Page 25 of Fury

I nod. “Everything is ready.”

“Good,” he mutters, turning and leaving the room.

My mother arrives shortly after. It’s not often I get to see her, mostly because she lives in another state, but she is in the town over for work and thought she would drive over and see us while she had the chance. We’re close, to a degree, but she always did expect such high things from me. I know what a bitter disappointment I would be to her if she knew just how weak and broken I really was.

After my dad passed, she stopped giving me the kind of love I know I needed. It’s not that she didn’t care, because she does, it’s just that she has a strange way of showing it. I know she loved my father, and I guess when you lose someone you love that dearly, it can destroy something inside you. She tries, and that’s the best I can ask for, even if her way of trying seems...strange to some.

“You look like you’ve lost weight,” she tells me, the moment she steps through the door, holding my arms out to the side with her hands so she can study me. “Are you well, honey?”

I offer her my best smile and force her to release my arms so I can wrap her in a hug. She smells of lavender and vanilla, and it’s a comforting scent, one I’ve missed. She is the only family I have, and while we have our moments, I don’t know what I’d do without her. I wish I could tell her the truth, but I just know, deep down, that she would have a hard time believing me.

“I’m fine, Mom,” I say, releasing her. “I’m so glad you are here, though.”

“I don’t have long, so tell me everything.”

“There is my favorite mother-in-law.”

Ethan strides into the room, the picture of perfection with his hair brushed and his clothes clean and crisp. He walks over, scooping my mother into a hug that has her releasing a small laugh as he places her back on her feet. She would never believe me if I told her he was a monster. Most people wouldn’t. Not even his own family. He hides it so incredibly well that they’d all simply think I am crazy.

His mother thinks the sun shines out of his backside, and his father is so insanely proud of him.

If I ever mentioned it, they would assume I was trying to take something from him.

“Ethan, you look spectacular,” Mom praises. “Have you been working out?”

Ethan places an arm over my shoulder that has me flinching as he responds. “Well, Alex and I are trying for a baby, so you know I have to get in tip top shape.”

Mom places her hands over her mouth. “You are?”

Ethan nods.

My stomach twists, but I try to force a smile.

It makes me sick, how he can stand here and act like this.

He has the entire world fooled.

“You’re going to make me a nana,” Mom cries happily, hugging Ethan again, then me. “I’m so happy.”

“We’ve only just started,” I say, my voice monotone. “It might take a while.”

Ethan puts his arm around me again, squeezing my shoulder tightly. “Don’t listen to her, she’s always the pessimist.”

Mom claps her hands. “She always was an overthinker. Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure it will happen quickly. How exciting. You two are going to make great parents.”

Ethan grins. “I think so.”

Monster.

Evil. Cold hearted. Monster.

Lunch goes off without a hitch, with Ethan talking Mom’s ear off the entire time. He has her completely fooled, his charm winning her over. When I look at him like this, I try to put myself in the position of seeing him as the man he truly is. I don’t think I’d believe me, either. Not when he is so smooth, caring, compassionate, and fake. He pulls it off so well that it would be next to impossible to believe he could be anything else but perfect.

Mom leaves after a few hours, and I get to work cleaning the kitchen. On weekends, when I’m away from the school and my students, I feel a crippling loneliness in my chest that is so soul crushing that I wonder how I’m going to live the rest of my life with it. It’s a time when I feel truly caged, knowing that I can’t escape him by going to my job. I’m trapped here, with no way out, and he knows it.

“You did good,” Ethan murmurs, walking up behind me and placing his hands on my hips.

I freeze.

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