Page 50 of Marked

“All right, Mom. I promise.” The fear rolls off of her, surrounds me.

She searches my eyes. I’ve never been able to lie to her, she can always sense it.

“I will stop,” I say more firmly.

“Good.” She drops my hands, sucks in a deep breath. “Now. If you don’t mind. I think I need to lie down for a bit.” She touches her forehead again.

“Yeah, Mom. Of course,” I say, glancing at Zack. He’s stayed out of our interaction, but he’s been mentally making notes. I can see it in his expression. He has a definite opinion, and a dark spot in my gut tells me I’m not going to like it.

“Zack, it was nice meeting you. I hope you’ll come back again some other time, and we can have dinner.” Her manners will always overrule her emotions. Being rude to a guest just won’t do.

“Of course.” He stands up and inclines his head.

She flashes a fake smile, then heads to her bedroom, silently shutting the door behind herself.

“Let’s go.” He gestures to the front door. “She needs to sleep.”

I climb down the front steps onto the lawn and turn back at the house.

“She’s never gotten that upset before. I mean it alwaysupsets her if we talk about what happened, about Quinn. But this was different. She was panicked.”

He nods.

“I made it harder.” I turn toward the stairs. “I need to make it better.”

“She’s all right, Harley. She just needs to rest.” He stops me.

I look back at the house, then at him. He’s right. I know he is.

“C’mon let’s get in the car.” He leads me to the car, opening my door for me before rounding the front and getting in on his side.

“What’s wrong?” I ask when he throws the car into drive and peels away from her house. “You look like something’s wrong.”

“Let me do a little digging before I say, all right? Until I know for sure?” He shifts gears and turns down a main road.

“All right.” I settle into my seat. “I can do that.”

He pets my leg. “Good girl.”

And with two words, my heart stops racing and my mind quiets.

People lie, but numbers never do.

My back muscles tighten as I scroll through the last bit of bank statements.

A whole hell of a lot of money fell into their accounts and then rolled right out. They were on the brink of complete financial ruin. The mortgage already had been borrowed against, four credit cards all maxed out, and in her name. Fuck, they didn’t even own the family car, and the payments were months behind.

And then. Snap. All fixed.

“Fuck.” I shove my laptop across the kitchen table, wishing the numbers would change.

A faint ding from my phone catches my attention, and I’m more than willing to be distracted.

Just at the grocery store. Forgot to pick up bananas.

A smile tugs hard on my lips as I read Harley’s text. Such a normal message. Going to the store. I lean back in the chair and cradle the device in my hands while typing out a response.

Great. See you soon. Be careful.

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