in case it jumped out of my hands and threw itself at her.
"There's no need for that." I tried to keep my voice light, but this whole conversation had me on edge. "I'm an adult and I can make my own choices. You wanted me to come here and get involved with this lifestyle. You don't get to choose how that happens."
Her expression changed to one I'd never seen before. Dangerous, a clear warning.
"If Leo orders Mannix to stay away from you, Mannix will have no choice but to obey him. Same with the other two. If that happens, it will only be because we have your best interests at heart. Those boys are trouble."
"Only because Leo tells them to be," I said coldly.
"Right up until Mannix's ambition gets too big for him to listen to his father anymore."
"Is that what this is about?" I asked. "Leo is worried Mannix is going to step on his toes?" To hear Mannix talk, Leo might be justified in those concerns, but no time soon. "It seems to me like we all have bigger fish to fry. Like Samuel Bell."
Now she looked surprised. "How do you know about him?"
I snorted a bitter laugh and told her everything, except what happened in the workroom. No doubt she knew the details of what went on down there, but if she didn't, she wasn't going to hear it from me. Especially the bit about me using pliers on Frank Nixon. I suspected that was the kind of thing she meant when she said the guys were dragging me down into the dark.
Personally, I wondered if I was there all along, it just took time for my life to catch up with my proclivities.
"So it was Samuel Bell who had you followed?" She looked furious. "You didn't think to tell me this sooner?"
"You were busy getting married," I reminded her. "And then you were on your honeymoon. Besides, you seem to know more about all of this than I do. I'm surprised you didn't know already."
Had Mannix not told Leo? The last thing I wanted to do was throw Mannix under the bus with his father. That would only create more tension, and right now there was enough of that going around.
"Besides, I know nothing about Samuel Bell except he seems to have taken a dislike to me."
Mum hopped off her stool and came around the island to me.
"I'll never let anything happen to you."
I was taller than her when she didn't wear heels, but she still had that fierce, tiger mother thing going on. I could almost imagine her with a set of pliers in her hand, ready to pull off the eyelids of anyone who dared to think about hurting her baby.
Almost.
I might be projecting, because that sounded like something I'd be tempted to do if anyone came after a child of mine. That included the students from the gym. Hurting children was the worst crime I could think of. Stealing their innocence, scarring their small bodies. Anyone who did that got exactly what they deserved.
She closed her eyes and rubbed the tip of her fingers across her forehead. Her fingernails were blood red, like she needed the camouflage if she ever scratched anyone's eyes out.
"I'm starting to think I should have let you stay in Sydney. You were safer there." She sounded tired. Frustrated. Like all she wanted to do was keep me safe, but instead she'd dragged me straight into the lion's den. Dangerous though it might be, it was also secure.
"Was I? I'm still Leo's stepdaughter. This place is much more secure than uni ever was. I would have been a sitting duck up there." No one would have stopped Frank Nixon from getting to me on or around campus.
"There are other places," she said.
"Brutham Academy?" I suggested, half-joking. I doubted I would have made it to the end of first year. Or would I? My mother's relationship with Leo might have given me connections that saw me get past the trial Ice told me about. Added to that, I was fit, athletic and quick. I should give myself more credit for being a badass.
"That would be one good option," she agreed. "I went there. They would have updated the security several times since then."
I shook my head. What the fuck did she just say?
"You went there?" Just when I thought she couldn't surprise me anymore, she came out with that little gem. Had she killed anyone?
No, I didnotwant to know the answer to that. Not in this lifetime or the next. Some secrets were better kept hidden.
I was starting to wonder who this woman standing in front of me really was. She looked like my mother, she sounded like her, but the things she said blew my mind.
I lightly touched her arm. "Just checking I'm not dreaming." I put my cup down and leaned over the counter on my elbows.
