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My jaw dropped. I truly didn’t understand how anyone could stay with a man like Jay, let alone defend him. Lucas was her child. She was supposed to protect him.
That’s when I realized how deeply wounded this woman was… deeper than anything I had the capacity to understand. We wanted to help her, but there was nothing we could do if she wouldn’t accept our help.
Slowly, Lucas backed away. I grabbed his hand, and it was like he suddenly remembered I was there. He obviously didn’t want to spend another second with his parents, because we darted into the hall as fast as we could.
Lucas sat in the driver’s seat of Grammy’s car, but he didn’t start it right away.
“Fuck!” he growled, slamming his palms against the steering wheel. “We should go back.”
I grabbed his arm before he could get out of the car. “No, Lucas. Your dad will—”
“My mom’s hurt!”
“And she made her decision,” I reminded him. “I don’t like it, either. I wish there was a way to help her, but it’s her choice. We can’t force her to leave with us. If you go back in there and your dad comes to, it’s going to be hell for both of you.”
“I can’t just leave her in there with him! He’s going to blame her. She’ll have to clean up another one of his messes, and it was my fault to begin with.”
“It wasn’t your fault, and you need to realize that right now,” I stated firmly. “You said so yourself. Your dad is responsible for his own emotions. Anything that tells you otherwise is an old wound, an old thought pattern. You don’t think that way anymore.”
Lucas drew a deep breath. He kept his eyes on the apartment complex, as if praying his mother would come running out to join us.
But she never did.
Lucas punched the shifter into reverse and tore out of the parking lot. He didn’t say anything until we were a few blocks away from Grammy’s. “Fuck this. Let’s just leave now. There’s nothing worth staying behind for. We’ll get your grandma, then go back to school, gather the essentials from our dorms, and get our friends out of town…”
Lucas trailed off when we caught sight of smoke billowing into the sky.
“That’s coming from Grammy’s neighborhood!” I cried.
He stepped on the gas and passed a few cars. The tires squealed as we turned onto Grammy’s dead-end street. Flames engulfed her house, and I spotted Grammy racing outside with Cornelius in her arms.
Lucas stopped the car, and I kicked the door open. “Grammy!” I screamed.
“I’m all right,” Grammy insisted, but she choked up. “Cornelius and I are fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” I said. Her eyes were puffy and red, and there were welts on her hands, like she’d tried to put out the fire herself.
“Tell me this was an accident,” I begged.
Tears began streaming down Grammy’s cheeks, and I knew without being told that this was intentional.
My hands curled into fists. “How’d they get into the house? Who did this?”
Grammy shook her head. “It started in the garden…”
Grammy choked up again, and my stomach plummeted. I abandoned Grammy and raced across the lawn, until I reached the side of the house. My breath caught when I saw it.
Grammy’s garden was completely destroyed. Flames licked into the sky so high, they nearly reached the second-story window. All of Grammy’s rare magical herbs… her life’s work and her passion… had been reduced to ash.
My hands shook as I backed away. This was worse than someone targeting her house. Homes could be rebuilt. A magical garden like this didn’t sprout up overnight. Grammy had spent her life building this garden, tending the soil, and maintaining her rare herbs. The fact that someone could do this was downright cruel.
I whirled toward Grammy and Lucas. “You were targeted because you mean something to me. This is nothing compared to what they have planned for us, I’m sure. I’m not interested in sticking around to see what they’ll do next. We’re going to pick everyone up at the school and get out of here. Okay?”
Grammy nodded, knowing there wasn’t any other option. “Let’s go get your friends.”
I watched the house fade away in the rear-view mirror. My stomach felt like it’d been replaced by rocks. The last thing I wanted was for Grammy to get hurt because of me… and now she’d lost everything.
The sun had set by the time we made it to the school. Grammy shook as she stroked Cornelius’s fur. “I’ll wait out here so we can leave as soon as possible.”
