Page 28 of Savage Seduction

She and Marco exchanged an amused look over my head.

Mom looked so happy. She was practically glowing at him. My hands clenched on my lap and I had to make an effort to unclench them.

What was going to happen when all of this fell apart? How was she going to feel when Marco and I supposedly broke up, and she had to move out of this hospital?

“How have you been finding things here?” said Marco.

“It’s been wonderful,” she reassured him. “Normally I can’t even sit up for any length of time, but this bed they have is a miracle. And I have an alarm I can press with my head if I get into any trouble, and I can even change my own television channels! You can’t imagine how much it means to have a little bit of independence. And the staff are so kind! They’ve already scheduled two different types of therapy for me today.”

Tears came into my eyes, and I laughed happily and kissed her cheek. “I wish I could have put you into somewhere like this earlier.”

She would have patted my hand to comfort me if she could. “I know you do, darling. You’ve always done so much for me, and I know how hard you work. I’m just so glad that you have someone to take care of you now.”

I felt a pang of guilt at our lie.

“We should really move you to a more specialist place for patients with your condition,” said Marco, and I could have killed him.

It’s not that I didn’t want that, but what was the point of giving Mom all of this hope only to have to take it away again?

The hundred grand that Toby had promised me crossed my mind. I had done what he had asked. Even with everything that had happened, I still needed him to give me that money. For Mom’s sake. Because when all of this pretence with Marco ended, I couldn’t bear for Mom’s life to fall apart too. I would not let that happen.

I bit my lip, wondering if Toby had replied to my text message yet. I could not even take my phone out to check it under Marco’s view. So how was I going to meet Toby now that I was back with Marco?

“It’s called Mountview,” Marco continued, and I glanced up at him, startled.

“Mountview,” I echoed. I couldn’t believe he knew about it.

“They have wonderful facilities,” he said. “They’re fully booked at the moment, but I have asked my people to look into it.”

“You are so sweet,” Mom said. “Help yourself to some fruit. They will bring you some drinks if you want? Now tell me all about how you and Beth met?”

Marco took a seat on a comfy chair beside the bed.

“At the club,” he admitted bluntly, and I could have killed him. He held up his hands as if to fend off any of Mom’s recriminations. “It is good for business deals. And I like that they look after their girls so well.”

“But Beth isn’t an escort,” said Mom hurriedly, though I had told her a dozen times we did not call the girls escorts.

Marco grinned. “She was untouchable behind the bar, but once I saw her, I couldn’t take my eyes off her!”

Mom chuckled, looking delighted. Even more so when he tugged me by the hand and pulled me onto his lap, as if he couldn’t keep his hands off me.

“Did she give you a hard time?” she said, looking amused.

He nodded. “Tell me about it. She wanted nothing to do with a client at the club. I had to persuade her I was worth it.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s only telling you what he wants you to hear, Mom.”

“And I’m enjoying it very much,” Mom retorted. “You’re always so secretive about your life there. It’s quite refreshing to have someone who is willing to talk to me about it.”

He tapped my nose gently. “Only to a certain extent. This one has trained me well.”

I leaned back against his chest, making myself comfy, and listened to them make chit-chat. I was astonished that they got along so well.

I never spoken about Toby to Mom, knowing that she would be desperate for me to be happy, and ask endless questions, which would have sucked because I haven’t been certain how I felt about him myself.

Thank goodness I had never mentioned him, because look what he had turned out to be. Mom would have thought he was perfect, which I had thought too, and then been crushed on my behalf.

So often, because she was trapped in her bed and her whole world had shrunk to the size of just Bernie and myself, she became anxious and overly emotional at even the slightest hint that anything might be wrong in my life.

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