Page 55 of The Best Shot

“She’s his wife. They took vows.”

I closed my eyes.

“Did you know?” I asked quietly. “About the money, and what he did with their savings?”

Silence.

“Mama.”

“That’s between them.” She came back cold. “Finances are complicated. It’s easy to judge from the outside.”

“Did you know about the affair?”

The silence stretched longer this time, and in it, I understood.

She knew. She’d known all of it.

“What the fuck,” I said.

“Do not curse at me,” she snapped. “Marriage is about forgiveness. It’s about standing by each other when⁠—”

“He stole from her. He cheated on her. She’s six months pregnant and sleeping on my couch because of him.”

“So she gets to punish him?”

“She gets to protect herself.”

“You always did think you know better than everyone.” Her voice hardened. “And now you’re choosing her over your own family.”

“A few weeks ago when you wanted me to talk to her, she was family. Now she’s not?”

“It’s different.”

“How? She’s carrying your grandchild.”

“It’s different,” she repeated.

“I’m not sending her back,” I said.

“Then don’t expect us to stand behind you.”

“Okay.”

“Yasmine—”

“I said okay, Mama.” I kept my voice even. “You’ve made yourself clear.”

A long pause.

“Your brother is hurting,” she said finally. Softer. Reaching. “He made mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But he’s still your brother.”

I thought about Shaun. About every job he’d lost, quit, or burned through, and how none of it had ever been his fault. Every relationship that ended because someone else didn’t understand him. Every time the world had been unfair and our mother had been there to agree.

“Goodnight, Mama.”

“Yasmine—”

I hung up.