Page 179 of The Young & the Sinner

I felt him still for half a second before looking right at me. “Who told you?”

“My dad. You and he have been talking.”

I was glad Max didn’t try to deny it. I didn’t know what I would do if he tried to lie to me then. “We have been.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“About Mason and your mom. Or about your dad?”

“Both.”

“Your dad cares about you. So does your mom. I wanted to make sure that when the time came and you were ready to forgive either of your parents, you could. And I knew you didn’t want to see them—that you weren’t ready to see them, but I couldn’t deny theminformation about you. They wanted to know that you were happy.”

“Parents? You mean my mom, too? You know where she is?”

“Yeah, kiddo. I know where she is.”

“Where?”

He let out a sigh. “New York.”

I frowned. “New York?”

What did she have in New York? Both sets of my grandparents were alive and well and living right here in Illinois. I didn’t see them much. We weren’t close, especially not with my maternal grandparents, who I was sure blamed me for their broken relationship with their daughter.

That was one of the many reasons why I had gone to live with Max and not them. And never even fought the court for me.

A thought occurred to me then. I shrank back a little, and Max let go of me, a look of resignation on his face. “She went there to see Mason, didn’t she?”

He nodded. “Yeah. But she didn’t know he’d moved back to Chicago.”

“And that’s what Mason was doing in New York. Before your birthday. You told me you didn’t even know Mason was back from his trip to New York.”

“Yes,” he said softly.

His gentle tone did nothing but make me want to cry even harder.

My mouth opened in horror when another thought occurred to me. “You kept referring to Mason’s ex-girlfriend in New York. That’s my mom, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

He tried to pull me into his arms again, but I moved back. Max stopped in his tracks and took me in with wary eyes.

“How is this possible? You loved my mom. Why would Mason and her be…”

I didn’t even know how to word it. What did I call their relationship? And which was worse, to think that their relationship had been physical or to know that it went beyond that?

“Oh, God. I’m going to be sick.”

I pushed passed him to the toilet. Only, I hadn’t eaten anything. I dry-heaved into the bowl, my stomach feeling like it was about to cave in on itself.

Tears sprang to my eyes and my throat hurt, but it was nothing compared to the ache in my heart. I wanted all of this stop.

Max rubbed my back, telling me everything was going to be alright, but how could it?

How could I look at Mason again without thinking about all that he’d done?

I rested my cheek on the toilet seat, closing my eyes to feel of the cold porcelain. I was so damn exhausted. “Okay, sweetheart?”

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