“Really? I heard the last time you saw him, you dumped him off right about where you’re standing and drove away without a backward glance, so I’m going to make it very easy for you, Kensie. Get back in your car and drive away. Seth doesn’t want to see you.”

“I am his mother,” she insists, still pretending to cry. “I have rights!”

“You gave up any rights you had when you abandoned him here.”

She sobers and stares at me, realizing that she’s not manipulating me the way she wants to.

“I’ll see him,” she says and takes a step closer to me. “And there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.”

“Oh, yes there is. You are such a pitiful excuse for a mother. For a woman,” I growl. “You let those motherfuckers you were fucking lay their hands on your child. They hit him!”

“He was fine,” she scoffs. “He makes it sound way more dramatic than it was. What, are you fucking Zack now? Is he still as great of a lay as he used to be? That’s the only thing he was ever good for.” She smirks. “Don’t tell me you’re in love with him? Do you think you can take my place in my family?”

“Don’t you touch her!” Seth yells from the top of the stairs, then clambers down them and shoves me behind him, protecting me. “Don’t touch Jill.”

“Hi, sweetie.” Kensie sends him a fake smile. “Did you miss your mommy?”

“No. Go away.”

“Now, that’s no way to say hello to me. Come here, give me a hug.”

“No.” He shakes his head frantically and I take his shoulders in my hands and pull him against my side.

“Seth, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” I hear tires on the driveway, but my gaze doesn’t leave the bitch before me.

Kensie snarls and reaches for Seth’s arm, trying to pull him from my grasp. Seth cries out in pain and Kensie lets go, but laughs. “God, you’re still a pussy.”

I’ve had enough. I push Seth behind me, pull my fist back, and plant it right in her fucking smug mouth. She stumbles back and cries out, but I advance on her and punch her again, harder this time, knocking her flat on her ass.

“Jill!”

“I fucking hate you,” I grind out between my teeth. “You’ll never lay your hands on that boy ever again. Do you hear me? Never. Again.”

Strong hands grip my arms but I shake them off and push my face in Kensie’s. “If you ever even think his name again, I’ll rip you apart.”

Her lip is bleeding, she’s panting, and her eyes are wide. “Zack! Are you going to let her treat me like this?” she shrieks.

“Absolutely,” he replies softly. “Get the fuck out of here, Kensie.”

“He’s my son!” she yells and begins kicking and punching the snow like a four-year-old throwing a temper tantrum. “He’s mine!”

“No,” I yell and pull her up by her coat and shove her toward her car. “He’s mine. Get the fuck off this property and don’t come back. If you have a problem with that, call a fucking lawyer.”

“Zack!”

“You heard her. Get the fuck off my property.”

I spin around, searching for Seth, and see him standing next to the steps of the porch, his eyes wide and haunted. I run to him and pull him into my arms, kiss his head, and rock us both back and forth. “Are you okay?”

“She was going to hurt you,” he sobs.

“No, she wasn’t,” I reply and cup his face in my hands, trapping his hazel gaze in my own. “She wasn’t. And she won’t hurt you ever again either.”

He hugs me tight and then suddenly we’re both in Zack’s strong arms, being held and kissed, and for a brief moment I soak up his strength, and then the anger comes back full force.

“Seth, go inside now while I talk to your dad.”

“No, I want to—”

“She’s right. Go inside, buddy. Thor’s crying for you.”

It’s then I notice that Thor is barking frantically at the window, scratching and trying to get out to us.

“Go comfort him,” I say with an encouraging smile. Seth looks between the two of us and then nods once and trudges up the steps.

“Jilly, are you okay?” Zack asks after Seth shuts the door behind him. I spin on him, more pissed than I’ve ever been.

“Do you understand,” I begin, trying my best to keep my voice low, “that you compared me to that?” I point in the direction that Kensie just drove in, toward town.

“No, I never—”

“Yes. You stood in my home and compared me to the woman who fucking abused your child.” The enormity of it hits me full force and I can’t stop the tears or the shaking that consumes my body. “I love you with every single molecule of my body, and you compared me to that piece of trash. Are you kidding me?”

“Jilly, that’s not at all what I meant. You are nothing like Kensie. Nothing.”

“You bet your ass I’m nothing like her. She doesn’t give two shits about your son. You know that, right? Whatever she’s here for is purely selfish and has nothing to do with wanting Seth.” I shake my head and pace away from Zack toward my car. “And to think, I was ready to move on, to put last week behind us and give us a chance.”

“Jill, we can still do that.”