on deployment.”
Carly covers her heart with her hand. “Oh, I am so sorry.”
“Thank you.” My mother blinks back fake tears, her lower lip quivering. I must admit, it’s quite the Oscar-worthy performance. “I did the best I could at the time, but somewhere along the way, I guess I missed the signs.”
“What signs are those?”
She peers into the distance for a beat before returning her attention to Carly. “How on days she had a history test, she’d wear clothes that were slightly more revealing. I should have questioned how she could have possibly brought her C average up to an A in a matter of weeks, but I figured perhaps she buckled down. The following year, the same history teacher was dismissed for improper relations with a student. We were never told the exact details, but a mother just knows.”
I blink, my breaths coming deeper and more shallow. I can’t wrap my head around the lengths this woman will go to in order to paint me in a negative light.
I was the one who went to the principal on my own about the ongoing series of unwanted advances my teacher made on me.
I was the one who had to prove that he purposefully downgraded my papers to trick me into attending private tutoring sessions with him.
I was the one who had to stand up for myself when my own mother simply claimed I was overreacting, that a mature man of nearly forty wouldn’t want anything to do with an awkward sixteen-year-old like me.
“It started with her grades in high school. Then college. She even cost me every single one of my husbands.”
I bark out a laugh, rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of her assertion.
“Why would she do that?” Carly asks.
“Like I said, I take full responsibility. She grew up without a strong male figure in the household. That always affects a child’s development. Yes, her father’s death was tragic, but somewhere along the way, Nora started seeing his death as abandonment. As such, she’s always craved attention. And once Nora was able to gain it, she mastered the art of manipulation.”
“How so?”
“Simple. She always knew exactly what to do and say to get someone to do whatever she wanted. Hell, she manipulated me for years. Made me believe she was the perfect, well-adjusted teenager, then young woman. That’s how good she is. So what started as her manipulating her teachers in order to give her passing grades eventually turned into manipulating men for…other things.”
“Other things?”
“A job. Apartment. Money.”
Carly considers my mother’s story for a beat, then shifts through a few of the papers in her hand. “I don’t doubt you know your daughter better than anyone, but I have trouble reconciling your side of things with a story I was able to dig up from approximately seven years ago.” She slides her glasses onto her face. “Your daughter almost died in a fatal car accident on Long Island, correct?”
“She was in a fatal car accident. She was the only person to walk away.”
“And her fiancé at the time, Hunter Copeland, did die.”
“Yes.”
“And Nora was six months pregnant, but lost the baby.”
Anderson grabs my hand in his, but it does nothing to comfort me. Nothing can right now, especially with the grave expression on both Creed’s and Bridge’s faces. I may not know either men well, but I can tell when something’s about to go wrong. That everything my mother said up to this point was simply a warmup.
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” my mother replies, her tone pinched.
“What do you mean?”
“Hunter’s family was quite affluent. I have no doubt she targeted him, just like she’s now targeting Prince Gabriel. I find it curious that a week before Hunter was ki— I mean, died in that crash, he took out a rather large life insurance policy. And guess who he named as the primary beneficiary.” She grins smugly.
“He was your pregnant daughter’s fiancé,” Carly argues on my behalf. “It’s entirely reasonable to make sure your family’s provided for in the event of a tragedy.”
“I’m not disagreeing with that,” my mother says sweetly, as passive-aggressive as ever. “And perhaps it was innocent. But my daughter never displayed any desire to settle down and get married. Then she’s suddenly engaged and about to have a kid?” She shakes her head. “I struggle to believe the girl who had complete disregard for everyone in her life had a change of heart overnight.”
“So what is it you’re suggesting?” Carly presses.
“I