for her and there it was, she was going to use my dying aunt.
“I’m not going anywhere until you agree to come with me. If you don’t, I’ll make your life hell. I know where you work, where you live, who your friends are. I bet Amber and Logan would love a visit from me. You know I’ll do it.”
My stomach knotted as I looked at the vile creature in front of me. She was low enough to not only make my life hell, but everyone’s that I cared about as well. If I did this, went one last time to see my aunt, maybe she would leave me alone.
“You stay away from them, they don’t need your bullshit. If I do this, I want you gone from my life permanently; you will disappear the minute I walk away from this mess. Is that understood?”
Drake turned to look at me, his mouth agape. “You can’t be serious! This woman is mental.”
“I’m serious. I’m tired of playing these mind games with her,” I turned my attention back to my mother, “Do we have a deal?”
I saw triumph flash in her eyes at my proposition. She had no idea what I was planning. The minute I saw my aunt, I was going to tell her not to give my mother or myself a dime, that money belonged to Danny and I was not about to let her get her paws on it.
“Deal. We leave tonight.”
I shook my head. “No, Drake is leaving in two weeks, I’m spending them with him before he goes,” she opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off, “I said no, if you don’t like it I can call Aunt Jen right now.”
Her glare was murderous as she stood. “Fine you spiteful brat, but I’ll be back for you in two weeks if you don’t show up. I’ll drag you into my car if I have to.”
“That won’t be necessary; I will drive Chloe to her aunt’s house. She doesn’t need to put up with you in a car by herself for hours,” Drake said from his seat on the couch. A storm was brewing behind his eyes and I knew I was in for it the moment we were alone.
I stood and walked to the door, holding it open for her. “There, everything is settled. Now get out of my house before I remove you myself.”
She walked swiftly past me and out the door. She turned when she was outside. “I’ll be waiting. Two weeks or I’ll be back.”
I looked behind her and noticed a beat up car idling by the curb. A large man was sitting behind the wheel, watching us. He gave me a grin that made my skin crawl as I slammed the door in my mother’s face.
“Two weeks,” I groaned as I leaned against the door. I looked up to see Drake watching me from the doorway.
“Not now Drake, yell at me later.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he roared.
I walked past him to the kitchen and grabbed a broom and the dustpan to clean up the glass I had dropped earlier. I continued to ignore him as I swept up every shard of glass, even though I felt his gaze on me.
“Talk to me Chloe. What were you thinking? Making a deal with that woman is like making a deal with the devil. You know better than that.”
I glanced up at him and saw the worry in his eyes. “I’m not doing this for her; I’m doing this for my aunt. I’ll be damned if I let my mother have one penny of that woman’s money.”
“What do you mean? You’re going to see her, if you don’t want her to give your mom the money you need to stay away.”
I gave him a small smile as I walked around him and dumped the glass into the garbage. “Not necessarily. I’m going to my aunt’s to tell her not to give it to her. I’m sure she realizes my mom is a horrible person, but once I tell her everything that she has done to me, I have no doubt that I can get her to change her mind.”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a grin. “Wait, let me get this straight. She manipulated you into going only to have you turn the tables and manipulate her?”
I couldn’t help but giggle at the look of awe on his face. “Yeah, that about sums it up. She has it