A sharp knock on her front door woke Lauren up the next morning. She stumbled out of bed and quickly threw on some sweats and a T-shirt.

“Hang on, I’m coming,” she yelled down the hall.

She quickly checked through the peephole in the door to see if she needed to worry about whoever was on the other side. The she dropped her forehead against the door. She definitely needed to worry.

She opened the door and said, “Hi, Mom.”

Patricia Sanders was not happy, Lauren could tell. In fact, she’d go so far as to say her mother was furious, which could mean only one thing.

“Lauren, aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“I just woke up, and I’m not really in the mood for company. Can we talk another time?”

Patricia pushed past her daughter, ignoring her request. Lauren sighed and closed the door, then walked past her mother into the kitchen.

“If you’re going to yell at me, I’m fixing coffee.”

When Patricia turned up her nose at the coffee Lauren pulled down from the cabinet, Lauren looked at her with a cold smile. “Oh, I’m not fixing coffee for you.”

Patricia huffed. “Lauren, you’re being childish.”

“Really, Mom? Making my own decisions is childish?”

“It is when they’re the wrong decisions.” Patricia sat in one of the chairs at Lauren’s breakfast bar.

“Guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.”

“How could you go out with him again after I specifically told you not to?”

“Because it’s my life. I decide who I go out with. And besides, Mom, how could you have me followed again when I specifically told you not to?”

Patricia lifted a hand in an elegant shrug. “And this is you being childish. He’s using you, Lauren.”

“He likes me and would never hurt me. And if you got to know him, you’d see that he’s over this feud of yours.”

“Oh, please. How can you be so stupid? Do you truly believe he likes you? Look at the evidence. He plotted to attend your party and buy you in that ill-advised auction. He did that solely for the reason of getting back at me, to gain some kind of leverage.”

“And he admits all that. He also says that it was a terrible idea. He apologized to me for the whole thing.”

The look Patricia gave her told Lauren exactly what her mother thought of Hakim’s apology. “Of course, he would say that. I told you, he’s charming. He thinks if he gets on your good side, he’ll be able to continue with this diabolical plan of his.”

“Mother, you make him sound like he’s an evil villain, out to take over the world.”

“And you sound like a love-struck little girl, taken in by fancy plane rides and expensive restaurants.”

Lauren leaned back. She could almost feel the weight behind that verbal blow. The coffee pot beeped and she used the action of pouring a cup of coffee to gather her thoughts.

Patricia didn’t let up, though. “Do you really think he’s developed genuine feelings for you? He’s been trying to get one over on me for years. Years, Lauren. If you think he wouldn’t pretend to put everything aside so that he could finally accomplish that goal, you’re living in a fantasy world. I’ve been in this business a long time, my dear, and I’ve seen every dirty trick there is. I’ve competed against him and I know his character. I know him better than you do.

“I’m your mother and I only want what’s best for you. I’m trying to protect you, as I always have, and I’m hurt that you refuse to understand. I know that you don’t want to hear that he doesn’t like you, but you have to be an adult about this, Lauren. He’s incapable of caring for you.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lauren said, and it sounded weak even to her.

“I’ve seen him work, sweetheart. The sham dates with actresses, the romantic entanglements designed only to advance his business, the willingness to do anything to get ahead. Look at the evidence. He’s never cared for anyone, only for himself. His business comes first, always.”

“You sound like two of a kind.” The words were out of Lauren’s mouth before she thought about it and they scored a direct hit on her mother. Lauren almost regretted them, except they were the truth.

“If I believe that about Hakim, Mother, then I have to believe that about you, too,” she continued. “You’re the one who taught me to put work above my personal relationships. You’re the one who taught me to think with my head instead of my heart. It’s the reason I never date and the reason I focus on work above anything else. In spite of all that, Hakim and I found each other. And, yes, what he did was wrong. But that doesn’t make what you’re doing right.”

“You even admit he was wrong!” Patricia countered. “And yet, you’ve created this make-believe story where your love changes him into a better man. That’s not how things work, Lauren. You know that. He’s the same person he was before he met you.”

Lauren couldn’t help it. Even as many times as Hakim had apologized, and even though she had truly forgiven him, there was still a tiny kernel of hurt over his actions. She believed he had changed, but every woman wanted to believe that, right? If her mother was even partly correct, then falling in love with Hakim was a bad idea. Worse, he might really be using her to hurt her mother, and as unhappy as Lauren was with Patricia right then, she didn’t want to see that happen.

She could feel the tears start and tried to hide the fact that she was crying as she drank from her coffee mug. When that didn’t work, she turned around to give herself a moment. She didn’t want to believe Patricia, but she couldn’t discount the fact that what her mother said made sense.

“Sweetheart, I know you think you like him. But you’re smarter than that. Let Hakim go and you’ll find another man, a good one.”

That only made Lauren cry harder. Hakim was a good man—arrogant and occasionally a jerk, yes—but at heart, he was good.

He was kind and thoughtful, he cared about his family, and she knew without a doubt that he cared about her. If he’d wanted to use Lauren to get back at Patricia, BingeWatch’s money crisis would have been the perfect opportunity. Lauren would have made it even sweeter, asking him for his help instead of going to her mother. But Hakim hadn’t taken advantage of her problem. He’d helped, in the most generous way possible.

Lauren looked up and shook her head. “You don’t know how wrong you are. About him, about me. But you are wrong. And if you can’t see that, I feel sorry for you.”

Patricia’s face contorted and Lauren was certain her mother was going to unleash another torrent of invective. But instead, she picked up her purse and stood.

“Fine. You’re right. You are an adult and so you can deal with the consequences of your choices. But if you choose to stay with Hakim—if you ever bring him into this family by marrying him—I will cut you out of my life. You’ll gain a husband, and lose a mother. If that’s what you want, then you go ahead and make your decision.”

Stunned and angry, all Lauren could think to do was point at the door and say, “Get out, Patricia.”

With her mother gone, Lauren was too numb to even cry anymore. Patricia would rather never see her daughter again than have to deal with Hakim being a part of her life. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right, and Lauren didn’t have the faintest idea how she could fix it.

Or, rather, how they could fix it.

It would take a negotiation worthy of a seasoned diplomat, but Lauren needed to broker a peace talk between her mother and her boyfriend. It was her only hope.