We begin to escort them to the nearest vacant room when the noise of the crowd becomes nothing more than fodder to my ears. The air around me turns to ice, freezing me in place at the voice that calls out my name. I turn stiffly, praying that it’s my mind playing tricks on me— dirty, cruel, vile, malicious tricks.
Of course, I have no such luck. My mother is standing five feet behind me. Her green eyes have a few more lines in the corner, and her blond hair was splashed with more than a fewgrays, but there was no doubt I was face-to-face with Margret Rosenthal for the first time in over nine years.
My jaw clenches tightly at the sight of her wearing a designer gown she’d undoubtedly had custom-made. Her hair and makeup are done with meticulous precision probably costing more than most people’s first car. And the jewelry. The jewelry that had been in our family for generations, made by my great-grandfather, adorns her hands, neck, and ears.
Everything about the woman makes me sick. It makes me want to give every dime I have to the closest charity and live in whatever hovel I can find.
“What are you doing here?” I ask between gritted teeth and fists balled at my side to prevent me from wrapping them around her throat.
“I was invited, of course. I couldn’t very well refuse, considering my son would be in attendance,” she says like it is a natural response. Like we have any type of relationship outside of my utter hatred for her.
“You definitely could have refused, consideringyour soncan’t stand the bloody goddamn sight of you,” I hiss, trying my best to keep the attention off us. The last thing I needed was the woman playing the victim in front of an audience. The media would have a field day, and she would look like the womanwhoserock star son publicly humiliates her for no reason.
They don’t know the woman I do. The woman that has made every second of my life miserable. The woman that has taken everything good in my life.And she didn’t hesitate to do so.
“Ryder, you have always been ungrateful. Has it occurred to you that without me, you wouldn’t be the success you are? It was I who made certain you had every lesson and luxury afforded you. Who made certain that you attended every session?”
My fingers begin to unclench then clench again. The struggle tokeepmy composure is very real. I’ve tried soextremely hardover the years to pretend she doesn’t exist because just the thought of her makes me wish I’d drained the life out of her all those years ago. “My talent has nothing to do with you, Margret. I made it perfectly clear to you a long time ago that I want nothing to do with you.”
“Ryder, do not speak to Mother that way,” I heard my sister, Jilian, say. I haven’t even noticed her standing there. “She doesn’t deserve your attitude. She loves you.”
I scoff at my sister’s blatant stupidity. Of course, her father has protected her from our mother’s vile behavior. “She loves me so much that she’s made certain I couldn’t speak to mygrandfather?When he asked for me explicitly? Did you think I didn’t know shedidafter his stroke?” After mygrandfather’ssudden stroke, Margret had an injunction placed to prevent me from seeing or talking to him. I’ve been working for years to have it lifted, but so far it hasn’t happened.
Jilian averts her eyes. She knows I’m not wrong, but she refuses to see who our mother is.
“You were always so theatrical, Ryder. You and Rayna…”
Like a flash, I closed the distance between the two of us. I am only inches from her face. My blood boils like lava through my veins. “Donotsay her name. You donotget to speak of her.Ever.”My voice is low but filled with the venom I wish would seep into her bloodstream and suffocate her slowly.
“She was my daughter, Ryder. I can speak of her if I wish to.”
“She was never your daughter. You were never her mother. She was everything good and pure, and you drained her dry. All you know how to do is bleed, ruin, and destroy. Just like you did to me with H -her.”
Ican’tsay her name. Ican’teven think it. Every time her nameisever spoken, fury and blinding pain engulf me.
“I did you a favor. You didn’t need that kind of complication.Your career wouldn’t even exist if I hadn’t intervened. You should be grateful.Ryder, how can you possibly treat me this way?”
Istartto close the remaining inches between us when someone stops me. I turn my head enough to see the tattooed hand resting on my shoulder. “Come on, Ry. She’s not worth it,” Maddox tells me.
He is right. My mother isn’t worth the breath wasted on the words. She is never going to change. She will never see the damage and destruction she’d caused.
I slowly back away, then turn my back to her. I catch Maddox from the corner of my eye going to her. He drops his head low to her ear, whispering something I can’t hear. I don’t know what hesays, but whatever it was causes her to pale about six shades whiter than white.
We stalk off together, the girls long forgotten.
We begin making our way across the room, away from the vile woman that gave birth to me, when we spot Jake and Dane. They arewalking far too quickly to be anything casual. “Wonder where they’re going?” I ponder as their pace quickens.
Maddox’s hazy eyes quickly scan the space in front of Dane and Jake. I’ve always known Maddox is an extremely highfunctioning addict. I am too. It’s how we hid it for so long. But he’s next level. Sometimes I think the only time hecanproperly function is when he’s high.
“Look,” he nods with knitted brows and a clenched jaw.
A few feet in front of Dane and Jakearea circle of people. In the middle of that circle is Angel, who has someone pinned to the bar in the back of the room.
“Shit,” I grumble because there is only one person who could be here to cause that reaction from him.
We elbow our way through the nosey onlookers, reaching Angel at the same time Jake and Dane do.
“Let me go, Liam,” I hear off to my right. “Let me go. Make him stop.”
