Page 119 of Thorns of Desire

She might deserve a punishment, but I couldn’t find hatred in my heart. Not now.

“Your father came for me,” she said. “He made me pay.”

My blood turned cold. “W-what did he do?”

As she straightened, she winced. “He poisoned me. Because of what I did… to you.”

My stomach lurched.

“I didn’t ask him to do that.” Goose bumps covered my skin from the cold. My gaze flitted to my husband, then to my brother and my uncle. “Is there anything you can do for her?” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face.

Danil was the one who answered. “We don’t know what he gave her.”

“We can take her to the hospital,” I reasoned, although I knew the point was moot. She’d done too much damage and would forever be a target.

Mom grabbed my hand.

“Atticus will only come back to finish the job,” she echoed my own thoughts. Her eyes darted behind me. “And if he doesn’t, others will.”

My shoulders dropped.

“Why, Mama?” I asked. She turned, her eyes finding my husband. “Why so many secrets and lies? We could have been…” I didn’t know what word I was searching for. Happy? Safe? Content? “I just don’t understand,” I whispered.

She took a deep shuddering breath before exhaling.

“It all started with my parents… your grandparents.” She coughed, her body shaking, and I rubbed her back. “They were about to put me in an asylum.”

Shock rippled through me. “What? Why?”

“Because I… fell in love…” She swallowed hard. “With a woman.”

Gasps sounded behind me but I focused on my mother and the secrets she’d kept close to her heart my whole life. Did I ever know her at all? She’d always enchanted men who readily fell at her feet. She used them for her protection and her own benefit, but she was never in love with them. She could take them and leave them without a second thought.

Was it because of that woman? Qian Long’s mother? But it couldn’t be, because according to Qian, his sister was born twenty-three years ago.

“What happened to that woman?” I breathed. “Who was she?”

“A school friend from a normal family. My parents had her killed.”

“That’s horrible,” I said, grappling with the truth about my grandparents.

She flashed me a slightly crazed smile.

“But I showed them. I avenged her, ended their lives before they could put me away.” I took in my mother’s pale face, the ghosts in her eyes that had captivated so many hearts. “Then I went to live with my sister who everyone loved. But do you want to know the funny part?”

I wasn’t sure that I did but I answered just the same. “Okay.”

“She turned out to be the crazy one.” She cackled, eyes crazed. “Their perfect daughter went insane and the one they attempted to commit turned out just fine.”

“That’s debatable.” Someone scoffed behind me and I shot a glare over my shoulder.

Mom let out a bitter laugh. “I might be a murderer, but I’m not crazy.”

I shook my head, although honestly, it was hard to agree. She had done some insane things. “You were young and needed understanding, not judgment.”

She smiled sadly, playing with her hair. “Always the good daughter.”

My heart ached for her despite the monstrous deeds she’d done. She’d been betrayed by her parents, hiding her bitterness and anger from the world. I started to think my mom’s story was a tragedy because it didn’t have to end this way, if only her parents would have given her support and understanding.