Chapter 2

About fifteen minutes later, I followed Logan to an apartment. I recognized it the moment we reached the door. This was the home he'd once promised to buy for us after we got married.

As soon as he unlocked the door, I heard someone crying softly inside.

It was Yvonne.

Logan rushed over and grabbed her hand, frantic with worry. There was a tiny cut on one of her fingers, so shallow it was practically healed already. She hardly needed a trip to the hospital, yet he looked terribly concerned.

"Where's Mrs. Zane?" he asked.

"She just had a grandson, so I gave her a couple of days off," Yvonne replied softly, holding her injured finger.

Logan found a Band-Aid in the cabinet and carefully put it on for her.

"I'll find someone else to look after you." He paused for a few seconds before a smile tugged at his lips. "How about Helen Shaw? She should have plenty of free time these days."

"Really? That's wonderful, Logan! I haven't seen Mrs. Shaw in ages."

Yvonne beamed and leaned gently against his shoulder.

They looked so happy together, but I couldn't find anything to smile about.

He was referring to my mother.

Logan had just had my father taken away, all for Yvonne's sake. This was the same woman who had nearly gotten my brother killed, and now Logan wanted my mother to wait on her?

"You bastard, Logan!"

I slapped him several times, but he didn't react.

Of course he didn't. I was dead. What could I possibly do to him when I couldn't even protect the people I loved most?

I couldn't bear the thought of my mother being humiliated like that. Yet by evening, she was standing outside the apartment.

Her hair was disheveled, and she was still wearing an apron. She'd even lost the shoe from her left foot. Despite her disheveled appearance, she stood perfectly straight, her eyes lowered as she addressed Logan.

"Are you really going to drive our family into the ground, Logan?"

He seemed entirely unmoved.

"Mrs. Shaw, this is what your precious daughter Xena owes us. Parents have to pay for their children's mistakes. You're a college professor. Surely you understand that."

"Don't you know Xena is already..."

Helen stopped mid-sentence when she spotted Yvonne inside the apartment. In the next instant, she lunged at her and seized her by the throat.

"You're still alive! How dare you still be alive!"

Years ago, Yvonne had driven my brother, Ethan Shaw, to the point of needing psychiatric hospitalization. During his stay, he'd tried to kill himself seven times without succeeding. On his eighth attempt, he jumped from a fifth-floor window after Yvonne said something to him. I never found out what she'd told him.

He survived the fall, but it left him crippled.

And for a woman like that, Logan was willing to torment my father and humiliate my mother.

Did you even have a heart, Logan?

Oh, you did. It was just filled with Yvonne.

Logan's men pulled my mother away, leaving her staring at him in utter despair.

"Logan, I agreed to your marriage to Xena because I believed you were a decent man. And now... you're actually protecting this murderer?"

Logan continued rubbing Yvonne's back soothingly as he replied in an icy voice, "You should ask your daughter which of them is the real murderer.

"Or better yet, find Xena and have her come take care of Yvonne. Do that, and I might just overlook what you did to her today."

"Logan, Xena is dead. She's never coming back."

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word.

"Xena's nothing but trouble. People like her don't die that easily."

Nothing but trouble?

I almost laughed.

Logan, I really was dead.