to know how I really feel—pregnant or not.”
She smacks my leg. “That-a girl! It’s about time you did.”
In the twenty or so minutes it takes to get to Jake’s house, I sit, gazing out of the window, thinking of all the ways I can kill my own mother. I have never felt murderous about anyone before in my life, but after reading all that shit, it’s certainly fucking tempting.
When we reach Jake’s house, I immediately open the car door with Jessie following. She’s right beside me by the time I’m ringing the doorbell and banging my fist against the door like a mad woman.
Jake shouts that he’s coming and to stop the ruckus before opening the door. His face is filled with annoyance until he spots that it’s me making all the noise.
“Ana, is everything okay?” He quickly glances at Jessie, his confusion deepening.
“Is my mother here?”
“Yes. What’s this—”
“Can I come in?” I ask, cutting him off.
He moves aside to let us past. “Of course, you can.”
I don’t wait to hear if he says anything further. Instead, I search the living room, but she’s not there, so I make my way to the kitchen. She’s sitting at the island, reading a magazine and sipping on some iced tea, her hair still perfectly straight in a tight, coral green patterned dress that looks like it costs more than six-months rent for a high-end apartment in DC. She glances up when I enter and has the audacity to smile.
“Ana, how lovely to see you.”
I smack the article down in front of her. “You conniving, manipulative bitch!”
Placing her hand on her chest, she gasps. “Ana, I can’t believe you would speak that way to your own mother.”
I point my finger at the article. “How could you have done this to me?!”
“What’s going on?” Jake asks, coming up beside me.
I slide the article in front of him. “My mother did a tell-all with that journalist scumbag, Spector, that’s what’s going on.”
Jake picks up the article and fixes my mother with a hateful glare. “Tell me you fucking didn’t?”
My mum shifts in her seat but rounds her shoulders like she's readying herself for a fight. “I didn’t know he was a reporter. I thought he was a potential suitor for Ana. He seemed very interested in her, and considering I want her to be happy, I was only too eager to talk with the man.”
Jake groans beside me. “Stella, I can’t believe you—”
“It wasn’t good enough for you to want to take the one man I have ever loved away from me, but you have to rub salt into the wounds too,” I snap, so angry that I cut Jake off from finishing his sentence. “You couldn’t have just let it be, could you? You just had to revel in my pain. And you’re supposed to be my mother!”
She gets up from her seat, anger thinning her vile lips. “And you’re supposed to be my daughter! Remember who was here first. Remember who had Jake first. What kind of daughter sleeps with her mother’s fiancé?!”
I’m about to retort when Jake beats me to it. “Hey, that’s enough!” He then points a finger at my mum. “You and I both know we never really had a relationship like that in the end. I only had you around because of Ana. It’s always been Ana.”
My mum sucks in a breath and purses her lips. “You weren’t thinking about Ana when you got me pregnant, were you? The only thing you were thinking about was getting your dick wet.”
Jake snaps the article down on the breakfast island then leans over towards her. “Pack your fucking bags, now. I want you out of this house once and for all. You have crossed a fucking line, Stella.”
She gasps, stepping back. “But … but … the baby. You know how much pain I’ve been in. What if there’s an emergency and I need to go to the hospital?”
Jake pushes himself off the island and snaps back. “Do what every person out there does and call a fucking ambulance. You may be—and I use the word may as a vital term of reference—be carrying my baby, but you will not be living under this roof anymore. You overstepped the mark when you went to this journalist,” he chides, gripping the article in his hand. “You knew about him, and you also knew Alan is still out there somewhere, but you obviously couldn’t help yourself, could you? Why did you do this? How