Page 192 of Grand Love

“Joey. Go to my bag at the kitchen island and get my phone, okay?” I nod at my mum, trying to reassure her. “I’m going to call Mason and get him to send me your money, Mum.”

When I don’t hear any movement behind me, I turn to face him. Joey is standing with a vacant expression on his face. He doesn’t blink, his eyes zeroed in on Scarlet and nothing else. “Joey.”

He doesn’t flinch. “Joe!” I demand, needing him to help me. “Go to the kitchen and get my phone so that I can call Mason!” The grit in my voice brings his gaze to me. I nod my head. “Please.” I widen my eyes at him, hoping he understands that I won’t leave Scarlet and my mum alone.

He brings his hands to his face and pinches his cheeks, and I notice scratches lining his arms. “Okay,” he tells me, and I breathe out a sigh of relief and he walks around the sofa and out towards the kitchen.

I turn back to my mum, and she frowns in disgust at me. I shake my head and watch her, feeling none of the things I thought I would after so many years. “Mum, please put the gun down. I will get the money. You’re scaring us all.”

“He should have just done as I asked.”

“He was going to give you money to go to rehab?” I ask again, looking at Scarlet and hoping talking to her is the best tactic to keep her occupied.

“You knew!” she spits. “He said it was for YOU! So that I could be there for you! Poor, poor, Nina. Always needing to be babied. You couldn’t ever go a day fending for yourself. Now look! What are you going to do now?”

I don’t want to make her angry, but the need to put her straight, it niggles.

“You couldn’t do it yourself could you, you had to weed out a hotshot billionaire to fund your dreams. Then you got yourself knocked up. Stupid girl.”

“You don’t know me,” I tell her.

“Oh, but I do. You think you’re any different from me?” I watch out of the corner of my eye as Joey walks back into the room. The blade of a kitchen knife is poised in his grip and his focus is solely on my mum.

Her focus is solely on me.

Scarlet’s on the gun.

And me, I don’t know what to do. But I know I have to do something.

“Mum, please put that away,” I beg.

“I want my money!” she seethes, getting angrier by the second.

“Nina,” Scarlet whispers, her voice panicked.

I cut my eyes to Joey, watching as he takes three steps before my mother turns. I grab her arm and try to aim the gun at the ground, but she holds it strong. I hear Scarlet shouting out to Joey. I see Joey coming at us. I see the knife drop to the ground and then I drop too.

My mother puts a stop to the chaos.

She puts a stop to everything.

“NO!!! God, please, no!!!” Scarlet cries, falling to her knees at my side.

Pain shoots through my side, rendering me unable to speak and unable to breathe.

Scarlet is right there when I find focus, rolling my body so I’m on my back. She pushes down on my stomach and I heave in a half breath. “Scar,” I cry.

She doesn’t say a word, her eyes closed as she mumbles something incoherent to herself.

“Scarlet,” I beg, my chest heaving as I fight to pull air into my lungs. Flicking my eyes over my head, I see Joey on his knees and pulling at his hair. My mother stands motionless just a few feet away, her eyes fixed on the ground. “Mum,” I rasp, the taste of blood coating my tongue.

Her neck twists, venom lacing her words as she spits out, “You always did mess everything up.” She throws the gun in her hand at the drywall with so much force the bullets scatter to the ground.

Scarlet doesn’t flinch.

Joey starts to rock.

My mother leaves.

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