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been six years ago. I was a month away from turning into an adult. I swallowed those emotions and pushed them down. I hadn't been haunted by them for so long; I wasn't going to start now. She wouldn't have that power over me.
    "You okay?" Mason tugged on my hand with a frown.
    Sweat broke out on my forehead. Heat flared inside of me. He couldn't see me like this. I had kept it together for so long; I didn't want him to see how that night had left me broken. So I swallowed all of it and nodded.
    I tried to remember that I was seventeen. We were in a different home. We had a different life now.
    "Sam."
    "Yes?" The word ripped from my throat. I winced as I heard how hoarse my voice was. But then I was taken aback when he lifted his hand and brushed away some tears. His hand was cool against my skin. I breathed his touch in. It was soft, tender. I needed at that moment. Hell. I needed his strength. My mother had taken all of mine in that one second.
    "Hey, hey." He stepped close to me and framed my face in his hands. He peered down with concern. "What's wrong?"
    I shook my head and pulled away.
    "Stop."
    I brushed his hands away.
    "She did this to me!"
    I jumped back from the ferocity in her scream. There was a rage there that I thought she had lost it so long ago, but I was wrong. I wondered if she'd kept hidden from James? Had it been there the whole time?
    I swallowed a breath. My shoulders lifted up and rolled back. I knew what I would face in the next room, and then I stepped forward. I was ready for it.
    Logan laughed before he ended it with a snort. "Are you fucking with me? No wonder she ran away from you."
    "Logan!"
    Analise screamed again before something shattered once more.
    Logan cheered, "Do it again! Do it again, Psycho Woman!"
    "Logan, shut up!"
    "Oh, come on, dad. Look at her. She's crazy—"
    I stepped around the corner, with Mason right behind me. The amusement fled from Logan as he took in the sight of us, or me. I couldn't have looked normal as my heart was pounding. My gut was telling me to run away from her. But I didn't. Mason brushed his hand against mine as he stepped around to shield me.
    James swallowed when he looked up, but I couldn't take my eyes from my mother.
    Analise was in her bathrobe with her hair done up. She looked like they had gone to a formal event the night before and she had gone to bed with her hair and make-up still done up. But there were black splotches on her face from where her mascara bled and her eyes were wild. Some of her hair stuck up, and she never calmed the strands. A plate was in her hand, but she lowered it as she raked me over with her eyes. They were cold, so cold. A chill went down my back.
    This was the mother I feared from so long ago. She was back.
    "You," she seethed.
    I scrambled back a step before I realized what I was doing, but it was too late. Triumph flared in her depths. She still had that power over me, and her chest swelled up. As I watched her, I could see the power swelter inside of her. She thrived on it, but then Logan jumped to his feet. He had been sitting on a chair in the back. He cursed now.
    She sucked in her breath and turned. I knew she was ready to blast him.
    "And you want to know why we took off?" Mason's icy tone stopped everything. He gestured towards his dad and then swept a hand towards Analise. "Look at her. She's off her rails, dad. I don't want Sam near her."
    Analise's eyes widened. Her hand clenched around the plate again.
    I was frozen in place. Mason's hand reached behind him, and he pulled me close so I was pressed against his back. Then I closed my eyes. I was supposed to be the one fighting. I knew it had to be me, but I rested my forehead against his back. She had taken all the strength from me that I had accumulated over the last five months. She sucked me dry, and I was left trembling like I had when I was eleven years old.
    "Samantha," she said in a sharp tone. "Look at me."
    I trembled.
    Mason laughed at her. "Fuck