Page 94 of Miss Treated

“If you ever—ever—make another attempt to contact me, I won’t talk Chance out of his creative ideas for you. Do you understand?”

He nodded, the fear obvious in his face. “Yes. I understand.”

Leo put his booted foot on Joel’s hand, pressing down enough to make my ex wince with pain. “And if I hear you have her name in your mouth, I’ll ensure it’s the last thing you say. Got it?”

Joel started begging. If I hadn’t seen the softer side of Leo, I might have been afraid of him myself.

Next, I strode over to where my mother was seated on the couch, with Gabe daring anyone to move. I could practically smell the stench of self-preservation emanating from her.

“I was only worried about you,” she started, standing up, big crocodile tears in her eyes.

The tears did nothing to move me. Instead, I saw her for what she was. A manipulator. “Bullshit.”

“I’m here because I thought you needed mental help.”

“The only mental help I needed is to remove toxic people from my life once and for all. I never want to see you again. Unless of course it’s in a courtroom where you’re being tried for attempted kidnapping.”

I had the satisfaction of watching her face blanch.

Her tears seemed a little more real now, but it didn’t matter. I felt nothing for the woman who’d always put herself first. No guilt. No regrets. And no longer any obligation to keep her in my life.

Chance came up to put a hand on my shoulder in solidarity before adding his own threat. “Contact her again, and I’ll ensure you are blackballed from every country club up and down the East Coast.”

She jutted out her chin. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

She seemed more torn up over the idea of being blacklisted from her rich friends than of losing her only daughter or going to jail. How sad. Whatever. As long as it worked to get her out of my life.

Gabe and Leo greeted the police who had arrived on scene.

“Why don’t we wait up in your hotel room?” Chance suggested. “The police can talk to you there when they’re ready.”

“Good idea.” We’d started to gather a crowd, and now that handcuffs were slapped on Joel, I wanted to get out of there.

Once Chance, Dominic, and I were in the room, I took a seat on the couch and addressed my brother. “What brought you down here?”

“Since you drive one of my company vehicles, I can track it, and I do check in periodically. I hope it doesn’t make you too angry. But when I saw it at the beach house early this morning, I—”

He stopped, his voice thick with emotion. Oh no, how he must have felt seeing my car at his beach house!

I stood up, and he came in for the hug. The bone-crushing kind you get when someone is worried sick about you. “I’m sorry I worried you.” I truly was.

He stepped back to inspect my face. “You’re really okay?”

“Yeah. I am.” Aside from the drama of almost getting committed and needing to settle things with Dominic, I was feeling strong.

“I called you, and when you didn’t answer, I got a quick flight down.”

Shit, I’d ignored everyone’s calls this morning, completely focused on getting back down to San Diego where I could speak with Dominic. I’d no way of knowing Chance had tracked me to the Newport Beach house.

He took a shaky breath, tears forming in his eyes.

Now I was crying too.

Chance glanced toward Dominic as if realizing we weren’t alone. “I shouldn’t have brought this up here.”

I wasn’t proud of what had happened, but I was no longer ashamed. If anything, I was relieved to be done with the burden of keeping it a secret. I shook my head. “It’s all right. It’s better if Dominic knows.”