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She nods, but it all feels a little too forced. “Yes, I just have to go into work early. So I better get going,” she says, kissing me when I try to protest.

She jumps out of bed and begins gathering her things as she gets dressed. She’s really trying to make it look like there’s nothing the matter, but I can tell there is. “You sure you’re okay?”

She nods again with a fake smile. “I’m sure.”

Once she’s ready to leave, I reluctantly climb out of bed and pull on a pair of sweatpants. “You could stay, if you wanted,” I tell her, hoping I don’t sound desperate.

Her eyes flash with an emotion I don’t recognise, but it’s gone before I can dwell on it. Maybe I’m reading too much into this?

“I’d love to stay, but I can’t. I’m sorry.” She sounds almost sad.

“That’s okay,” I tell her as I pull her in for a hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “We have forever.”

She lets out a stuttered breath, before staring up at me. This time when she gives me a blinding smile, I know it’s genuine. She’s looking at me like I’m the only person in the world that matters, and it makes my heart ache.

“I…” Dee pauses, and for just a moment, I think she’s going to say the three words I’ve been dying to hear from her since we met, but then she sighs. “I’ll miss you.”

Before I can respond, she grabs the back of my neck and pulls me down into a searing kiss. It’s full of passion and love, and it makes me never want to let her go.

I almost tell her I love her, but I don’t want to say the words as she’s leaving. I want her to be with me to celebrate after she hears them. Instead, I say, “I’ll miss you too, Gorgeous Girl.”

And I do. She’s only been gone an hour and my bed feels too cold and too empty without her there. I know we’re moving fast, but I can’t stop how I feel.

I’m wokenup a few hours later by a frantic call from a nurse at the local hospital. Mum has overdosed, leaving her in a coma, and I’m still down as her next of kin.

Despite everything that’s happened between us, I rush to the hospital to be by her side. She’s still my mum, at the end of the day, and I want her to be alright.

I rush into her hospital room, only to find Bruce lounging in one of the armchairs, looking more relaxed than the situation calls for. My instinct is to lash out at him, to argue with him, but this is neither the time nor the place, so I push my own feelings to one side to be civil for Mum’s sake.

“What happened?” I ask him, hoping he’ll have more information than the nurse on the phone gave me.

He shrugs his shoulders as he yawns, like the situation is boring him. “The bitch took more than she should have. When she wakes up, she’ll have to pay for it.”

Anger fizzles through my veins, heating me up as rage threatens to pour out of me. I clamp my hands into fists and focus on staying calm. “I think you should leave. It’s clear you don’t care enough to be here.”

Bruce lets out a short, humourless laugh, flashing the most disgusting set of neglected teeth I’ve seen in a while. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Focusing on my breathing, I turn and walk out into the hallway, pulling my phone out as I go. I dial the only person who I know can help me. Maximus answers after a couple of rings, despite it being almost six in the morning.

“I need your permission to kill Bruce,” I say, not bothering with any pleasantries.

Maximus lets out a huff.“Explain.”

I tell him everything that’s happened so far, going into great detail about how he’s behaving here at the hospital.

Maximus sighs, sounding as exacerbated as I feel.“As much as I’d love to give you permission, I can’t. He’s aligned with the Santoros, so it’s not my place. I had a feeling it might cometo this, so I did preemptively discuss this with Caleb, but he wouldn’t give his consent.”

The rage I’ve been struggling to keep at bay bubbles over. “What the fuck? I’ll talk to Caleb fucking Santoro myself if?—”

Maximus cuts me off mid-rant, telling me to calm down.“Listen to me. Are you calm and listening?”he asks firmly.

Even though he can’t see me, I nod. “Yes, I’m listening.”

“Good. Now listen carefully to what I’m saying. Nobody will look too hard if a junkie ODs, particularly after it’s just happened to your mother. As long as there’s no evidence of foul play, it wouldn’t be looked into. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Although he’s being cryptic, I know exactly what he’s saying. People already think Mum got hold of a dodgy batch, and that’s how she ended up taking too much. So if her partner, who she shares her drugs with, were to suffer the same fate, people wouldn’t think twice.

“I understand.”It’s a fucking great idea.