EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 23

BETRAYED

emotionless near-whisper, “Congratulations, Mama. You won.”
She’d squatted down to her daughter’s level as she lay on
the floor, and sneered, “Congratulations! For what? For
protecting you? You just don’t see it, do you? Your precious
ballet is like a cancer eating at your insides. If I don’t protect
you, soon there will be nothing left of you.”
At the height of the argument, her youngest daughter had
slammed through the door and called out, “Mama, I’m home.”
The sound of Mary Margaret’s footsteps as she thumped up the
stairs to the sanctity of her room hammered at Maude’s
throbbing head.
~~~~

Huddled in her chair in the darkening room, Maude was
haunted by the pure hatred that radiated from Laurel’s eyes
that ^K