She wasn’t aware that she had twisted the phone cord around her hand, that it was so tightly wrapped it bit into the flesh. Struggling for calm, she took a deep breath. ‘‘Miss DeLauter, you’re making a mistake.’’

‘‘You’re the one who made the goddamn mistake, sending me that fucking letter instead of the money you owe me. You fucking owe me. You think I’m scared ’cause you’re some asshole social worker. I don’t give a shit if you’re the goddamn Queen of goddamn England. The old man’s dead, and if you want things to stay like they are you’re going to deal with me. You think you can hold me off with words on paper? You’re not going to stop me if I decide to come back and take that boy.’’

‘‘You’re wrong,’’ Grace heard herself say, but her voice sounded far away, echoing in her head.

‘‘He’s my flesh and blood and I got a right to take what’s mine.’’

‘‘Try it.’’ Rage tore through her like a storm surge. ‘‘You’ll never put your hands on him again.’’

‘‘I can do what I like with what’s mine.’’

‘‘He’s not yours. You sold him. Now he’s ours, and you’re never going to get near him.’’

‘‘He’ll do what the hell I tell him to do. He knows he’ll pay for it otherwise.’’

‘‘You make one move toward him, I’ll take you apart myself. Nothing you’ve done to him, however monstrous, is close to what I’ll do to you. When I’m finished, they’ll barely have enough left to scrape up and toss in a cell. That’s just where you’ll go for child abuse, neglect, assault, prostitution, and whatever it is they call a mother who sells her child to men for sex.’’

‘‘What kind of lies has that brat been telling? I never laid a finger on him.’’

‘‘Shut up. You shut the hell up.’’ She’d lost track, mixed Seth’s mother and Ethan’s into one woman. One monster. ‘‘I know what you did to him, and there isn’t a cage dark enough to lock you in to suit me. But I’ll find one, and I’ll shove you in it myself if you come near him again.’’

‘‘I just want money.’’ There was a wheedle in the voice now, both sly and a little scared. ‘‘Just some money to help me through. You’ve got plenty.’’

‘‘I don’t have anything for you but contempt. You stay away from here, and you stay away from that child, or you’ll be the one who pays.’’

‘‘You better think again. You just better think again.’’ There was a muffled sound, then the clink of ice against glass. ‘‘You’re no better than me. I’m not afraid of you.’’

‘‘You should be afraid. You should be terrified.’’