I whip around to see her reclining on a folding lawn chair while her girls play on the swings. “Save it. Please.”

“You haven’t even been back a week, and you’re already the talk of the town—again. That’s impressive, even for you.”

I look away as she sits up.

“What? Upset you didn’t kill the old bat this time?”

“How do you even know that already?” The question bursts from my lips.

“Texts from one of my friends who works at the hospital. Small town. News travels fast.”

“Isn’t that a legal violation or something?”

Karma rolls her eyes. “Really? That’s what you were counting on to stop the gossip? You should’ve just gone somewhere else. Why the hell did you have to come back here?”

“You know, I’ve never been able to figure out why you hate me so much.”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Does it matter?”

I reply with a shake of my head. “I guess not. Just . . . leave me alone. Please.”

“Then take your freeloading ass somewhere else. If you get Mom fired over this, then we’re screwed—and it’ll be all your fault. Just like when you got her fired from all her cleaning jobs. Why do you think she doesn’t work for herself anymore, Whitney? You think she wanted to work for the Riscoffs? No. She did that because she almost lost the house, and it was her last resort.”

Guilt floods my system like poison, crippling me. “I . . . I . . .”

“And then you just ran off and lived it up as a rock star’s wife.” Karma’s tone slices viciously. “Didn’t give a single damn about what you left behind. Didn’t send a single fucking penny back either. Great family loyalty there, cuz.”

The bitterness that drips off her tongue is more than I can handle.

“I’ll leave then. You’ll never fucking see me again. I’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

“And break Cricket’s heart? As if we could get so lucky.” Karma pushes off the lounger and waves at her kids. “Come on, girls. Time to go inside.”

Thirty

Lincoln

“Thanks, man. I owe you,” I tell Hunter, thankful he answered the phone as quickly as he did. As soon as I made sure my mother was situated at the estate, I knew it was time to find Whitney.

“You sure as hell will owe me if she goes running off again and my bride-to-be loses her maid of honor.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“The way things have gone between you and Whitney, you need to treat this situation like a case of dynamite. Fucking delicately. The girl has been through hell. According to Cricket, all Whitney wanted to do was get out of LA and find a place to live a quiet life. Out of the public eye. Her life turned real bad after Rango died, and from the sound of it, wasn’t much better when he was alive.”

“What did he do to her? What did Cricket tell you?”