Page 64 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“Leg healing up okay?”

“What’s your point, Mom?”

“Just seems like you might want to keep an eye on the kid.”

“Oh,” I scoffed. “Like you know all about parenting. How many nights did you leave Dad to look after us while you were out here working, Mom? Five a week? Sometimes six?”

“I wasn’t always a good mother,” sighed Tracey. “I admit it. I just hoped you might have done a little better, that’s all.”

“Better? I—” but then, before I yelled, Lucien put a hand on my shoulder.

“Easy,” he murmured. “She’s goading you.”

I looked up. Lucien was right. My mom had a cruel smile on her face. She’d always been righteous about herself—as a teenager, she’d been arrested countless times for tying herself to trees and barricading logging operations in the Valley—but her smile was practically vengeful.

“I don’t know what it is you’ve got against me,” I folded my arms. “But to answer your question, Kyle’s fine, thanks to Lucien here.”

“What I’ve got against you?” said Tracey. “How about what you did all those years ago, Laura? How you ran off and left us all here to pick up the pieces.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” I spat.

Lucien’s grip on me grew tighter. “We should go,” he murmured.

“Like hell we should,” I barked. “I’m not going to stand here and be insulted by her. Where were you, Mom? Why don’t you just admit the truth? You were fine with me leaving, because it meant there was one less thing for you to worry about.”

Tracey went silent, but as I stood there, breathing hard, I knew that I’d made a stupid mistake. I’d let her taunt me to the point where I lost my temper. I’d played into her hands. She held up her hands, as if to make peace. But even a fool like me could see that making peace was the last thing on her mind.

“Your father died last year,” she said, bitterly. “Where were you?”

“I’m here now—”

“Where were you when they dragged him out of the lake?” said Tracey. “Where were you when David and I had to go and identify him?” Her voice had closed into a snarl now, and as I watched her spit out the words, she looked wild-eyed, like a starving animal. “Where were you when we buried him?”

She turned and I watched as she began to walk back into the trees. I held my ground until she was gone. But once the back of her coat had receded into darkness, I hung my head and began to cry. And before I knew it, Lucien had stepped towards me, and I was sobbing into his broad chest while we stood by the water’s edge.

Chapter 20

Conor (Lucien)

Damn it, Tracey, I thought on the ride back to the festival. Laura’s mom had always been a piece of work, with a sharp tongue and an eye for weakness. But the way she’d spoken to her daughter had shocked me.

I was no stranger to tough parents. My dad was a hard man. He’d had a tough upbringing and most nights in our tiny, cramped house by the depot, I’d seen him get drunk. But I was astonished by the unmatched cruelty of Tracey’s rebuke. And stunned to see Laura, a strong and independent person, so cowed by her mom’s words.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Laura said, sniffling. I’d given her my handkerchief on the boat ride back to the shore and I watched in the parking lot as she wiped away the tears.

“It’s fine,” I comforted her. “Families are tough.”

“Aren’t they?” said Laura with a sad smile.

“Come on, let me drive you back home.”

“I don’t want to go home right now.”

I looked around. In the distance, I could see the crews packing up the festival, dismantling the Ferris wheel. By tomorrow morning, there’d be nothing left of the extravagant display I’d helped put on.

“Well, there’s no point in staying here,” I said. “Why don’t we go up to Lakeview?”

“It’s boiling,” said Laura.