His words snap me from my haze, and the reality of our situation comes flooding back. With every ounce of strength that I possess, I wrench myself from his arms.
“God, no,” I mutter. “I won’t be forced out of here just to be your convenient side piece. I don’t know what the fuck your dad’s problem with me is, but I’m done with you and your whole fucking family. I hope you all go straight to hell!”
I turn and tear out of the room before he can stop me. Forcing myself to run and not look back, I hurry from his building and only slow when I’m certain he’s not chasing after me. I ignore the pang in my chest at that realization, but it’s quickly washed away by my pulsing fury.
How dare he.
How dare his whole damn family.
This is so much worse than his betrayal last year. The realization that he’s been making my life hell for months now without really knowing why is gut-wrenching.
I’m so blinded by my rage, that I don’t notice the figure leaning against the side of my building until I’ve nearly walked by him.
“You seem tense, little Jenn.”
No. No, not now. Not him.
I face Ghost and bare my teeth. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Your mom wants you,” he says, pushing away from the wall.
Of course she does. She only ever wants me at the most inopportune times. Her timing is shit, and so is my mood.
“If she wants to see me, she should pick up the damn phone,” I snarl, turning away from him with every intention of going inside and ignoring my summons.
He reaches me in two long strides and grabs my arm, stopping me.
“I don’t think so. You’re going to get in my car and come with me, right now.”
“Like hell I will.”
His fingers dig into my arm. “Do you need a little persuasion?”
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dials a number and holds it to his ear. His grin turns cruel when he passes it to me.
“Say hello,” he orders.
He’s not giving me a lot of choice, so I reluctantly take the phone and murmur, “Hello?”
“Mallory?”
The blood drains from my face as I recognize Jenn’s voice.
“Mom? What’s going on?”
“Everything’s okay, baby girl.” But her words are slurred, and I can tell she’s really high. “I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
Ghost takes the phone away before I can respond and ends the call.
“What have you done to her?” I demand to know in an icy tone.
He tucks his phone back into his pocket and shrugs. “Nothing she wouldn’t be doing to herself, believe me.”
I almost throw myself at him and attack, but even in the midst of my rage, I’m not an idiot. No way in hell would I survive a throw-down with Ghost.
Still, I swear to myself that I’ll make him pay.
“She better not be hurt,” I hiss.
He chuckles. “Or what? You’ll send your rich boyfriend after me?”
I don’t tell him that I won’t need Saint’s help. When the time’s right, I’ll make Ghost regret he ever crossed me all by myself.
28
An hour later, we pull up to another huge house, but this one isn’t rundown and abandoned-looking like the last one. It’s a swanky mansion with columns lining the front and a second-story balcony stretching out from large French doors.
“Who owns this?” I ask as we exit the car and make our way to the front door.
“We’re borrowing it. From a friend.” Then he smirks and leads me inside. No surprise, this place is also sparsely decorated which makes me believe they’re squatting and just so happened to have hit the scummy jackpot with this place. We make our way to a cavernous living room, and my eyes immediately fall on Jenn who’s passed out on a couch.
“Mom!” I cry, rushing to her. I drop to my knees and press my fingers to her throat and wrist, searching for a pulse. I nearly burst into tears when I find it, faint though it is. Grabbing her shoulders, I shake her, trying to wake her up. “Wake up, Momma.”
She doesn’t open her eyes, no matter how hard I jostle her. I’ve seen her like this more times than I care to think about. When I was younger, I figured out how to turn her onto her side when she was so high that she passed out to keep her from choking on her vomit. I do that now, moving her so her cheek is pressed against the couch.
I fish out my phone, ready to call 911, but Ghost snatches it from my hand and holds it out of my reach.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I screech. “She could die!”
“The bitch is fine,” he says with a nonchalant shrug. “She just needs to sleep it off.”
Sleep it off my ass. “Why won’t you help her?”
“That bitch isn’t my problem.”
It doesn’t make any sense that he would say that if he’s working for her, or if they’re working together.
“Why were you in my dorm building last semester?” I demand.
He grins. “Damn, and here I thought I’d been so smooth sneaking around that overpriced daycare.”
That’s not an answer, but I hadn’t expected him to be very forthcoming.
I try again. “Why do you work for Jenn?”
Now he full on laughs at me. “I don’t work for Jenn. I work for your mother.”
“Are you fucking stupid?” He must be high as well. “Jenn is my mother, dickwad.”
“No. She’s not.”
I go very still at the sound of a feminine voice echoing through the room.
Slowly, I turn and am shocked to find an impossibly familiar, stunning face standing in the doorway of the living room. She’s the girl from the photo. Older, for sure, but there’s absolutely no mistake. Same long, dark hair. Same blue eyes.
Nora.
“It wasn’t Jenn in that picture,” I mutter as she comes to a stop in front of me.
She smells like vanilla and when she smiles, I see my smile.
It scares the hell out of me.
“Afraid not,” she says, crossing her arms. “The last time I saw you, you were so tiny. So perfect. We’d called you Eden, but—”
“Stop.” My mind is a blur, and my heart is beating so hard, I can’t even hear myself. I gawk at her, trying to process her presence and her words. “You’re lying,” I snap.
“Why?” she murmurs, raising her hands. “Why would I lie about something like that?”
“I-I don’t know.” I’m so confused, I feel panic begin to rise within my chest. “I just want to get my mom and get her to a hospital. Please, let me take Jenn—”
“Her name isn’t fucking Jenn, it’s Alexandra. Alexandra Mallory.” Nora turns a look of clear disgust toward Jenn. “And she’s not your mother, she’s your aunt. My baby sister, though you wouldn’t think it by looking at her.”
I don’t know what to do with any of the words she’s speaking right now. Everything she’s saying is crazy. And yet … it makes sense. She looks so much like Jenn—Alexandra?—that it’s terrifying. “If you’re my mom, where’ve you been?”