Page 149 of Ruthless Savage

But no matter how many times I close my eyes, I see the same thing: Karen stands in front of me, her eyes glassy, face blotchy, calling this woman Mom.

“Karen? What’s going on here?! Please tell me she’s not your mother! That you weren’t… Oh my God.”I crumble, sinking deeper into the cold floor, weeping and shaking my head.

My best friend stands there calling this woman her mother. She lied to me? Was our friendship all a lie too? Were all the people I trusted just out to hurt me?

“Oh my God.” I can’t breathe.

Karen doesn’t meet my gaze, and every ounce of blood rushes out of my body.

“Karen?” I sob. “Look at me.”

But she still refuses, peering at her mother through red-stained eyes. She looks nothing like the well-put-together, confident woman I’ve always known her to be. In her place is someone broken.

“You stupid girl!” The professor slaps her hard across her cheek. “You got too close, and now look at you!” Her upper lip curls in disgust.

Karen weeps, holding her face.

“Don’t you remember what Scott did to your grandpa? Your uncles? We lost everything because of him, and now he gets to feel what I did all those years!”

“But, Mom,” she whimpers. “It’s not her fault. Please, please, if you love me, you’ll let her go!”

Professor Montgomery blows a disappointed breath. “This is why you’ll never be in charge of this organization when I’m gone. Your twin brother will have it all. He has our interests at heart. You, on the other hand, are a constant disappointment. You couldn’t even attend the wedding so we could take her then. Because of you, we had to do something drastic.”

She was going to take me at my own wedding… She’s insane!

“I’m sorry,” Karen whispers, finally looking at me, and for a moment, it feels as though I have my best friend back.

But she was nothing but a lie.

“Shut up!” her mother hollers. “She isn’t your friend. I know I had to constantly remind you of that.”

The professor’s bemused smirk lands on me.

“Karen being my daughter must come as a huge shock. I mean, she did do her job. I have to give her that.” She gives her daughter a passing look. “When I found out you’d be transferring to the same university as her, it was like fate. I easily got a job there thanks to a fellow colleague and told Karen to befriend you. And my plan of getting back at Devlin seemed easier than ever.”

Karen quietly sobs, shame lining her gaze.

“The club, that was an added bonus. I knew Adam’s father. So I asked him for a favor, and that is how you got the invite. All Karen had to do was make sure you went and joined the auction. I must say, I had very little faith she’d actually do it. Isn’t that right, darling?”

Her eyes narrow at her daughter, and I almost feel bad for Karen, if that’s even her real name.

“I’m so sorry, Eriu!” She cries, shaking her head. “I had no choice!”

“Shut your damn mouth!” The professor glares, and Karen shrinks into herself.

A sudden loud smashing sound causes me to jerk, my heart racing until it feels as though it’ll jump out of my throat.

Please, let it be Devlin and my family! Please!

“Go check with them downstairs,” she tells Roy, who immediately does, leaving us alone with her and the henchman who’s holding Karen.

The professor kneels, lowering her hand to her ankle, and pulls out a flip knife. She eyes me with a brutal stare, strutting up toward me.

“I hope that’s him.” She grabs my hair from the back and lines the knife against my carotid.

“Mom!” Karen sobs. “Please don’t hurt her!”

But she ignores her, staring ahead, waiting for Devlin.

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