After Lucy left, I and grey were just about to go upstairs when Grey's mum came back and asked me to come with her to her room.
"Seraphim," she said softly, too softly. "Come with me, dear."
The way she said dear felt like a warning wrapped in silk.
Grey and I exchanged a quick glance, tense, questioning, both of us pretending not to be rattled. His jaw tightened in a way that told me he expected me to mess something up. And I… I couldn't deny the nervous heat crawling up my spine.
I followed his mother upstairs.
Her steps were soft, elegant, and controlled. Mine felt loud.
Inside her room, she closed the door gently so gently it felt like a threat disguised as courtesy.
"Come," she gestured toward the seat opposite her. "Sit."
I did.
The silence was sharp at the edges. