“Hey, you having a good day?” I asked as Hunter approached me with a smile on his face. He nodded.

“Really good,” he replied, and I couldn’t help smiling. It was such a relief to see him looking happier and more relaxed than he had been in recent memory. It had been clear that the truth about his mother had been weighing heavily on him, but now things had calmed down a little bit, he seemed to be lightening up. I was still a little on edge, but it was my job to be. I was his teacher and more than that too. It would have been wrong if I wasn’t a little overly involved.

It was break time at school, and I was on playground duty, hanging out by the gate to make sure nobody tried to slip out and grab something from the corner store across the street. Sometimes kids would head down there to get candy when they thought nobody was paying attention, but I was keeping an extra-close watch that day. Nobody was getting in or out of this school that I didn’t know about, that was for damn sure.

“What have you been up to?” I asked, glancing around the street and inhaling a big lungful of air. It was starting to warm up now that the sun was high in the sky, and the day felt still and sweet, full of promise. As I looked across the street, a cold fear gripped my stomach. It couldn’t be her. Could it?

I stared for a long moment, trying to figure out whether my mind was playing tricks on me. It had to be some kind of mirage, my mind filling in the blanks where there was nothing to see. Because there was no way in holy hell Karla was standing there, staring at the two of us from the other side of the street. She wouldn’t have dared. Would she?

Then she started moving toward me, and I swiftly stepped in front of Hunter who stopped in midsentence.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice quivering with nervousness as he waited for me to respond. What the hell did I tell him? That the one woman who should have been nowhere close to him was making her way to us, staring me straight in the eye like she belonged there? I wanted to hustle him back into the school, but that might have given her time to slip through the gate, and getting her out was going to be a lot harder than keeping her at bay.

“Who’s that lady?” Hunter asked curiously as she got closer, close enough that I could see the bile in her face.

“Hunter, go inside and find Zoe,” I told him urgently, not bothering with her proper teacher name for that moment. He furrowed his brow at me, and I waved my hands at him.

“Go, now!” I ordered him, and his face dropped as he did as he was told. I hated speaking to him like that, but he needed to get out of there before something happened, something I couldn’t put a stop to.

“Autumn?” Karla was suddenly right in front of me as I turned back around to check on her progress. My heart dropped.

“Karla, what the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. “Does Holden know you’re here?”

“Yes, he does.” She nodded. My eyes widened. Had he given her permission?

“Where’s my son?” she demanded. “I saw him here with you a second ago. Where is he now?”

“He’s in the school, and you’re not getting anywhere near him,” I told her firmly. “Please, just leave. Before I call the police.”

“What for?” She tossed her hands in the air. “You don’t have a restraining order against me. I want to see my son. That’s all. You know how heartless you’re being right now?”

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. She was manipulating me, and I couldn’t let her get away with it. I couldn’t let her get close.

“Karla, I’m going to ask you one more time,” I warned her. “Get out of here. Leave.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.” She pushed her face closer to mine, over the fence that was keeping us apart. The gate suddenly felt flimsy like it wasn’t even sturdy enough to keep her where she needed to be.

“I work here, and I can tell you that we don’t allow anyone on the property who hasn’t been cleared by the school,” I snapped back. “I don’t care what you want. You need to get away from here. Speak to Holden, not to Hunter. He’s a kid, and he doesn’t need this—”

“You don’t know what my son needs,” she sneered. “I don’t care what Holden’s convinced you. You’ll never be a parent to him. You can’t be. You don’t understand the connection we had.”

Before, she had at least tried to sweet-talk me a little. Here, she was going for it, not holding back, not giving a shit how I felt or what my relationship with Hunter might have been. She only wanted to get under my skin, and I couldn’t let her do that. I was the responsible adult here, and it was up to me to reject the bullshit she was dripping and remind myself that she was nothing more than a pathetic, manipulative bitch trying to get what she wanted. I could almost guarantee that if Holden had let her see Hunter with no restrictions, she would have grown tired of him by now and moved on. The fact that she had to fight it—that was what she was attracted to. That was what she wanted. She was making a point here, reminding anyone who would listen that she was the one in charge and she was the one who would get her way. No matter what the cost.

“You haven’t been a mother to him his entire life,” I shot back angrily. “You took ten years to come back into his life. Ten years! You really think he’s done badly without you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know since everyone has been trying to keep me from him,” she replied through gritted teeth. “I won’t stand for this. I’ll sue you, and I’ll sue the school. Holden might have the money to deal with it, but you don’t, do you?”

I stayed silent. She was right.

“That’s why you went after someone like Holden,” she taunted me. “You’re after his money, aren’t you? Well, you’ll never have the connection with him that I do. You could never dream of it.”

