She’s dead.

Disbelief and numbness kept Melanie staring at the bed long after they’d taken her mother’s body away. Despite knowing it would happen, her mother being gravely sick, it still shocked her to walk in the door and find the nurse working on her non-responsive mother.

But the nurse couldn’t revive her, and neither could the paramedics who arrived minutes later. The disease had finally killed Maizie, silenced that shrill voice forever, and Melanie didn’t feel the relief she expected.

Didn’t feel much of anything at all.

No, wait. Untrue. There was a twinge of guilt that, while she’d been out cavorting with Bryce, her mother had died, alone.

Being here wouldn’t have changed a thing. Except she could have sung a song. "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" came to mind.

The wicked witch was dead leaving her…free.

For the first time in her life, Melanie was alone, and beholden to no one.

Scary.

Stomach-clenching.

Ripe with possibility.

Exhilarating.

I can do whatever I like. Go wherever I want.

Melanie could even try and find the father that was stolen from her by a selfish mother.

Now, if only I knew his name.

“Melanie? Where are you?”

It didn’t surprise her Bryce had come. After all, the nurse probably called him the moment she left.

He found her sitting in the chair by her mother’s empty bed.

“Melanie, I’m so sorry.”

“Why?” she asked, cocking her head. “You never met her, which was probably a lucky thing for you. She wasn’t a nice woman. She was mean, as a matter of fact. The world is better off without her.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Actually, I do. You have no idea just how horrible she was to me growing up. And even as an adult. Not one kind word ever left her lips. Ever. Now she’s gone. No more, ‘Melanie, you lazy cow, fetch me this.’ No more calling me a whore because I looked in a man’s direction.”

“I’m sure she loved you—”

She shook her head as she finally vocalized the thing she’d thought for so long. “No. No, she didn’t. A mother who loves her child doesn’t constantly hurt her. Maizie was never a mother to me. And now that she’s gone, I’m free. Free to do whatever I like and go wherever I please.”

“What do you mean, free? I thought we had a deal.”

Her lips twisted. “Ah, yes, the proposition from my billionaire moose. I guess you didn’t hear the news.”

“What news?”

“The nurse told me. It’s all over social media. The fact that Rory lied. He’s not your cousin. At least not by your Aunt Trixie. Because his mother is still alive.”

His eyes widened. “What? How do you know this? We’re still waiting on the DNA tests.”

“The media did what you couldn’t. They dug past his backstory to get the real truth. Apparently, he’s Malcolm Rory Beauchamp Lupin.”

“Lupin, as in the fucking Lupin family who owns Lip Smackn’ Syrup and Candy, Incorporated?”

“One and the same. Beauchamp is his mother’s maiden name. A mother very much alive. As is his father.” A soap opera come to life. Melanie had only partially listened as the nurse babbled on about the scandal.

“Son of a bitch.” Bryce whirled and paced. “Why, though? Why pretend? He had to know it wouldn’t fly.”

“Don’t ask me.” She shrugged. “But anyhow, with him discredited, that means we don’t need to continue with this charade.” It meant the brief fantasy was over. It hurt more than expected.

“What if it weren’t a charade? What if we made it real?”

For a moment, she allowed herself to imagine it, falling for this man, marrying him. Her, a nobody with no family, no money. Impossible. “We both know you don’t want to get tied down. Now you don’t have to. You can go back to being a happy bachelor, and I’ll leave.”

“To go where?”

“Anywhere but here.” She wrinkled her nose at the room she’d grown to hate.

“I won’t let you leave.” He grabbed her. “We made a deal.”

Why did he insist? “Let me go.” She struggled in his grip, holding on to the hot tears, tears over a man she couldn’t have.

“I don’t want to let you go,” he growled. “Not now, not ever.”

“You heard the girl!” a voice boomed. “Unhand her!”

The interruption meant they both gaped at the big man standing in the doorway, his eyes blazing.

“Who the fuck are you?” snapped Bryce, releasing her to face the stranger.

“Kieran, her father.”

And he might have said more, but that was when she decided to kiss the floor.