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“Go ahead and burn them. I have the originals.”
Of course she did.
“What do you want?” he asked, barely recognizing his hoarse voice.
Beyond Clarissa’s shoulder, he glimpsed Cindy hugging her father. So happy, he envied them and everyone else who didn’t have to deal with their fucked-up families.
“Break it off with him. Tell him you don’t ever want to see him again.”
“You’re asking for the impossible.”
“You said you love him, Robert, or is that a lie?”
Jesus, she knew he hated it when she called him Robert. She really seemed intent on bringing out the big guns today. I invited her. Left that fucking piece of paper on the fruit bowl, thinking she would have been proud her son finished college.
“It’s not. I love him more than life,” Rob whispered.
She’d trapped him and they both knew it. Anger flashed through her eyes, but he didn’t give a fuck. It would be so easy for him to reach out, wrap his hands around her neck and strangle her, but it wouldn’t be that simple. She’d been a decent mother before the accident. It had cost him so much to end the life of a man he hated, how much more would he have to pay if he killed a woman who’d once shielded Neil and him from his step-father’s fists?
In the end, Don had done this to her. She understood he’d do anything for Neil because she’d somehow loved Don, even though she knew she’d gone to bed with a monster night after night.
What Rob needed was Neil beside him, telling him what to do. Neil was in the parking lot though, waiting in his car. His cell phone vibrated in his jeans pocket. Neil probably, wondering what was taking him so long.
“I’ll do anything. Just promise me you’ll leave him the fuck alone.”
“Better yet, I’ll pretend that bastard never existed. Break it off with him tonight, Rob. Make it count. Then you’re coming home with me. We’ll eat breakfast together and talk about you finding a nice single woman to be your wife.”
She waved to her surroundings, but her eyes seemed far away, perhaps seeing the future she’d decided for him. Like hell. Rob might be leashed, but he’d find a way to fight this, to defy her. He hardly heard the rest of what she said, barely noticed her walking away and a hand clasping his shoulder, turning him.
“Rob, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Neil asked, concern etched on his face.
Rob clutched at the envelope damning Neil and him in his hand. Make it count, she’d said, and he did, even though lying through his teeth and putting on a convincing act felt like flaying his own heart and soul.
