The Cursed Series, Parts 3 & 4 (Cursed #3-4) - Rebecca Donovan Page 0,48

his lap, ducking away like he’s hiding from the camera. He wasn’t in the original photo, but neither was Kaden. The woman in the dark dress whose face I couldn’t see before is now looking at the camera with a blank expression, similar to the old pictures when people couldn’t move because it took forever to take the photo. And next to her is the opposite. The man with the light-colored hair is smiling with such charisma, you’d think he was campaigning for office.

I don’t know how I skated over them at first glance, but when I look at the photo more closely, I find Lily’s mother—a stunning blonde, from whom Lily has inherited most of her traits—and a dark-haired man with the most sincere smile, who also was absent from the original picture.

I stare at him. “What the …”

I set the frame down on the dresser so hard, I may have cracked the glass. Backing away, I turn to find the same stunning blonde standing within the doorframe. She doesn’t look like she’s aged much, probably attributed to doctors in sterile rooms with needles and scalpels, paid to prolong her youth.

Her golden-blond hair is styled in a long, wavy sheet, like one of the classic Hollywood starlets. Her big bluish-green eyes look drowsy beneath dramatically oversize lashes. Her plump red lips are bright and shiny. She’s wearing a flowery cocktail dress that accentuates every curve before it trails off in a train in the back. In contrast, the front is hemmed short, revealing tan, shapely legs. She takes a sip from a martini glass, her gaze locked on the dark titanium band with black diamonds on my thumb.

She takes a few steps into the room, still consumed by the ring. “That’s an interesting ring you have there.”

My automatic instinct is to hide it behind my back, as if to protect it. But what’s the point? It’s not really mine. So I lift my hand to admire it instead. “I found it on my floor.”

The side of her mouth quirks. “The last time I saw that ring, it was on my husband’s finger.”

“If I saw it there, I would have cut it off,” I respond flatly.

“The ring or the finger?”

I shrug with indifference. “Both.”

She tilts her head back and cackles, causing me to blink in shock. “Oh, I like you.”

“Lana? Are you up he—” My mother stops short when she finds us. “Cassandra? I didn’t expect you to be here this weekend.”

Cassandra makes a production of rolling her eyes. “It is my house, Faye.”

My mother twists her fingers around the thin gold links of the chain she always wears. A blush creeps along her cheeks. “Oh, it’s a beautiful house.”

“You can’t have it. It never belonged to him.” And then she saunters away, her martini glass balanced high in her hand.

My mother raises her eyes guiltily. I’m on the verge of combusting.

“She’s Nick’s wife. What the hell are we doing here?” I yank the ring off my thumb and slam it down next to the photo on the dresser.

How many more lives will she destroy with her lies?

The message written on the back of the picture I received has finally taken on a meaning. One that makes my stomach sour as I watch my mother redden with shame.

“Olivia assured me she wouldn’t be here. I didn’t know,” she replies in a rush. “And they’re not together. He left her about a year ago. But she refuses to divorce him. I had no idea until … well, that morning you found his ring.” She eyes it, sitting on the dresser. “I can’t believe you kept it!”

“I can’t believe you had an affair with a married man! Is this the first time, or have you done it before?” I present myself with a flourish of my hand to insinuate that I could be the result.

She blanches.

I move past her, bubbling with anger, leaving her speechless in my wake. When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I’m a shaking mess, overcome with rampant thoughts and an onslaught of emotions. Not to mention, I’ve never raised my voice at my mother before. I have no idea what to—

I come to an abrupt halt. Mr. Garner has just arrived with Lance. Olivia greets him enthusiastically, and he leans down to hug her. He spots me over her shoulder, and the color drains from his face. What the hell is going on?

“Lana!” Lance exclaims, bypassing his mother and Mr. Garner to approach me. “Where