Page 85 of Pucking Secret

“Oh, Lilah left,” she shrugs.

Blinking, I stare down at her for several moments, not fully comprehending what she’s saying.

“Um… what do you mean she left?”

“Grandma came over earlier and told Lilah she could go home.”

“Grandma…?”

For a second, I think she means Gram. Then it sets in. No, she’s talking about my mom.Hergrandma. Before her wordsfully set into my brain, my mom’s voice cuts through the air like a whip.

“Millie, go to your room and color. Now.”

I blink, startled. What the hell is Mom doing here? The plan was for her to come over later, after I’d had a chance to get settled and mentally prepared to let her spend time with Millie. Mom comes charging down the hallway, clearly angry.

Millie glances at me, hesitant, but I give her a reassuring nod. Whatever is going on, I don’t want her getting in the middle of the crossfire.

“Go on, sweetheart. I’ll come check on you in a bit.”

Millie turns and hurries upstairs, and once she’s out of sight, I turn to glare at Mom.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demand to know. “And why are you speaking to Millie like that? We agreed you could come over and spend time with her, but that doesn’t give you the right to barge into my home whenever you want when I’m not even home, and it sure as fuck doesn’t mean you can dismiss my babysitter and order my kid around!”

Instead of actually answering me, though, my mom shoves her phone in my face.

“I came over as soon as I saw this!”

It takes me a moment to read what’s on the screen, especially because she’s got it so close to my face.

Is Weston Cheating on Richardson Before Their Wedding Day?

My stomach twists as I see a photo of Owen kissing me at the game, right next to a picture of him and a beautiful woman at some sort of fancy social event. He’s wearing a suit and she’s wearing a long green dress, and they’re posing together, smiling for the camera. They look… I hate to say it, but good together.

“What the hell is this, Stacey?” Mom hisses, her voice low but venomous.

“I don’t know,” I reply sharply. “But this is just media gossip. Whoever this woman is, they’re not together.”

“Not together?” she scoffs. “Don’t be stupid, Stacey. Look at them! According to the article, her father and Owen’s stepfather are friends. The two are a fucking power couple in Canada.”

I roll my eyes, but deep down, I feel a small quiver of doubt. I fight it away. I don’t want to give this any credence. I know Owen. He wouldn’t have lied to me if he was already with someone else.

But you lied to him about his daughter…

The vicious little voice in the back of my head startles me and I quickly try to shove it away.

“I believe Owen over some stupid gossip article,” I insist, thankful there’s no wavering in my voice, regardless of what’s going on inside me. “Whoever that woman is, she’s not his fiancee. I trust him.”

Mom narrows her eyes before spitting, “Oh? Is that so?”

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper that I instantly recognize. My heart stops. The letter. The one Owen wrote to me years ago. How did she find it?

“You went through my things?” Fury and frustration rush through me, and I latch onto them because they drown out that annoying tinge of doubt. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Mom?”

“You kept this,” she shouts, ignoring my outrage. “After all these years, you kept it.”

“That doesn’t mean — ”

“It means you knew!” she exclaims, cutting me off. “Some part of you has always known this man wasn’t worth trusting. You kept this letter to remind you of that so you didn’t make the same stupid mistake again, but here you are, letting him back into your life. You are being stupid!”

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