The craving for a cigarette was driving her mad.


    "Do you know?" M drew a deep breath, lowering her gaze, her voice eerily calm. "Do you realize those two boys can''t stand each other? Or was it deliberate -sending Julian to that school?"


    Sophia bit down on an unlit cigarette, not the least bit flustered at being caught. She looked entirely nonchnt, as if everything was just as it should be. "Well, I see you''re not as clueless as I thought."


    Smack!


    The p echoed in the narrow hallway, sharp and explosive. The unlit cigarette hit the floor. Silence fell-long and suffocating.


    Sophia slowly turned her face back, dazed and stunned, five red fingerprints blooming across her cheek. Her head throbbed and her ears rang.


    It took ages for the numbness to recede and for her anger to catch up with reality. Fury was pounding in her skull, threatening to obliterate everyst shred of restraint. In a sh, she lunged, one hand mping around M''s throat, shoving her hard against the wall. Her voice dropped, low and dangerous.


    "How dare you! Who do you think you are?"


    All her life, Sophia had been the one dishing out punishment-never the other way around. No one had ever dared p her like that, not even her own parents.


    Her grip tightened.


    M could barely breathe. Her vision copsed into dark spots, her lungs screamed, her hands pried desperately at Sophia''s fingers but weakened fast. As her arms started to fall, she summoned thest of her strength and stomped down -hard-on Sophia''s foot in its high-heeled shoe.


    Sophia''s hand finally released.


    M slid down the wall, gasping, everything spinning. Through the fractured light, she saw Sophia recovering and moving toward her. Panicked, she fumbled in her bag until her fingers closed over something cold-a pocketknife she''d snagged from Leonard on her way here. She brandished it, pointing it at the advancing woman.


    "Don''te any closer!"


    Sophia stopped. Only then did M allow herself to breathe. One hand held the knife steady, the other braced against the wall as she fought to her feet.


    She hadn''t wanted it toe to this, but afterst time, she knew exactly how unstable Sophia could be. Meeting with her alone without some kind of protection? She wasn''t that reckless.


    A fit of coughing wracked her, and it took a moment before M could speak again, voice hoarse. "Just... calm down. Let''s talk."


    Sophia let out a dry, humorlessugh. "Talk? Fine. As long as you let me p you back."


    M ignored that, rubbing her stinging neck. "I don''t get you. You knew those two don''t get along, but you sent them to the same ce anyway. And I know Adrian -he''s just not capable of what you''re using him of!"


    She took a shaky breath, her anger mounting. "And don''t bother threatening to take us to court. I''ll see you there first-on charges of child abuse!"


    Sophia''s eyes narrowed. "Child abuse?"


    "That''s right. How else do you exin it? Julian''s so thin now. Before I gave him to you, he was healthy-chubby, even. And now-"


    Crash!


    The shattering of a phone cut her off. Sophia had hurled her phone across the floor, ring at M with icy contempt.


    "You really have the nerve to say that? The only reason he doesn''t listen to me; refuses to eat the food make, keeps running away and.


    crying for his mother, is duel.ne


    spent years coddling him!


    turned him against me-he won''t


    you


    even look at me!"


    M fell silent.


    She hadn''t realized it was like this. The rage she''d felt seeing Julian, pale and weak in that hospital bed, suddenly had nowhere to go. She knew that feeling- the heartbreak when your own child looks at you like a stranger.


    She''d lived it, more than anyone.


    But that didn''t excuse Sophia''s actions. "That''s still no reason to treat Julian, the way you did. You know exactly why he can''t ept you, and you could''ve taken it slow. He''s a good kid-if you''d just been patient with him, he would''vee around. But you-why would you do something like this?"


    Her voice cracked, raw with emotion. "You knew those two boys couldn''t handle


    each other, and Julian''s so fragile. There were gentler ways—"


    "I''m done waiting!" Sophia spat, her face hard as stone. "I can''t stand betrayal.


    And I can''t stand that pathetic, whimpering side of him-he''s just like his father."


    M drew a ragged breath.


    There was no reasoning with this woman.


    Then Sophia''s tone shifted, cold and cutting. "And M, do you really think your son is some angel? You keep insisting he''d never do something like this-but do you even know half of what he''s done before? What makes you so sure?"


    Her gaze was pure ice, lips curling in a sneer. "You live in a fantasy, M—a web


    of your own lies. Do you really know your own son?"


    Her words hung in the air, sharp as broken ss.


    "And what about your husband? Are you sure you know what he''s done?"