Chapter 72

Joan’s POV

The day went as he planned, and now he sat opposite me, his hands on his chest and his eyes closed, a gentle smile on his face. It was the third time, and for a second, it felt unending.

The familiar sense of irritation engulfed me, and to top my frustration, I saw Mom's phone beside him. He flew all the way to Detroit with her phone, and she didn’t say anything. That meant he knew we were calling her all along, and he didn’t bother to give her the phone.

Jones was more cunning than I had even imagined; he was the devil I knew. And the angel that I didn’t know yet—I just couldn’t get myself to believe how deep he had already gotten into mom's head or the condition she was in.

I didn’t get to see mom last time I went home; it was as though she was trying to avoid me, but she spoke with Fred. I wanted to see it as the resentment she felt towards me sleeping with Fred, but if she could look him in the eyes and not me, then something was definitely wrong.

Still seated on the be