Page 54 of The Wrong Ride Home (Wildflower Canyon #1)

“Yeah.” I smiled at Elena and saw the unease in her eyes.

She wasn’t sure I would choose her. She was faking it until she made it, and it broke my heart that we didn’t have trust between us.

It would come. Slowly, once she started to believe that good things could happen to her and that the man who loved her did so unconditionally. “We’re getting married.”

“You can’t do that,” Gloria screeched. She kneeled in front of me and put her hands on my thighs. “She’s like her mother, stealing my men.”

“ Gloria , you fucked around on Nash, and years later, he found Maria, who he loved. I’m your son, not your man.”

She noticed I didn’t call her Mama. I felt it deep inside me.

I’d protected this woman my whole life, and even now I wanted to—but I also knew that the co-dependency we’d had, the one she’d inculcated, wasn’t healthy for me, wasn’t going to lead me to happiness.

This woman had no empathy as Cheyenne had said.

She didn’t feel anything for anyone. It was all an act.

And still, I wanted to take care of her.

I couldn’t just tune it all out—just like I couldn’t tune out loving Elena all these years.

Gloria rose and turned when there was a sound.

Itzel came into the house carrying a basket of produce that she’d probably picked from the greenhouse and garden. She eyed Gloria with contempt and then looked at Elena to make sure she was okay.

“Mrs. Wilder,” Itzel greeted.

“Itzel.” Gloria was all about looking down her nose at the staff.

Itzel glared at me as she walked through the living room. “Sort her out, will you, Duke? We’re eating lunch soon, and I’m not serving her.”

Gloria bristled at that. “How dare you?”

Itzel didn’t respond, just walked out of the living room. Elena and I could not hold back our smiles. You had to hand it to Itzel; the woman had a core of steel.

I kissed Elena again, this time on her lips.

I rose and walked up to my mother, who looked at me with wounded betrayal. “You put a hit on your son? ”

She took a step back. “That’s a disgusting thing to say.”

“You know, I thought, nah , she’d never do that. She’s manipulative, she’s selfish, she’s a malicious, vindictive bitch, but she won’t try to kill her own child, would she?”

“I’d never, baby.” Her voice trembled.

“I think you did. And you know what? So do the cops.” I had no clue what the cops thought, but I wanted to make her squirm.

“What? That’s absurd.” She looked at me with her blue eyes, the ones I inherited. On her, they were always innocent with the power to manipulate me. Fill them with tears, and I’d have done anything for her. Not anymore.

“I don’t think you came up with the idea.” I stepped forward, and she backed up a little. I wanted her to get the fuck out of the house. “You are that evil but not that smart.”

Her eyes narrowed. Narcissists had big egos if nothing else.

But she smothered her first instinct to fight me on her intelligence. Then she sniffed, blinking rapidly like an ingenue. "I can’t believe you’re saying these things. After everything I’ve done for you?—"

“Oh, come on, Gloria, that dog won’t hunt,” I drawled. “See, I know who you are now.”

Would I ever have seen it if I hadn’t come back to Wildflower Canyon? What if I’d just sold the place off and never given in to the temptation to come home and see Elena? Would I have continued to be my mother’s unwitting bitch for life?

“Baby—”

“Don’t ever come back,” I said softly, ominously, my face close to hers so she’d see I meant business. “Never talk to my fiancée or me again. Leave. And watch your back. Like I said, law enforcement is very interested in who you’re keeping company with these days.”

She got flustered. “ That woman came to me. I never approached her.”

That woman?

“You Goddamn bitch,” Elena shouted, her voice shaking with rage. She stalked toward my mother, fists clenched, fire in her eyes.

I moved fast, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back against me before she could get too close. She struggled, breathing hard, but I held firm. “Elena, no,” I murmured near her ear, feeling the tension radiate off her in waves.

She was furious—hell, I was, too—but this wasn’t the way.

Gloria all but ran out of the house.

Elena wiggled against me.

“Settle down, Florecita, before you rip open your stitches.”

Elena grunted.

“You do that, it’s going to piss me off.”

She relaxed, and I turned her around. “Where did the quiet woman I met when I first came to the ranch go? You know, the one who was calm all the time no matter what shit I said to her.”

She looked perplexed at that. “She’s your mother, and she’s trying to hurt you. That’s fucked up in so many ways.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“ That woman she mentioned was Piper Novak, wasn’t it?”

“Probably.” I kissed her lips because I loved her, and she looked fucking adorable angry. “I love you.”

She stilled. “After you left, I…decided not to let emotions sway me. And I succeeded. I was always controlled. It was hard when you were here with… her , but I held on.”

“And now?”

“Now?” Her forehead creased. “Now, I feel like I’m stepping out of a self-imposed prison, that I can be myself.”

I held her close because she was the most precious thing in my life. “You set me free from all of my prisons, too, baby.”