“Karla,” I warned her as best I could. It was taking everything I had in me not to take a swing at this woman. I was deadly serious. I had never felt the urge to hurt another human being before, not seriously, but the way she was talking to me, the way she was looking at me like I was some kind of idiot, I wanted to yell at her. I wanted to prove she would never have the kind of relationship I had with Hunter and Holden—with either of them, but that would only prove her point. She wanted me to drop down to her level so she could show I wasn’t worthy for her son. I wasn’t going to give her that satisfaction. Not in a million years. Still, I found my fist clenched at my side, and I noticed her gaze slide down to take it in.

Suddenly, I heard a noise from behind me.

“Hunter, come back—”

I spun around to find Zoe standing in the doorway to the school, a pained expression on her face as Hunter broke away from her and hurried over to me.

“Autumn?” He grabbed my hand, and even though I knew he was just a little kid, his presence made me feel a bit better. He was on my side, and that was what mattered. In the whole mess of this nightmare, he was the only thing I cared about.

“Hunter, go back inside,” I ordered him. Zoe went to stride over to us, but I held my hand up to keep her at bay. I knew that I had to handle this as it stood before things went any further.

“Is this her?” Hunter demanded, looking up at the woman before him. Karla was staring down at him with the most curious expression on her face. I couldn’t have described it even if I’d tried. There was a whole lot going on there, but most of it looked like panic. As though she had been happy to talk a big game when she didn’t think anyone would take her up on it, but now that he was here looking her in the face, she had no fucking clue how to react.

But all at once, she crouched down, wrapping her fingers around the bars of the gate and staring at Hunter intently.

“I’m your mommy, Hunter,” she cooed to him, her voice sugary-sweet and clearly fake. I wanted to slap her away from him. My heart was pounding hard in my chest, and I looked down at Hunter, waiting for him to respond. He was eyeing his mother for a long time before he opened his mouth and then finally came out with it.

“I don’t need you.” He shook his head, his voice small but firm.

“But I’m your family, baby,” she told him, her voice growing spiked around the edges. I pulled Hunter back an inch, making sure there was plenty of space between the gate and him. She could have reached through and grabbed him if I wasn’t careful, and I wasn’t about to let her any closer to him than she had already gotten.

“No, you’re not.” He shook his head. “Autumn is. And Dad. Not you.”

Her face twisted into a mask of rage, and I could tell she hadn’t envisioned this reaction, not in a million years. I smirked, despite myself. It might have been childish, but seeing her not getting what she wanted was so satisfying.

“I never wanted you anyway,” she spat back at him. Her voice was full of spite, lashing out at this helpless child because he wouldn’t go along with her crazy plan to suddenly be a family again after all that time apart. Something in her voice triggered a reaction in me, the kind of reaction I never imagined in a million years I would have to anyone.

It all came in such a rush that I hardly had time to process it. I dropped Hunter’s hand and straightened up, grabbed Karla by the collar of her cheap shirt, and swung a fist at her. I hardly noticed the blur of pain punch through my hand as it made contact with her. It wasn’t that hard. I didn’t have it in me to hurt her badly, physically or mentally, but she went reeling back from the gate and staggered dramatically away from me.

Zoe sped forward and grabbed Hunter by the shoulders, pulling him back inside the school, and I stared as Karla went sprawling across the street. She was waving her arms around to attract the attention of anyone who would look, and I hurried around the gate to catch her before she wound up getting hit by a car or something.

“That woman!” she shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at me. “She hit me! And now she’s coming after me! Please, someone help me!”

I stood there as a few passers-by intervened, pulling her off the road. I suppose one of them must have dialed 911 because moments later, the police had turned up at the school. I was still in such a total daze at what had happened that it took me a good long moment to realize they were there for me and not her.

“Miss, can you come with us, please?” An officer stepped toward me. Karla was cowering on the other side of the road, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. How had she pulled this off? How had she managed to make this happen? How had I been dumb enough to fall for her manipulation, to let myself believe I had no choice but to do that to her?

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. As soon as I got down to the station, I could explain this, explain that I was protecting Holden’s son, the kid who was starting to feel like my own. But what if they took her side? What if Holden had given her permission to come down there, and I had walked into the middle of it and caused an enormous mess?

“Autumn!”

Another familiar voice. I turned to see Holden clambering out of a car, hurrying toward me.

“Hunter’s okay,” I called to him. “He’s inside with Zoe.”

“Autumn—”

“Sir, please step away.” One of the officers pushed Holden away from me firmly as he got closer, and he stared, wide-eyed, as they clapped handcuffs on me and pushed me down into the car. My body was numb, my brain switched off, my soul so far gone, I would be surprised if I ever found it again. But none of that mattered. What mattered was that I had defended Hunter when he’d needed it, that I’d let him know I was there for him and that nothing his deadbeat mother tried to tell him was true. As they slammed the door behind me, I looked out at Holden’s face beyond the window, shell-shocked, and I knew I would do it all again if I had to. Anything to ensure that my two boys stayed safe. Anything to ensure that woman stayed well away from them.