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They find what she’s looking for in the administrative wing. It’s oddly quiet, and Leo enters first, just to be sure there’s not an ambush. As much as Gideon and Jay think Carnell is all about their omega, Leo has always maintained otherwise.

She closes the door when they’re inside and rests her forehead on the wood.

When she turns around, she lets her mask of fake “country club socialite” fall. She looks haggard and tired, and not just a little bit scared.

“Mother.” Jay must see it, too.

“No, Jamie. Please. You are right. I owe you this at least. But…it’s difficult for me—”

“Not easy for you?”

Leo cannot believe the nerve of this woman, any momentary sympathy evaporating under her careless words. He feels his rare anger pulse in his chest.

“Leo.”

“No, Jaybird. She has been nothing but horrible to you your whole life, she’s responsible for Nix’s torture and trauma, and now…she’s caught up with Carnell. She is owed none of your understanding, and you are too god-damned nice that you’ll let it all slide. No.”

“You’re right,” Miranda agrees.

Wait. What?

“I am?”

Miranda nods.

“You are right. I have been a terrible mother to you for your whole life. Self-centered and vain. And worse, I let your father dictate how our family would be and took the selfish way out. I am sorry.”

“That’s not—” Enough.Sorryisn’t near enough.

“Leo,” Jay cuts him off.

“Fine.” Leo grits his teeth and mimes zipping his mouth.

“He’s right. You have good mates. I am happy for you. I am sorry. I know it’s not enough, and we don’t have time for me to tell you all the ways I regret not being the mother you deserve.”

She pulls out a chair, sitting heavily, indicating they should, too.

“After your call last fall, your father…he…he lost control of his temper. You know how he can be? Well, your Gideon really let him have it. I don’t know what was said exactly, but he set your father off in a way I hadn’t seen before. Gideon really must love all of you.”

Jay and Leo nod.

“I am so glad you have someone like him in your pack. You’re a good alpha, I imagine?”

She asks Leo this question like she would love to hear Leo wax poetic about her son’s good qualities.

Leo isn’t going to give her the satisfaction of sharing all the ways Jay is perfect, even though they are on the tip of his tongue and at the forefront of his mind every minute of the day.

“The very best,” is all he’s willing to give.

“I am glad, and not surprised. Well, the same cannot be said for James. After the call, he disappeared for a few days, as he sometimes does when his anger is terrible. Those things he’s accused of doing?”

“Embezzlement and fraud?” Jay asks.

Miranda can only nod.

“He’s guilty, of course. I am, too, I suppose, despite being unaware for the longest time. I am certainly complicit.” She waves her hand to encompass her lifestyle.

“Mother, why?”