“I told you those Trainers were bad,” Mary Howard snapped at him. “I now have proof, and it’s that bitch you’ve been playing with who’s at the root of it.”

“Piper is not a bitch, and you say that again and I’ll be seriously pissed.”

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Then don’t talk about Piper like that,” Dylan countered. “Now what’s this about proof?”

“Piper Trainer poisoned me.”

He gripped the back of a chair for support.

“What?”

“The results came back, and the poison was in one of the donuts Mom ate. She thinks Piper did it deliberately,” Charlie said.

“I purchased a dozen donuts, and ate two that morning, and nothing else. After that I got sick I was asked what I ate that day, because my blood results came back showing rat poison.”

“Piper would never poison you. She may not like you, but she’d never hurt you,” Dylan said as he tried to grapple with what his mother was saying.

“I know you’ve been seeing her, Dylan! Know that hussy got her claws into you, but now you have to see her for what she is! The rest of the donuts were tested and showed up as having the rat poison in them.”

He stared at his mother as her words slowly began to sink in.

“Chief Blake’s questioning her now, and he’s going to arrest her, I’m making sure of it!”

“No.” The word was hoarse. “She....” His words fell away as he thought about Piper and what he really knew about her.

“Piper would never do that.” Charlie was looking at him, not their mother. “You have to know that, Dylan.”

“I need to go.” He ran up the stairs and grabbed shoes. Minutes later he was running out the door with Charlie on his heels.

“Dylan, you can’t honestly believe Piper would do this?”

“I don’t know what to believe. She hates Mom, we both know that, and is protective of her cousins—”

“No!” Charlie grabbed his arm, making him face her. “You care about her and know she’s not capable of this, Dylan.”

“I don’t care about people.” He lashed out at Charlie with words. “Remember, we’re Howards, we don’t give a shit about anyone but ourselves.”

“No. You’re upset; all this other stuff is confusing you. Piper is a good person, and you know that.”

He shrugged off her hand and got into his car. Turning on the ignition, he put his foot down on the gas. The last glance he had of his sister was to see the devastation his words had created on her face.