Page 28 of Reckless Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 8)

JODIE

Despite promising Brianna that I’d go home and see Mum, it’s not until the following evening that I finally push my lingering anger aside in favour of finding out what’s going on.

I barely have the key in the lock when the light comes on on the other side of the door and it’s pulled open.

“Jodie,” Mum breathes, immediately sweeping me up in her arms like nothing is wrong. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I’ve just been with Sara, Mum. I haven’t been far.”

“I know but… I’m so sorry, baby.” She pulls back and takes my face in her hands. Her tear-filled eyes look over every inch of me before she clocks my hair. “This looks incredible,” she says, threading a lock of my newly highlighted hair through her fingers.

“T-thanks. That’s what you’re meant to do when a guy shatters your world to pieces, isn’t it? Get a new do.” I force out a laugh to go along with my statement, but it’s more painful than anything else.

“Come in, it’s freezing out here.”

Taking my hand, she tugs me into the house, pulling my keys free and abandoning them on the unit in the hallway.

“You want coffee, or something stronger?”

“What do you think?”

“You got it,” she says with a smile that’s almost as forced as mine was a moment ago.

She leaves me at the table and immediately pulls two cocktail glasses from the cupboard before bottles of spirits line the counter.

The concerned daughter in me wants to demand to know if she should be drinking after her unhealthy relationship with the stuff since Joe’s death, but I hold my tongue.

She’s a grown-arse woman who is capable of making her own decisions.

She measures shots into a shaker before pulling fruit juice from the fridge to finish off her drinks.

“Here you go,” she says proudly, passing the pink drink to me.

“What is it?”

“A sweet apology in a glass,” she says, her eyes pleading with me to forgive her.

“Mum,” I sigh, not anywhere near ready to let this all go yet.“Bri said I needed to come and talk to you.”

All the air rushes from her lungs as disappointment etches into her features.

“We’re not going to lose the house.” My eyes widen at her statement as relief floods my veins. “And everything that Jonas left for us is sitting in my bank account.”

“What? How? I thought there was nothing.”

She shakes her head, and it’s in those few silent seconds that reality hits.

“Toby,” I breathe.

A small smile twitches at the corners of her lips, which makes me frown.

Do not tell me that all he had to do was turn up here offering our house back and she’s suddenly on his side.

“He came by Tuesday night to explain everything and to tell me that he’d organised for us to have everything we deserved.”

Dropping my eyes from the table, I try to process all of this.

“The house has been signed over to me, and we’ve got more than enough to ensure we don’t need to worry about money for a long, long time.”