Chapter 31 #3

Blissy laughs. “Well, don’t let me interrupt.

I’ll just be putting pots on if you need anything.

Coffee’s on the house for our local celebrity and her…

supervisor. But if you wouldn’t mind cracking a window or two, it’ll help get the sex out of the air.

” She cackles, then disappears behind her cart, and I bury my face in my hands.

“She’s never going to let me live this down,” I groan.

“She doesn’t care,” Valen says.

“Everyone in town will know by the time we leave here.”

“So?” He shrugs. “Let them know. I’m good with everyone knowing you’re mine and I’m yours.”

I peek at him through my fingers. “Really?”

“Really.” He pulls my hands away and kisses me softly. “In fact, I want everyone to know.”

“You say that now. Wait until Chief and Agnes start planning our wedding.”

“Less work for us to do, right?”

I huff. “You have no idea what you’re getting into here.”

“This town loves you.” He takes my hand in his, and my heart stops for so long I’m lightheaded. It does it every time he reaches for me as though he’s done it his entire life. “Come on. We need to be ready when Roman gets here.”

I allow him to tug me into his chest, where I linger for a moment, enjoying his warm embrace, and prepare myself for the battle that’s to come.

We’re still standing that way when Chase crashes into the Chug.

“There you are. Roman’s been trying to—” He stops, then stares at the blankets we haven’t put away yet. “Were you two—” He makes an obscene gesture with thrusting hips, and I die of mortification.

“Don’t,” Valen warns.

Chase’s mouth twitches. “Noted. Anyway, we found where she’s staying, and she’s not alone.”

“Where?” Valen demands. “Who?”

“There’s a motel twenty minutes outside of town. The group she had with her checked in under fake names, but they’re gone now. And she left something behind.”

“What?”

Chase’s expression sours. “You need to see it for yourself.”

With a heavy heart but a determination to fight, we follow Chase to the motel.

It’s not quite what I’d consider a murder motel, but it’s not far off.

It’s dingy, depressing, and smells faintly of mildew and stale cigarettes.

On the small end table is a drawing of our tree, decorated with old cigarette butts like a dark art installation.

The words, written in her creepily elegant script, say: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. When the family tree crumbles, in Mother you must trust.

“Jesus,” Valen mutters.

Something inside me fractures. Not breaks—I’ve been broken before, and this isn’t that.

This is smaller.

Sharper.

Like a hairline crack in glass that you know will eventually shatter.

This is rage.

She was here. Twenty minutes from my home, my friends, my life. She slept in this bed. Touched these walls. Drew our tree with her twisted hands and decorated it with ash.

“She’s playing games.” Roman curses.

“But why?” Valen shouts. “Why go to the diner if she knew we’d be watching for her? Why ask Joey at the front desk if he knew Clover?”

“Because she wants us to know she’s here,” Grant says from the doorway. He looks exhausted.

“But why?” The word rips out of me. “What does she actually want? She has to know this isn’t going to end well for her, right?”

Grant’s jaw tightens. “She’s delusional, Clover. She wants what she’s always wanted—to control you both while exacting her revenge.”

Valen meets my eyes, and his are cold and hard. He’s ready to burn the world to the ground for those he loves, and I’m ready to hand him the match.

“She doesn’t see you as people,” Grant continues. “She sees you as property that was stolen from her, and she’s become desperate. Her army is fleeing, but she won’t stop until she takes back what she lost or destroys it so no one else can have it either.”

His words land like stones in my chest. Property. Not a person, but a thing. If she can’t have us, she’ll destroy us. She’s a fucking toddler throwing a tantrum with our lives.

Every time I felt watched, every package on my doorstep, every night I slept with one foot on the floor. That’s what she wanted. I was just a piece on her chessboard while I had no idea there was a game in play in the first place.

Well, fuck that. Checkmate, bitch. I’m not your pawn anymore.

“I won’t play her stupid games,” I say through clenched teeth.

Valen places a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“Wait.” Joey holds up a shaky hand from the doorway. He’s a young kid, just out of high school. He’s working here to start college in January. I know his mother, his little sister, and all four of his grandparents. “The lady— She said something.”

Valen’s grip tightens on my shoulder. “What did she say?”

“Uh…” Joey stumbles over his words. “Something about the bloom and a rebirth. I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I was Googling rebirth and she just…disappeared.”

“Fuck this,” Valen growls. “We’re done sitting around. Roman.” He spins to find his cousin. “It’s time to go hunting.”

While the Harringtons all nod in agreement, I bite back angry tears.

Terra doesn’t get to do this to us. Not anymore.

It’s time she learns exactly who we grew up to be.