Chapter 165 It All Fell Down

• "Mom..." I call her name, lost for words to say. Then as if in a slow motion picture, my mother raises her hand and slaps Zane across the face, the force of the hit jerks his head back so he turns to face me for a second, disbelief and pain in his eyes, I stare at him helplessly, my mouth open in a soundless cry of surprise.
• "You bastard! You fucking bastard! I am going to sue you to hell! I am going to fucking ruin your life. How dare you! How dare you!" She grabs him by the collar and starts hitting him on the chest, screaming curses at his face. I am frozen for a second, completely stunned by the outburst, Zane appears frozen too, he doesn't make a move to get out of her clutches, he just stands there, taking hit after hit, I rush to her side and pull back her hand that she has raised to hit him again.
• "Mom! Stop! You are hurting him! Stop! He didn't do anything wrong!" I yell, she strains against my weak hold, and gets free, I don't brace myself because I didn't know she was going to hit me too, the sting of her palm on my cheek disorients me so badly that I lose my balance and crumble to the floor with a loud cry.