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Mom pursed her lips slightly and cut her gaze to the side. It was an expression I knew well. She was hiding something.

“Mom, how do you really know this lawyer?”

“Fine.” She huffed. “I’ve been seeing him, and it came up in conversation.”

“Dad’s will came up in conversation with your date?”

“Well, he thought it was strange that your father left everything to you when he and I were legally married.”

I crossed my arms and met her gaze. I raised my eyebrows slightly and let the silence draw out between us.

She lasted a grand fifteen seconds—that was about as much silence as she could ever stand.

“I’m just curious,” she said loudly. Defensively.

And was that booze I smelled on her breath?

This early? “I know your father had a large estate, and I don’t see what one single woman could do with all of it.

Plus, I know the trust fund was set up so you could gain access when Dylan had his first shift, so… ”

My stomach roiled. “You want access to his trust fund?”

“I’m just curious,” she said sharply, “as to how much money I can expect to see from the fund.”

“Expect?” I echoed. “You’re expecting money? Regularly?”

“It’s only fair.”

The nausea and disappointment morphed into anger. “Why, exactly, would that be fair , Mom?”

“Because I’m your mother! Half of that estate is rightfully mine!”

“You were barely a mother to me,” I shot back. “You weren’t around at all when I was a kid. Dad was the one who raised me. Dad helped raise Dylan, too. The only reason he never divorced you was to ensure you didn’t try to get custody for exactly this reason—the money.”

Mom’s jaw dropped. “How dare you?—”

“Stop it,” I said. “I’ve had enough. I’ve put up with so much from you. The absence, the drinking, the men… But you’ve gone too far. I’m sick of it.”

“Harley—”

I got up. “You never gave a shit about me or Dylan. Not really. You only care about the money. You only ever cared about yourself. If you thought you could invite me over here to bully me into giving up money that belongs to Dylan…” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I’m not a kid anymore, Mom.”

“I’m not bullying you,” Mom said. “I’m simply asking for my fair share.”

She wasn’t listening. She never had. I’d given her so many opportunities to fix things between us, and all it took was one man in her ear whispering about a payout for her to ruin it all again.

She didn’t even bother defending herself.

She didn’t even bother to suggest she did care about me and Dylan.

“You’re already getting your fair share,” I said. “Jack shit. And if you don’t get your life together, you’ll have less than that. You’ll end up alone.”

I stormed out the door to my car. Mom called after me, but I ignored her.

Stephan was right. Mom’s a lost cause. She’ll never be the mother I wanted. She’ll always put herself first. I can’t force her to change. I need to stop wishing she was different and start being realistic.

I slammed the car door and pulled out of the driveway. She hadn’t even followed me onto the porch. She probably already had a fresh bottle of wine open in the kitchen and was complaining about me to her new lawyer boyfriend.

I pulled out my phone and called Stephan. He answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Harley, everything okay?”

His warm voice in my ear made my anger crack open, and it suddenly felt a lot more like pain. Like grief. My voice caught in my throat. “I—it’s fine. I’m on my way back.”

“Everything okay?” he asked again.

“I don’t know. It wasn’t really what I was expecting.”

“She didn’t apologize, did she?”

I huffed a small laugh. “How’d you know?” I pulled out onto the two-lane highway and headed back across town toward the clan’s lakeside complex.

“I know Liz well enough,” Stephan said. “She’s not exactly the apologetic type.”

“Logically, I know that, but still, I thought that maybe now that she was a grandmother…”

“She’s had nearly a decade to change her ways.”

He was right, but that didn’t mean I wanted it to be true.

Headlights flashed in my rearview mirror over and over. The truck behind me was right on my tail, driving erratically. The horn honked.

“Jeez,” I muttered.

“What is it?”

“Just someone driving like a psycho behind me,” I said. “They’re pissed I’m going the speed limit.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the way back, like I said.”

The truck behind me began to honk repeatedly.

“They should just pass me,” I muttered.

“Don’t pull over on the highway. Get into town first.”

I balked. “What? Is this something that happens around here?”

“Keep driving. Stay calm.”

“That’s not making me feel more calm!”

The truck honked again, its headlights flashing again. Then the engine roared, and the truck sped out onto the wrong side of the road, despite the fact that we were on a narrow, winding two-lane highway. Good riddance . I wasn’t even driving slowly.

The honking continued. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and glanced over when I saw a familiar flash of short red hair.

Blakely’s furious eyes met mine.

I cursed and dropped the phone into the passenger seat. This wasn’t just a random angry driver. This was intentional.

I slammed the brakes. Blakely’s truck surged forward as we approached a hill, and a loud honking rang out from ahead of us. An eighteen-wheeler barreled toward us, honking incessantly at Blakely.

Her truck swerved to the right, clipping the front of my rental.

I screamed. The steering wheel jerked in my hands as the SUV swerved. The car rocked under me as it bounced off the asphalt and onto the muddy shoulder. I struggled to keep control of it as it skidded over the grass and rocketed toward the surrounding trees.

I slammed the brakes and managed to keep the SUV upright. There was a loud pop! and my vision was surrounded by white—the airbag. I bounced against it as the engine came to a sputtering stop.

In the distance, the eighteen-wheeler’s honking faded. The airbag deflated, and I saw the front of the car was wrapped around a tree trunk. My phone was somewhere in the footwell or under the seat—I didn’t really know.

Heart galloping at a hundred miles per hour, I leaned against the passenger seat and took a slow breath.

What the fuck just happened?