Page 28 of Secrets of the Past (Secrets of Mustang Island #3)

T he door shut behind Nicole with a hollow thud that seemed to echo through his chest. He stood rooted in his mother’s immaculate living room, staring at the space where she’d been only moments ago, his hand still tingling from where she’d pulled free.

She was gone.

Gone because of Suzanne. Because of the truth that had finally clawed its way into the light. And it was so damn ugly.

Slowly, Tripp turned. His mother was smoothing her blouse, her diamond earrings catching the lamplight, her expression composed, though the faint gleam in her eyes betrayed satisfaction.

“Well,” she said, her voice cool as ice. “I suppose that settles it. She finally saw sense. Marianne is coming for dinner tonight.”

Rage surged up his spine. “Sense?” His voice was low, shaking with the effort to contain it. “You call destroying our marriage, fabricating lies, paying her parents to lie to her, sense?”

Suzanne’s gaze was steady, her chin lifting. “I call it necessity. You were children. You would have ruined each other. Now, go get changed. Marianne should be here within the next hour.”

“We loved each other,” Tripp ground out. “We were married. Do you understand that? Married. And you erased it.”

“Corrected it,” Suzanne said crisply. “The annulment was the only solution. And I’d do it again.”

His hands curled into fists. For years, he’d swallowed this woman’s toxin, convinced himself she only wanted what was best. But tonight, watching Nicole’s face shatter under the weight of Suzanne’s cruelty, something in him had snapped for good.

“You disgust me,” he said, his voice raw.

Suzanne blinked, momentarily startled. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He stepped closer, his height towering over her. “I’m done. You’ve interfered in my life for the last time. You stole twenty years from me, and tonight you drove away the only woman I’ve ever loved. I won’t give you another chance to destroy what’s left.”

Her composure wavered, just slightly. “You’re overwrought. Sit down. We’ll discuss this rationally in the morning. But tonight, Marianne will be here to have dinner with you. I arranged it all.”

She never gave up. Not even after he’d told her he did not want to have anything to do with the woman.

“No,” Tripp snapped. “There is no morning. Not with you. Not anymore.”

Her mouth opened, but he cut her off, his words spilling hot and unrelenting.

“You’ve controlled everything, my choices, my relationships, my future.

Even now, you think you can dictate who I love, who I build my life with.

But I’m finished being your pawn. If you want to keep living in this mausoleum of control, do it alone.

Because I’m walking out that door, and I won’t be back. ”

Her eyes narrowed, sharp with disbelief. “Don’t be dramatic, Dustin. You have responsibilities. The practice?—”

“The practice?” His laugh was bitter. “If you want to sell it, do it. If you want to burn it to the ground, burn it. It’s yours. I’m not tethered to it anymore. Or to you.”

“You can’t mean that,” Suzanne said, her voice faltering for the first time.

“I mean every damn word.”

He turned, striding toward the hallway. His mother followed, her heels clicking on the marble. “Where are you going?”

“To pack my things.”

“Don’t be ridiculous?—”

He spun, fury snapping through him. “Ridiculous? You fabricated emails. You bribed her parents. You shipped me off like luggage and erased a marriage you had no right to touch. That was monstrous. I should have walked away from you twenty years ago. I won’t make the mistake of staying now.”

Her face paled, but her spine stiffened. “You’re my son. You can’t just walk out on me.”

Tripp met her eyes, his own blazing. “Watch me. I’ll be in a hotel until Saturday. I’m not staying here a moment longer.”

He yanked open drawers, pulling out clothes and shoving them into a duffel. The sound of fabric hitting fabric filled the silence. He didn’t bother folding. He didn’t care.

Behind him, Suzanne lingered in the doorway, her mask beginning to crack. “Dustin, stop this nonsense. You’ll regret it in the morning.”

He yanked the zipper closed and turned, chest heaving, every word rough with years of pent-up fury. “The only thing I regret is letting you control me for this long. I should never have come back. I should have walked out the other night and never looked back. This time, I won’t.”

Her lips parted, her voice sharp but edged with something unfamiliar, fear. “You’d choose her over me?”

“Yes.” The word was immediate, absolute. His gaze burned into hers. “Every time. A thousand times. She is everything you’ll never understand, love, loyalty, truth. You’ll never accept her, and that’s fine. Because I don’t accept you anymore.”

“I’m your mother,” she whispered, startled, almost pleading.

“No.” His voice cracked, but it carried like a verdict. “You’re a monster.”

Tears pricked his eyes, hot and unwanted. He slung the duffel over his shoulder, his voice breaking yet steady. “Good-bye.”

Suzanne’s composure faltered. Her hand clutched the doorframe as though she needed it to stand. “Wait.”

He froze, shoulders taut.

“You never met your grandparents, my family, and there’s a reason for that.” Her breath hitched. “They were…white trash.”

Tripp blinked, stunned.

“I was once like Nicole,” Suzanne confessed, shame and venom tangling in her voice.

“And I would’ve done anything to claw my way out.

Anything. I married your father for his money.

And when I look at her, I see myself. I know what girls like that are capable of.

Don’t you see? I’m trying to protect you from becoming him . ”

The words sliced through him, clarity coming with them. It all clicked: the relentless attacks on Nicole, the endless contempt. It wasn’t just cruelty. It was projection. His mother had spent her whole life punishing him for her own sins.

Now it all made sense, his parents’ cold marriage, his father’s quiet misery, his mother’s relentless social climbing.

She hadn’t just wanted status, she needed it, fed on it like oxygen.

She ruled their lives like a queen desperate to keep her crown, constantly comparing, competing, and clawing her way to the top of the society ladder.

And in the process, she made everyone around her miserable.

Including Tripp.

But Nicole wasn’t Suzanne. Nicole loved him. Fiercely. Honestly. Completely.

He searched her face, for once seeing the cracks, the hollowness behind the pearls and perfection. “Have you ever loved anyone? Truly loved them?”

Her lips trembled. Tears glossed her eyes. And then, quiet, shattering—“No.”

“That’s what I thought.” His voice broke, but his resolve didn’t. “I love Nicole. She’s everything. And I won’t walk away from her again. Good-bye, Mother.”

He turned, heading for the stairs. She followed him, her footsteps frantic behind his.

At the door, her voice fell to a whisper, desperate and brittle. “You’ll come back. You always do.”

“Not this time.”

And with that, he walked out into the night, the cool air hitting his face like freedom.

For the first time in years, Tripp felt the chains snap loose. His future was uncertain, Nicole was gone, devastated, and he had no idea how to win her back. But one thing was clear: he would never again let Suzanne Masterson decide his fate.

He was his own man now.

This time, he would fight for Nicole with everything he had. But, first, he had to prove to her, and to himself, that his mother no longer pulled the strings. He needed his own place, his own work, a life free of her shadow.