She gasped.
Heather started laughing.
Samantha was grinning too.
“Excuse me?” Tate’s mouth dropped.
I rolled my eyes. “Please. You have no place to act self-righteous. Mason called in a PI. It took her ten hours to find all the other men you’ve been screwing.” The glare lessened, being replaced by some caution. Her face got tight. She swallowed. I kept on, “The banker.” The blood was draining from her face. “The guy at the medical labs in Fallen Crest.” Even paler. “I’m betting if another paternity test was done, the results would be different.”
Helen’s eyebrows snapped together. “What’s she talking about, Tate?”
Tate continued to hold my gaze. I didn’t know why, if she was seeing if I was testing her, bluffing, but whatever it was, she saw, gulped again, and looked away.
Zellman gave me a once-over, approval in his gaze. “Nice.”
“Samantha?” That was from Helen, who was looking from me to Tate and Samantha. “Is that true?”
Sam was also watching me, a thoughtful consideration taking over her. Her face went somber, and she raised her chin just slightly.
I don’t know what got into me.
I knew Helen didn’t like me. I never cared. She could think what she wanted. That was her problem. Not mine. But for her to guard Tate against Samantha? That made me want to take a taser to her because how fucking dare she?
I shook my head, turning to face her. “Samantha’s had three of your grandchildren.” I nodded in Tate’s direction. “But you guard her? Her, who has a history of trying to fuck with Logan, Mason, and Sam. I can’t believe you’d be so fucking idiotic not to do your homework, not to know what Tate’s done. James cheated on you. He was cheating with her on his current wife, but you took her side? You doubled down on the cheater’s side? You didn’t reach out to tell Logan or Mason because you’re not dumb. You did that for a reason.”
Helen was silent.
That made me even angrier.
“Are you serious? Nothing? You say nothing now?”
“I know they wouldn’t be my grandchildren, but they’re new babies coming into the family. I wanted to be involved. I didn’t want to get pushed out and I knew my sons. They’d bring them in as if they were their sons. It’s how my boys are. I just wanted to be involved. How wrong is that?” Helen’s lip was trembling. Her voice cracked.
Sam frowned. “Like you don’t see your real ones now? We come here all the time. Mason calls you every visit, and you make time for them maybe once every eighth visit. He offers to drive them over to you. You’ve taken him up on that offer twice in the last four years. Maddie’s not little anymore. She’s aware of what grandma is in her life and which one isn’t. She got confused the other night because we told her Malinda wasn’t her grandma through blood. She was devastated. I didn’t enjoy educating her on whose blood she actually did come from. Do you know what would’ve made that a lot better? If she had a better relationship with you.”
Helen’s lip continued to shake. “I wanted to start new with Tate’s children.”
“Start new? What happens to Sam’s children?”
“Nothing. I mean, I’d continue—”
“No.” Sam’s laugh was bitter and cold. “I got it. I do. Have at it. I don’t even want to share the news with you now. It’s on you to ask your son about it. Good luck, though.” She motioned to Tate. “Keep protecting her. And while you’re at it, you might want to start kissing Taylor’s ass.” Helen cringed, but Sam kept on, “Everyone sees how you treat her. It’s not much better than how you’ve treated me, but you’re a piece of work. Alienate your daughters-in-law—”
“What?”
Sam ignored Tate, still speaking to Helen, “—who are with your sons that have no problem walking from you. It’d make more sense if they were different sons, mama boys, but Mason and Logan aren’t like that. They put effort into who puts effort back in them, and that goes for their families too. I’m officially done. Here on out, you want a relationship? It’s on you to try. I have other things to say, but I’m holding back because you are Mason’s mother, and I know he does love you, even if he can’t stand you at times.” Her gaze went to Tate. Her voice was biting. “Have fun in jail. Knowing Logan, he’ll find a way to keep you there. I’m out of here.”
She turned, walking back to Bren’s vehicle, pulling her phone out with her back pointedly to us.
Helen didn’t react.
Tate was still seething at me.
I knew it then. A knot was in my gut, and it was tightening.
I said it, “That’s why you did this? For Logan?”
Defiance flared in before she banked it. “No. That ship’s sailed, but I care about Logan. Always will.”
“Then why?” That came from Zellman.
“Money, you idiot.”
He chuckled. “Right. The chick zip-tied from an arrest in Vegas, being caught in the middle of another scam, is the one calling me an idiot. Probably might be why you’re where you’re at.”
“That’s enough,” Helen spoke up but quiet. Her face was tight. She looked in pain. “It’s true? What they’ve all said.”
Tate harrumphed, making a show of rolling her eyes. “The douche is right. You’re the idiot. Of course, it’s true, and you knew it. What Logan’s current cunt—OW!”
Sam was back, and she had a knee on Tate’s neck, pressing her down. “You will never call Taylor that again.”
Tate went still, eyeing Sam.
She didn’t move a muscle, not even as Sam lifted her knee, her eyes feral and her tone so cold. She stood back up, backing away slowly. “You’ve hurt my family enough.” She turned, finding me. “Advice?”
I nodded.
“Walk from her. Right now. Don’t listen to anything she’s going to say, and tell Logan everything she’s said so far. He’ll dole out his vengeance, and she knows it.” She skimmed Helen faintly, adding to me, “I’d also ignore this one from here on out too. Let Logan handle her if he chooses. She’ll be the one regretting it, not you.”
An Escalade pulled up to the street, and Sam went to it, visibly shaking.
I knew who was in the Escalade, and I waited. Just a bit.
Once Sam was inside, and the door was closed, the back window rolled down. Logan was there, watching me, waiting.
That’s when I showed Tate. Lifting my phone from my pocket, I showed her the screen. “Logan likes these pants, but they’re worn. Raggedy. Still. Logan likes ’em, so I wear them for him. I won’t always be able to wear them, so I figured why not today. Early Christmas present for him. But you know the great thing about these pants?” I showed her the pocket, showed her the bunch of holes that were there.
She knew. She paled again.
I flashed her a grin, raising my phone and hitting the stop recording button. “The best thing today about these pants? Logan doesn’t need to be told about what went down because he saw the whole thing.” I said to Helen, “He heard the whole thing too.”
A door was shut from the street. A figure was coming toward us.