Page 55

Chapter Fifty-Five Her

Present Day

Portia. The second of relief gave way to a stab of she shouldn’t be here . The blood. The bat. Her mother’s unraveling. It was too much for me and I wasn’t a teenager already lost in a hailstorm

of grief over a dead parent.

“Portia?” Kathryn lowered her arms and stared at her daughter.

Kathryn sounded bewildered. Her face no longer twisted in a mask of fury.

I jumped on the tentative cooling of Kathryn’s madness, hoping the break would give her a few minutes to wrestle back at least

a portion of control over her disordered emotions. When Mom woke up she’d bring the hammer down, metaphorically and possibly

literally, on Kathryn. No way was Mom going to let this go, but I couldn’t think about that now. The immediate goal was to

keep Kathryn focused on her daughter and not on the destruction of my mother.

“Portia was worried about you.” My voice stayed steady despite my taut nerves.

“I do not need or want your help.” Kathryn didn’t snap. In contrast to her harried state and the weapon in her hand, she sounded like her normal, haughty self. “You found me, honey, and I’m fine.”

The woman was not fine. Hell, I wasn’t fine. It could be months before I could climb up to fine again.

“But...” Portia frowned as her gaze wandered over her mother then to mine. “She’s hurt. What happened?”

How did anyone explain this rolling nightmare? The important thing was to get Mom help and get Portia to safety. The sight

of blood splattered on the floor had haunted every one of my days for years. Portia didn’t deserve that agony.

“Why don’t you take your mom and go back home. I can handle this.” I couldn’t but what choice did I have?

“You are not her mother. I am.” That time Kathryn did snap. Her voice had a pinched quality to it.

“Then act like it. Do you really want Portia in the middle of this?”

“No, really. She doesn’t look okay. Does she need an ambulance?” Portia took a step toward Mom’s slack body on the floor.

I tried to stop her, but Kathryn got there first. She stepped into Portia’s path. “That woman attacked me, and I defended

myself.”

Bullshit. Forget unraveling; this was calculating. Kathryn planned this out and had her defense ready. Attack and lie. Blame

me and my mom and take no responsibility.

Richmond had taught her well.

Portia tried to maneuver around her mother. “Why would she—”

“I’ll call the ambulance.” Anything to protect the kid I barely knew and didn’t care about until a few weeks ago. She wouldn’t end up like me. Broken and spinning. Caught between nightmarish visions of the past and her mother’s unreasonable demands.

Kathryn smiled. “There’s no need. Everything is fine.”

Except for the bat hanging loose in Kathryn’s hand and the revenge scheme running through her head. Sure, everything was just

fine.

“Your mom was about to leave anyway.” In case Kathryn hadn’t picked up on my hint I drove it home. “You still can walk away.

This is the time to turn back.”

Portia didn’t appear to be listening to me as she stared at her mother. “You were so angry when you left the house.”

“I still am.”

This woman. Even under duress and locked in a tsunami of anger she had to have the last word. “Kathryn, this isn’t the right

time.”

“I appreciate the concern.” Kathryn smoothed her free hand over Portia’s hair. “I’ll be home soon. I’m not done here.”

Panic shot around the room and wrapped around Portia. “Addison?”

“Stop talking to her. Addison is not your friend. She destroyed our family.” There wasn’t any lightness to Kathryn’s voice

now. It boomed, cutting through the relative quiet of the house. “There are things you don’t know about what she did to your

dad. Other people are taking the blame, but she caused all of this.”

Guilt weaponized. Words twisted and tainted. I recognized the motherly tricks all too well. “Don’t do this to your daughter.”

“No. You don’t get to speak.” Kathryn shook her head. “You took everything else. You can’t have my children, too.”

Mom’s hand twitched. Maybe it was wishful thinking. My glance lasted only seconds. Any longer would tip off Kathryn, but Mom’s chest moved. She might not be awake, but she was breathing.

Relief made me light-headed. After all that had happened between us, all the words said and unsaid, I doubted I could still

feel anything but there it was—actual concern. My side of the mother-daughter bond still kicked and screamed for air.

Mom needed medical attention and we were miles away from that happening with Kathryn on a rampage. “How are you going to get

out of this? If this escalates even more...”

Portia looked at me then to her mom. “I don’t understand.”

Supportive hadn’t worked. Time for an order. “Portia, leave. Now. I’m tired of this.”

Portia’s face crumpled. “Don’t talk to me like that. I’m trying to help.”

That’s right. Turn on me. Be offended enough to leave and find safety. “You heard me.”

“We’ll be fine, honey.” Kathryn guided Portia toward the door to the hall.

Portia didn’t fight her mom’s pull or touch. She walked without looking back. That stuck me alone with Kathryn, a woman whose

boundaries and control were disintegrating by the minute.

“Your daughter isn’t going to miraculously forget what she saw here.” There was no easy road out of this for Kathryn. I didn’t

intend to help her find one. She’d gone too far. This would end with the police and criminal charges. “You’re in my house.

I’m not holding a weapon. We’re defenseless.”

“You’re not innocent.”

Not the word I used and there was a reason for that. “Portia is. She’s already grieving for her dad. You’re putting her in the position of having to lie for you.”

I’d lived it. Burying pain and pretending it didn’t exist wouldn’t destroy it.

“Did your mother make you lie about loving Richmond or were you a willing accomplice in her scam?”

Talk about an unexpected topic change. “I never said I loved Richmond.”

“Do you love her?” Kathryn pointed the bat at Mom. “I wonder what you’ll do to save her.”

“Stop.”

Kathryn touched Mom’s arm with the end of the bat. “Why should I?”