“You’ve become a liability to everything your father believed in,” my mother says. “It’s time for you to hand over the reins. We’ll take over from here, and you’re welcome to go racing around with your … girl.”
Anger surges in my veins. Nothing could have prepared me for the fury that burns me from the inside out. I’ve always known my mother was a bitch, but this is nothing compared to what I thought she would do.
“I’ve already had a talk with her,” she informs me, and her words send ice-cold dread racing through my veins. “Depending on her choice, you’ll either leave with no company, or she’ll find it in her little heart to allow you to have the one thing that you were born to do.”
Shoving the chair away from the table, I spin on my heel, rounding on my mother. The closer I step toward her, the more she backs away. She has the balls to look afraid of me, and she fucking better because if she’s done anything to Haelee, I will fucking lose my mind. She won’t get away with it.
“What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?” I enunciate each word, my voice barren of any love or affection. Every syllable drips with malice and indignation. I’m almost certain my eyes are glowing because the bitch’s eyes widen as she takes me in. She’s no longer a mother. She’s nothing to me.
“I just ensured she understood what she’s doing to you.”
“Doing to me?” My hands fist at my sides in a move to tamp down some of the resentment currently surging through me. “She’s done nothing to me. Do you understand that? This company is mine. Dad gave it to me, not you, not those assholes sitting around the table. Or is it because you’re fucking them all so they’ll agree to sign over the company to you?”
She doesn’t even flinch when I say it, and I’m almost certain I’ve hit the nail on the head. I wouldn’t put it past my mother to do something like that to Dad. She was probably having affairs all their lives. But right now, I know I need to get to Haelee. Whatever my mother said to her will more than likely result in her running off. And I can’t lose her.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and when I pull it out, my girl’s name flashes on the screen. My stomach twists and my chest tightens. Fear so painful grips me. Opening the message, I scan the words. I read them and reread them, but I don’t believe them.
I snap my gaze toward my mother once more. “If you attempt to take anything from me, whether it’s the company or the woman in my life, I will come for you. I will take every single fucking penny Dad left you.”
The threat hangs in the air for a moment before I walk out. I’m already hitting dial on the number I know I’m going to need.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Mr. Paulson, I need your help. We’re suing my mother. She’s trying to take the company from me. Can you get to my place in a couple of hours?”
“Of course, Kayden,” he affirms, and I hang up. The man is a shark in the courtroom, and I know my mother will never see it coming. She may think I’ll play nice after having Haelee break up with me, and perhaps I can let her believe that for a short time, but it won’t be long before my mother will be begging for mercy.
In the car, I hit dial on Haelee’s number, and as I expected, she doesn’t answer. I know she’s at home because when I call Colton, he confirms she called in sick this morning. Frustration ebbs through me, flowing like a raging river taking out everything in its path.
I can’t think about losing her. I can’t even fathom losing her. Whatever the fuck my mother said, she’s obviously gotten to Haelee. But I’m going to make Haelee see that it’s all a lie.
Pulling up to the house that’s become like a second home, I’m out of the car in seconds, and my knuckles rap at the door. I know she’s home, so if she doesn’t answer, I’ll sit out in the car and wait. I’m not leaving until she gives me a moment of her time.
I need to make this right. Anxiety twists in my gut at the thought of losing her, and I know even though I haven’t admitted my feelings to her, it’s more than I ever anticipated. She’s burrowed herself inside me, and I can’t get her out.
I don’t want to get her out.
When I knock again, I listen for any movement inside. Soft shuffling comes from the other side of the door, and then I’m met with familiar cocoa eyes. They’re puffy and red, so I know she’s been crying.