Chapter 3

Watching them, I felt my heart about to split open.

This was the man I had loved for ten years. To him, my mother and I were nothing but tools to please his mistress.

I looked at the feast spread across the table, and I couldn't help laughing.

"Sienna, you make us live frugally while you live like this? The dress you're wearing is straight off the runway. That's a down payment on a house for most people."

She pouted. "The rules are for the Ashfords. I'm not an Ashford. Do you have any idea how hard it is for ordinary people to earn money? One cup of your coffee, one of your meals, is a month's groceries for someone else."

I lunged at her and grabbed her throat.

The next second, my face was on fire.

Julian hit me with everything he had, knocking me to the floor. Then he tenderly rubbed Sienna's neck.

He looked at me, his face dark. "I told you. No one gets to hurt Sienna."

Sienna lifted her chin. "You want money? Earn it."

She yanked me roughly to my feet. Julian didn't stop her. He only reminded her to be home in time for dinner.

She dragged me out to the car. "Tonight, I'm making a special exception. You can come home after eight."

She took me to the private club where Grey Harbor's trust-fund kids liked to hang out.

"People should support themselves." She smiled, pleased with herself. "Go serve drinks to the gentlemen. Shine their shoes. You might make some tips. The minute you've got enough, you can go save your mom."

She had someone shove me into the main lounge.

For my mother's medical bills, I knelt on the floor and shined shoes.

The tip of a leather shoe lifted my chin. A few hundred-dollar bills slapped against my face.

"Isn't this Mrs. Ashford? How did she end up like this?"

"Pathetic. Couldn't even keep her husband's heart."

"Haven't you seen Julian's new favorite? At the private auction last week, he bought every lot and gave them all to her. Tens of millions of dollars, and he didn't even blink."

Every word was a knife. So this was what my mother's life was worth to him.

I knelt before one rich kid after another, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't scrape together thirty thousand dollars.

Then, the next afternoon, just as my vision was going dark and I was about to pass out, a familiar pair of high heels stopped in front of me.

"Oh, still working hard for your poor dead mommy?"

Sienna crouched down and patted my cheek. "Since you're trying so hard, I'll put on a little show for you. You're going to love it."

She took out a small box.

She scooped out a handful of grayish-white powder and flung it into the air.

"This show is called... fireworks."

I pressed a hand to my chest. Something inside it ached, dull and heavy. A terrible feeling crept over me, but I didn't dare follow it.

"Sienna, what is that?"

She covered her mouth, her eyes full of laughter. "I thought you two were so close. You can't even recognize your own mother's ashes? Isn't it pretty? Just like fireworks."

She grabbed another handful and threw it in my face. I coughed violently.

"Aren't you going to thank me? I just reunited you with your mom."

I called the hospital like a madwoman. Every second I waited felt like a century.

"Doctor, where is my mother?"

The line went quiet for a beat. "Mrs. Ashford, your mother was cremated this morning. She passed away last night from another heart attack. We called both you and Mr. Ashford. No one picked up. In the end, Mr. Ashford's assistant answered. She told us to arrange the cremation as soon as possible."

"I never signed any consent form," I said. "Who authorized you to cremate her?"

"The assistant... sent us Mr. Ashford's electronic authorization and your electronic signature. She said the circumstances were unusual and the family had given her full authority to handle it."

I gripped the edge of the nearest table so hard my nails nearly dug into my palms. "The assistant? Is her name Sienna?"

The doctor hesitated, then said yes.

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

I sank to the floor. All I could see was Sienna's smug face. She hadn't just stolen my mother's time. She had forged my signature, and she hadn't even let me see my mother one last time.

I stared at the box in Sienna's hands.

It really was my mother in there.

Sienna doubled over laughing. "You and your mom are such idiots. All I did was show her a video of you on your knees for those men, and she got so upset her heart gave out. You two belong together. Six feet under."

I didn't want to cry anymore. I just wanted to kill her.

"Sienna, I'm going to kill you."

I threw myself at her and closed my hands around her throat. If what she said was true—I couldn't bear to imagine how my mother must have felt watching that video.

"Julian, help! She's trying to kill me!"

Someone kicked me hard. I rolled across the floor and cracked my forehead against a table.

"Claire, have you lost your mind?"

Julian lifted Sienna into his arms as though she were something priceless. When he looked at me, his face was full of disgust. "Sienna felt sorry for you and came all the way here to bring you the money for the hospital. And you attack her?"

The world went silent.

All I could see was the half box of ashes left over. I stumbled toward it, wanting to gather it up.

Before I could touch it, Julian kicked it over.

"What is this filth?"

Sienna played innocent. "No idea. Maybe some trash your wife picked up."

Julian looked at me with contempt. "Claire, look at yourself. Is there anything left of Mrs. Ashford in you?"

Right in front of me, he dumped the rest of the ashes into the trash. The urn smashed on the floor and broke into pieces.

I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face. "You say there's nothing of Mrs. Ashford left in me? What about you? Is there anything left of a husband in you?"

Shock and confusion flashed across Julian's face.

I crawled over and tried to sweep the ashes on the floor back together. My tears kept falling, mixing with the ashes, and no matter what I did I couldn't gather them up.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry..."

"Claire."

Julian reached for me.

"Get away from me!" I shoved him back. "I hate you! Don't touch me! I hate you!"