Page 124 of Coercion

Making his own moves behind my back?

Why? Why would he keep it from me?

“See what he is?” My mother sneers. “You claim to love him but he doesn’t love you. He loves what you represent. What you can offer him. All those pretty little diamonds and the power that comes with being married to a Holtz.”

“He loves me.” I state. I know it.

He wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t. He wouldn’t have risked his life like this.

Preston takes my hand, his gun pointed at my mother but I know unless he gets a clean shot, she’ll pull the trigger, even if he gets her first.

“How could you?” I snarl at her. “How could you betray our family like that?

She smirks, shrugging. “Your father was going to divorce me. He was going to just push me aside, like we hadn’t built this empire together.”

“So you killed him?”

“No, Levi got to him before I could. He knew what I was up to. He knew Frank wouldn’t have the balls to fight me so he murdered his brother and stole you.”

“And you just left, you just ran.”

She shrugs. “What else did you expect? You think I was really going to stick around and wait for Levi to kill me too?”

“You left me.” I gasp, feeling that awful betrayal again.

“You were a child. And besides, Frank had already sealed your fate by signing you over to Nico. It was your bad luck that Levi got to you first.”

“My bad luck?” I repeat, feeling my anger rising. She dares to insinuate that’s what it was, like she wasn’t even partly responsible for everything that went down. Everything I endured.

“Drop it.” Jett says, from right behind us.

My heart sinks as I take him in. He’s really doing this, he’s really on her side?

He takes a step forward, boxing us in, not that it makes much of a difference because none of Preston’s men can get near us right now.

And besides, they’re too busy trying to save their own asses to be thinking about ours.

“I said drop it, mother.”

My eyes widen. So do my mother’s. She turns snarling. “What the fuck?”

“You really think you can win this?” He says.

“You’re betraying me? After everything I’ve done for you…”

“You killed our father.” He snarls, glancing at me then back at her. “I only went with you because I thought Levi did that, that this was our best option…”

“Itisour best option.”

He smirks. “No, I don’t think so. You thought you could steal from your own flesh and blood, that you could manipulate us all but I see what this is now. I see what’s really been going on.”

She draws herself up like some bird of prey unfurling her wings, ready for attack. “You’re just as bad as she is.” She spits.

“It’s over mother. You lost.”

She lunges just as Jett throws himself at her. The gun goes off before he even lands on top of her and Jett groans, falling into a heap.

“Jett.” I scream, trying to scramble to where he is but Preston grabs me, pulling me back.