Chapter 4

When a friend dropped me off at home after the hospital, the apartment was empty.

"Mom?"

I called out. No answer.

I sank onto the couch and pulled out my phone to give her a call.

The second the screen lit up, a local trending-topics notification popped up.

[Well-known blogger Patricia Sandler exposes: my best friend's mother was a mistress, "like mother, like daughter"]

Patricia's profile picture sat right at the top of the post.

She'd written a long post, every line dripping with accusation.

[Some people are just born with a habit of stealing what belongs to other people.]

[I always thought of her as my best friend, and I never imagined her mother was a repeat offender when it came to wrecking other people's families.]

[No wonder she's also... I don't even want to use that word to describe someone I used to call my best friend.]

Attached underneath was her so-called evidence.

Fabricated chat logs, blurry transfer receipts, and a photo of my father's marriage certificate with another woman.

The comments were an ugly pile-up of insults.

[God, poor Patricia, latching onto a friend like that is basically getting bitten by a snake.]

[Like mother, like daughter! No wonder she won't let go of someone else's boyfriend either. Last time I ran into Patricia at that escape room, I saw her sneaking around watching Patricia and her boyfriend.]

[Somebody should just post that mother-daughter duo's home address.]

A chill ran through my whole body. My hand shook so hard I could barely hold the phone.

Years ago, my father had tricked my mother into a lavish wedding.

He'd made excuse after excuse to put off registering the marriage, until his other wife showed up with the actual marriage certificate in hand.

That was how my mother found out she'd been the other woman's replacement all along, without knowing it.

His new wife brought people to make a scene, hanging banners around our apartment complex and splashing red paint on our door.

My mother's mind broke completely. She swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.

I was the one who sat by her hospital bed day after day and pulled her back from the edge.

I'd only ever told one person about what happened to my mother.

Only Paxton knew.

My hands shaking, I dialed his number.

"Cleo, have you calmed down?"

"What is this trending post about?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"You smashed Patricia's camera, and she wouldn't stop crying. I didn't know what else to do. I told her about your mom to cheer her up. I never thought she'd actually post it online."

I said, nearly grinding my teeth to dust, "Make her take it down."

Paxton sighed.

"I'll agree to anything else you want, but not that. Patricia is a blogger. If she deletes it now, that's basically admitting she made the whole thing up. Do you really want to ruin her over this?

"It'll drop off the trending list in a day or two; people forget fast. And as for your mom, that's all in the past anyway; she's older, she's not even online, it won't actually affect her..."

I didn't wait to hear the rest. I hung up.

I called my mother's number over and over like a woman possessed. Every time, it went straight to voicemail.

The image of her face, that hollow, desperate look right before she'd swallowed those pills years ago, flashed through my mind, and I half ran, half crawled to the rooftop.

"Mom!"

I dropped to my knees and reached out to her.

"Mom, please, come down. I'm begging you, come down!"

My mother shook her head, the corner of her mouth twisting into something bitter.

"Cleo, once I'm gone, you'll still have Paxton. Paxton might not always do the right thing, but I know he really does care about you. He'll take good care of you."

I screamed, almost shrill with panic, "No! That's not true! All of this, everything with the trending post, it was all Paxton."

My mother froze. In the half a second she hesitated, I lunged forward and pulled her back over the railing to safety.

My mother clung to me and sobbed, loud and broken. "Oh, Cleo. I'm so sorry. I didn't see him for the monster that he is."

I buried my face in the curve of her neck. "Mom. Let's go."

Back home, I threw our IDs and whatever essentials we needed into a suitcase as fast as I could.

We took a taxi straight to the airport.

Wherever the road ahead took me, Paxton would never be part of it again.