Chapter 1
The first thing I saw was my mother backed against the kitchen counter.
The second thing I saw was the man standing in front of her.
He was huge.
At least six-foot-three, broad shoulders, gray shirt stretched across his chest, one hand planted on the counter beside Mom like he was trapping her there.
My backpack slipped from my shoulder.
“Get away from her.”
My voice came out harder than I expected.
Mom’s head snapped toward me.
“Caleb?”
The man turned slowly.
I had seen him once before.
His name was Grant Mercer.
Mom had introduced him to me three months earlier as someone she had “dated for a little while.”
Then he disappeared.
Whenever I asked what happened between them, she changed the subject.
Now he was standing in our kitchen, glaring at me like I was the one who had walked into the wrong house.
“Your mother and I are talking,” he said.
“She doesn’t look like she wants to talk.”
Mom’s face had gone pale.
Her fingers were gripping the edge of the counter.
Grant smiled.
It wasn’t friendly.
“Teenagers always think they understand everything.”
I stepped closer.
“I understand you need to back up.”
“Caleb, stop.”
Mom sounded scared.
I thought she was scared of him.
That was all I needed.
I dropped my backpack completely.
Grant straightened.
His smile disappeared.
“You planning to do something?”
I was seventeen.
He was probably forty-five.
He had thirty pounds on me and the kind of arms that looked like they could bend a tire iron.
I didn’t care.
“That depends on whether you move.”
“Caleb!”
Mom rushed forward.
For one stupid second, relief flooded through me.
I thought she was finally coming to me.
I thought she was going to get behind me and let me help her.
Instead, she pushed herself between Grant and me.
She faced me.
Her arms spread slightly as if she were shielding him.
I stared at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Enough.”
Her voice shook.
I looked past her at Grant.
He seemed almost amused now.
“Mom, move.”
“No.”
“He was trapping you.”
“You don’t know what you saw.”
“I know exactly what I saw.”
I tried to step around her.
She blocked me again.
Something inside me cracked.
“Are you protecting him?”
Her eyes changed.
For half a second, I saw something behind the anger.
Fear.
Real fear.
Then it vanished.
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
“Caleb.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
Grant laughed quietly behind her.
That sound made my blood boil.
I pointed at him.
“You think this is funny?”
“Caleb, stop.”
“He doesn’t get to come into our house and intimidate you.”
“Our house?”
Grant said it softly.
Mom flinched.
I noticed.
So did he.
I looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Grant moved toward the table.
There was a thick brown envelope sitting beside Mom’s purse.
His hand reached for it.
Mom grabbed it first.
Grant’s expression hardened.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
That one word was barely audible.
But I heard it.
So did Grant.
He stepped toward her.
I moved instantly.
“Back away from her.”
My mother spun around and shoved both hands against my chest.
“Stop!”
I stumbled backward.
I had never seen her like that.
Her eyes were wet now.
“Mom…”
“Get out.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Leave.”
I stared at her.
She pointed toward the front door.
Her hand was trembling.
“Get out of my house.”
The words hit harder than anything Grant could have done.
I felt my face burn.
For several seconds, I couldn’t breathe.
“You choose him over me?”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Grant remained behind her.
Watching.
Waiting.
I shook my head.
“I came here because I thought you needed me.”
“I don’t.”
That answer almost broke me.
I picked up my backpack.
My hands were shaking so badly I nearly missed the strap.
“Fine.”
I turned toward the door.
“Caleb.”
I stopped.
She came closer.
Grant couldn’t see her face from where he stood.
I could.
Tears were gathering in her eyes.
“I said go.”
I swallowed.
“You really want me gone?”
Her lips trembled.
Then she leaned toward me like she was going to kiss my cheek.
Instead, she whispered.
“I’m not protecting him from you.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
I looked at her.
Her eyes were begging me to understand.
Then she spoke louder.
“Go!”
Grant stepped closer.
Mom immediately moved between us again.
And suddenly I understood one thing.
Whatever was happening inside that kitchen was not what it looked like.
I walked outside.
Mom slammed the door behind me.
For several seconds, I stood on the porch.
My heart was pounding.
I wanted to kick the door open.
I wanted to drag Grant out myself.
Then I remembered Mom’s whisper.
I’m not protecting him from you.
Which meant she was protecting someone else.
Me.
I walked toward the sidewalk.
My phone buzzed.
One message.
From Mom.
Three words.
DO NOT RETURN.
Then another message appeared.
GO TO MAYA.
Maya lived two houses down.
She had been Mom’s closest friend since before I was born.
I looked back at our house.
Through the kitchen window, I saw Grant grab Mom’s wrist.
She jerked away.
My entire body screamed at me to run back.
Then Mom looked toward the window.
She saw me.
And shook her head.
Once.
Hard.
Go.
I forced myself to move.
Maya opened her door before I even knocked.
Her face changed the moment she saw me.
“Where’s your mother?”
“With Grant.”
Maya went still.
That scared me more than anything.
“You know him?”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.
Then she locked the door.
Every lock.
“Maya.”
She closed the curtains.
“Maya, what is going on?”
She looked at me.
For the first time in my life, the woman who had always treated me like a second son looked terrified.
“Your mother told me this day might come.”
“What day?”
She reached for her phone.
“The day Grant found out she kept the evidence.”
I stared at her.
“What evidence?”
Maya’s face drained of color.
Before she could answer, something crashed inside my house.
Loud enough for us to hear it from two doors away.
I ran toward Maya’s front door.
She caught me.
“No.”
“That’s my mother!”
“I know.”
“Then let me go!”
“If you go back there, you could get her killed.”
I stopped fighting.
Maya stared straight into my eyes.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“Grant didn’t come back because he wants your mother.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“He came back because he thinks she has the one thing that can destroy him.”
