My mother’s eyes went wide, and she was terrified for the first time ever. “That’s not true, I don’t know what this guy thinks he knows, but I don’t have a clue. I told you it was a one-night stand.”

“So, you keep saying, but since you haven’t exactly been honest about anything else, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you.” I looked over my shoulder, and my eyes locked with Cain’s. “Do you know who it is?” He nodded. “Tell me.”

“Don’t you dare.” My head whipped around to look at my mother.

“I’m pretty sure you’re in no position to order anyone around.”

“Your father is none other than Director Kyle Mulligan.” My mother gasped and squeezed her eyes tight. That was all the confirmation I needed. I turned to look at Cain and felt a little faint.

“My father is the head of the FBI, like thee head of the FBI?”

“Yes, and not only that but….” Cain flicked through his phone and handed over the images of an account with more zeros than I could count. “This account is a blackmail account. Your mother has been blackmailing him since she got pregnant and funneling the money away into an offshore account. On top of that, she’s managed to use the information to get promotions even when she didn’t have as much experience as the other candidates.”

My brain fritzed out. It was like I just comprehend how evil and conniving my mother was. I’d always known her to be a cold-hearted bitch, but this was way beyond that. How often had she said that she and Mulligan didn’t get along because he was a chauvinistic jerk who didn’t want to see her succeed? How many times had I cried on her shoulder that I missed my dad, and she said, ‘obviously, I wasn’t special enough for him to keep in touch?’ It was all lies. Everything she’d ever told me was a lie.

“Don’t listen to him. He has no proof.”

Cain took a step forward and placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze. Turning to face my mother, Cain stepped into the dim light so she could see his face clearly, and her face was screwed up. I could see the wheels of confusion spinning as she looked him over. She really had no idea who he was, and there was something so poetic about that to me.

“You hired a mechanic as your P.I., and you think you should believe him?” My mother laughed, but my face stayed serious. “You can’t be serious? You’re seriously going to believe the ramblings of this random guy over your own mother?”

“Yeah, I am.”