Page 71 of Cruel Hearts

“Lilah?” said Sammy.

“What?” I replied, not breaking my stride.

“I’m sorry.”

“This is the last you’ll ever see of me.” I walked down the hallway, wanting to add something about Nichelle, but that would only hint at jealousy or some other lingering feelings for Sammy. “Have a nice life.”

Maxwell’s hand squeezed my waist. Either thanking or congratulating me for walking away from my ex. I wasn’t about to discuss the subject. For years, Sammy was all that I’d ever known of sex and love. But after experiencing Maxwell and Orlando, Sammy had the appeal of a used-up piece of chewing gum.

I stepped out of the ward’s double doors, through the crowd of policemen and thugs, only to bump into the person I’d been desperate to see.

Mother.

Chapter 26

Mother led me to the hospital cafeteria, a space twice the size of the dining room in Templar Academy. At this time of the night, metal shutters covered the serving hatches, and medical staff gathered around a wall of vending machines.

Maxwell rubbed a large hand up and down my back. He probably thought this was about a girl speaking to her mother about a traumatic event. I hadn’t shared much with him about my past. Some people had skeletons in their closets. Ours was more like a mass grave.

“I’ll leave you two to chat,” he whispered as we stopped at a table at the far corner. “Do you want anything from the machines?”

“No, thanks.”

He kissed my temple and walked to the other end of the cafeteria.

“I see you’ve replaced Sammy.” Mother lowered herself into a plastic seat, her breath reeking of gin.

“The guy who slept with my best friend and explained it away with a black eye?”

“He said he was sorry—”

I slammed my palm on the table, making her jump. “Then you have him.”

Her lips tightened, and she lowered her gaze to her trembling hands. “How’s school?”

“Mr. Burgh’s fine, by the way,” I snapped. “Although the Liddell family seems to have a vendetta against him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who’s my father?”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she leaned back in her seat and tilted up her head. This was Mother’s default way of expressing exasperation. We’d had this conversation a hundred times before, and it always ended with her saying that the only father who mattered was Billy Hancock, the man who fed and clothed me my entire life.

White specks of powder lined her nostrils, indicating that she had taken a truckload of pills to get to sleep and had needed something to keep herself alert for the ordeal ahead.

“Lilah, let’s not—”

“Because Lady Liddell showed me a DNA report that says my father is Mr. Burgh.”

Her eyes snapped open. “What?”

Relief washed through my system, relaxing every tightened muscle and fraught nerve. The surprise on her features told me she also thought the notion preposterous. I told her about Lady Liddell’s ultimatum, watching Mother’s expression turn from horror to fury.

“That stupid bitch,” she spat.

“You know her?” Although Lady Liddell had claimed to have been Mother’s Home Economics teacher, I couldn’t believe a word that spilled from those collagen-enhanced lips.

“She was the most useless member of staff.” Mother’s lip curled. “Always kissing the male teacher’s backsides, desperate for attention.”