His tone carried a thread of impatience. "It's your birthday. Mabel went out of her way to put together a party for you. Don't waste her kindness. I'm here to take you."
I sidestepped him without a word, a bitter smile ghosting across my face.
Every birthday before this, he'd been called away by one of Mabel's convenient little emergencies. Now he wanted to play the devoted husband?
My voice was flat. I frowned and refused.
"I'm not going."
Guy's expression darkened instantly. He didn't speak, but the silent pressure radiating off him was more suffocating than any threat.
He lifted a hand. Bodyguards moved in immediately, forcing me into the car and dragging me to the party.
The moment I was shoved through the doors of the banquet hall, Mabel swept toward me in a gown, all smiles, and placed a party hat on my head.
She played the part of the doting little sister to perfection, pressing a beautifully wrapped box into my hands, her voice honeyed and sweet. "Happy birthday, sis. I've been working on this gift for a long time. You're going to love it."
Every pair of eyes in the room settled on my hands, silently urging me to open it.
I lifted my gaze, cold and indifferent, and tore the wrapping apart.
Inside lay a single sheet of paper.
My mother's death certificate.
My vision went black. The report crumpled in my grip and slipped to the floor.
Tears spilled down my face, but no sound came out. I was a fish with a hand around its throat, gasping for air that wouldn't come.
My daughter was gone.
Now my mother was gone too.
The last person on this earth who loved me, and Mabel had killed her.
With my daughter and my mother both dead, what was left to be afraid of?
Mabel's coy laughter drifted to my ears. "Big sister, are you satisfied with your gift?"
I looked at the woman smiling prettily in front of me. Something savage filled my eyes, and the last thread of reason inside me snapped clean through.
I lunged and locked both hands around her throat, squeezing harder with every breath. "How did you kill my mother, Mabel? Like this?"
"You psycho!" Mabel shrieked beneath my grip, her face flushing a deep, mottled red.
That's right. I had lost my mind.
You murdered my mother. If I wasn't going to lose it, who would?
"Amber! Mabel gave you a gift out of the goodness of her heart, and this is how you repay her? Why do you always have to hurt her?"