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But just as quickly, she pulls the wool back over her own eyes and gets lost in her delusions. “Well, I’m sure that whatever measures Dylan needed to take were necessary.”

“It was necessary to hit me?” I ask. “To sexually assault me? To”—I close my eyes, peeler pause—“to rape me? To punch me so hard that I ended up in a coma?”

Another pause. “You need to get clean, baby girl.”

My eyes fly open and I know it’s pointless to continue this conversation. She won’t believe me—not today, not ever. And I don’t know if it’s because she’s getting paid by my estate or she just believes that the sun shines out of Dylan’s ass, but…

She’s never going to believe me.

“Why did you do it?” I ask quietly.

There’s a long blip of quiet.

“You need to go home,” she goes on. “You need to go home to Dylan so he can help you with all of that.”

“Why did you sign everything over to Dylan?” I press. “Why did you take away all of my power, tie up my money and assets? I did the work. I was taking care of you and myself?—”

I got clean.

I’d lined up jobs.

“He was good for you. Stabilizing and he looked after you.”

Maybe if she’d done it when I didn’t need it so much, I would understand, would buy that.

But I’d been doing better.

And then she took away my freedom, just signed it right over to the devil.

“You know that’s not true.”

She scoffs. “He’s the only reason you have the career you have today, the only reason you can live as though you do?—”

And I get it then.

Because eventually the Bank of Willow would have closed.

My mother was protecting herself.

And just like that…

I’m done.

“I’m done,” I repeat aloud.

“What—?”

“I’m done with this conversation, done with you, done with it all.” I exhale. “Don’t call me again. Not today. Not next year. Not ever.”

“Willow—”

I reach out and hit the button to end the call.

And then reject the next one when she immediately calls back.

And then I block her, and maybe I should be sad but for the first time in a decade the persistent heaviness in my heart is gone. Because…

“I’m not her anymore,” I whisper.