Page 63 of Vicious Seduction

He’d gone after Gaetz, but as far as Oran knew, Charles hadn’t done anything so deplorable. Why would he take it upon himself to hurt my stepfather?

I considered my mother’s implication that Oran knew more than he let on. That he might have answers about the past. And then there was Moxy…

I needed her to explain.Now.

“I’m so sorry to worry you, Mama G, but I’m fine. Really.”

“You sure, sweet girl? My sister used to show up with bruises but always insisted she was fine until her husband went too far and killed her.”

“Jesus, Gloria.” My heart broke for her and her sister. “Oran hasn’t touched me, I swear.” If anything, he’d been even more compassionate than I would have expected.

What about the strip club? How do you explain that?

I couldn’t. But maybe my mother could. I had to go get answers.

“If you’re sure. You know you can always come stay with me if you need to.”

“Thank you, Gloria. You’re so good to me.”

“You deserve it, mija. You’re a good girl who deserves good things.”

Tears clouded my vision. I swallowed down the rising emotions. “Thank you for checking on me. I’ll be in touch soon, okay?”

“You take care and be safe. Te amo, mija.”I love you, my little girl.

“Love you, too, Mama G,” I whispered before hanging up.

I tossed my phone into my purse and charged across the sidewalk to flag down a cab. It was time to pay a visit to my least favorite place on earth. The house I grew up in.

“Gloria said that you told her Oran broke Charles’s arm. I know your propensity for making up stories that suit you, but this is ridiculous.” I waited until I was inside with the door shut before I launched my attack. I wasn’t worried about Gloria getting in trouble for telling me. I had a feeling that had been Eliza’s intent from the beginning.

My mother dabbed at her perfectly coifed hair as though a strand might dare to be out of place. “If you were just going to hurl accusations, you could have simply picked up the phone.”

“No, I couldn’t because I want an explanation, and I want to see for myself that you’re telling the truth.” Eliza Brooks dabbled in lies so frequently that I needed to be in her presence if I had any hope of deciphering what was real and what was fantasy.

“I’m glad you did because I will get great joy in seeing you come crashing down from that high horse of yours.”

“I’m sure you would.”

A slow, vindictive smile slithered across her face. “What I told Gloria was the God’s honest truth. Oran came by here the other day after we’d seen you at the club. He had the gall to threaten us to stay away from you.” She scoffed. “As if he has any right to tell me who I can and can’t see.”

He’d warned them away to protect me?

Warmth expanded in my chest like a giant firecracker, fading just as fast as it split the sky with light. He’d warned them away, but what if his reason had been different? What if he had information about the Society and didn’t want my mother and stepfather implicating him?

“Why would he do that?” I asked absently, my mind a flutter of confusion.

Eliza stilled, her narrowed eyes slicing back to me. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” she asked curiously. My mother knew better than anyone on this earth how to sniff out a person’s weaknesses, and she was onto me. She could sense my uncertainty.

No matter how uneasy I felt, I couldn’t give her that power over me.

“I plan on it, but if you hadn’t noticed, he’s not here right now,” I shot back condescendingly.

She glared at me, then opened the door. “Then you best go find him. I have an invalid husband to attend to, thanks to yourfiancé.”

I was being dismissed. Fine by me. I didn’t want to spend a single unnecessary second in her presence.

Chin raised, I turned my back on my mother and prayed I never had to see her face again.

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