Diane smirked. “He’s my husband now. Meet your stepdad.”
“You married this asshole? After what he did to me?” Brett yelled.
Several people turned our way and I couldn’t help but be embarrassed for him. He didn’t need his personal life aired in public and he didn’t need to face the wrath of Mathis either. To find out a person you worked with was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode would not look good in the new partnership.
“He didn’t do anything that you didn’t deserve, little boy,” Diane said, grabbing her husband’s hand.
Brett rose to his feet. Veins protruded from his thick neck and he cracked his knuckles, taking a step towards the large man.
Oh shit.
I motioned to Jake Chan.
He quickly walked up to me, his brown eyes frantically moving back and forth as the onslaught of the nightmare took place before us. Always the worrier. But this time, he had every right to be worried.
“Please take over.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
I squeezed his arm encouragingly and walked around the bar, staying a foot behind Brett.
Diane glared at me, her cold eyes boring into me like hot knives. Well I didn’t care. She was messing with the wrong woman if she thought I was going to sit back and let her destroy my boyfriend’s life.
“Tell your little whore to leave us be. This is a family matter. Doesn’t concern her,” Diane said casually, checking out her manicured nails.
Whore? Really? “At least I’m not the one who ruined my kid’s life.”
Diane looked around. “He seems to be doing fine all on his own.”
I stepped between her and Brett. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of their issues but he was mine. There was no way I’d let him deal with this shit on his own.
“Leave. Now,” Brett growled.
“No. Not until we get what we came here for,” the older man stated.
“Yeah? And what’s that?” I asked, ignoring the warm tense body behind me. I could feel the rage pouring off of Brett.
“Brett.”
I stared at Diane. That one word confused the hell out of me. What did she want with him? “Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage? Leave. Both of you,” I demanded.
Diane rose to her full height. Unfortunately she towered over my five foot nothing frame but I was a Neal woman. I was not backing down.
I tilted my head and stared up at her, owning my place.
“Brett will come with us,” she sneered. “We have some family matters to deal with that don’t concern you.”
“Everything you say to me concerns her. If you don’t talk now, then get out,” Brett demanded.
“We have some business to attend to, Brett, in private. You will talk to us,” Diane stated matter-of-factly.
“Not on your fucking life. You’re dead to me. From the first moment you hit me, you were no longer my mother,” Brett snarled.
The words leaving his lips broke my heart.
Diane’s gaze looked past me and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was checking out her son.
Bile rose in my throat. What kind of sick person was she? Oh God. Please tell me she never…I shook my head. Brett said the abuse was never sexual. But with the way she was looking at him like she wanted to eat him alive, it made me wonder if he blocked out those memories.
I turned and placed a hand on Brett’s chest, pushing him back. “Let’s go.” Something tugged at me, telling me to get him the hell out of there. I needed to save him. From his mother, her husband and the judgmental stares of the onlookers surrounding us.
His jaw clenched, his stare dark and cold.
“Brett, please,” I begged.
“Did you tell your whore how much you liked it when I beat you?”
After those words left his mother’s lips, everything happened so quickly, it was like I was watching a movie.
“Leave. Now. Get out of my club,” Brett yelled.
“Next time you want a real man, give me a call.” The man smiled at me, licking his lips.
Brett snarled. “Get the fuck out. Now. I hate you. I fucking hate you. Both of you,” Brett screamed. He grabbed hold of the nearest table and flipped it over, the contents crashing to the floor. “Out. Now.”
Kane hurried over to us and grabbed hold of Brett’s shoulders but he fought him off. I stood there frozen in place and before things could get worse, I mentally smacked myself.
Taking control of the situation, I grabbed onto Brett’s suit jacket. “Come with me. Now,” I said with as much force as I could muster.
He looked down at me, his nostrils flaring. Something at that moment changed. I fell into the depths of his dark stare, captivated by what I saw. He was looking at me like he could see into my soul, see into my being at that very second.