181 Days of Madeline Jesty

Chapter 23: Partner in Crime

"What the fuck? Are you serious?"

"Do you think I'm making this up?! I'll drop this now, so you better accept the goddamn video call and know that I'm telling the truth."

Steph called again a few seconds later, but this time, we were in a video call, her camera facing the classroom. There, I saw Mom talking to Ms. Lilian.

I suddenly panicked. Why was she there? Why didn't she tell me she was going to the PTA? What did she need to talk about with Ms. Lilian? Was it about me? But amid my confusion about her intentions and the disappointment that she only started to care when my life was destined to end soon, there were excitement and curiosity.

"Could you go inside?"

"It's so obvious you haven't attended a PTA," Steph replied as she switched the camera to her. "We aren't allowed to go inside."

"Why is she there?"

"I know, right? I was so shocked when she casually entered the room. God, Maddie. Your mom's so beautiful. Is she really in her forties?"

"Now you know where my genes come from."

"Hate to admit it, but you look alike."

"Though I got my brains from my father," I reiterated, reminiscing the past. Dad was strict and mature, Mom was lenient and childish—at least before the unfortunate incident. Memories of visitors telling me how I looked a lot like Mom but acted more like Dad began flooding me all of a sudden. Now . . . I wasn't sure anymore. Mom became more like Dad, and then I . . . had become known for my own identity. A rebellious misanthrope. A stubborn leonine of her own pride. The ungrateful and burdensome unica hija of Daniel and Isabella Jacobs, one of the most influential power couples in town.

"Don't know any about that," Steph admitted. "I just know your mom's making other mothers insecure."

I smirked. Mom loved attention. When I was a kid, during gatherings, she would love it when another man—a young man, specifically—would approach her and then Dad would suddenly pop out from nowhere and wrap his arm around her waist. She enjoyed being the center of attention, but she loved it all the more when Dad would become possessive of her. I could remember her telling me, "And that, Maddie, is how to get a man crazy over you," which, of course, I didn't understand before.

Although she had acquired Dad's mysterious and intimidating aura, she didn't give up on turning other people's heads even after Dad went missing. This attitude of hers was evident in her subtle and quick brow raises and smirks. She dressed with class, looked as if she had figured out motherhood, and talked alongside men who thought they could entice her to be their mistress, only to crush their egos by demonstrating who was in power.

And if there was one reason to forgive her for all her misgivings, that would be the fact that she never intended to remarry, no matter what her advisors would tell her. She must have loved my father so much.

But of course, I wouldn't be so sure.

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course. I'm a loyal bitch."

"Take a photo of every man who approaches my mother."

"Got ya. But y'know, her bodyguards are here."

"Her bodyguards allow interactions from institutions Mom freely goes to. They only intervene in public."

"That's weird. What if one of the parents is an assassin of rich people?"

I laughed at her weird imagination. "Just . . . update me on what's going on. I have somewhere to be."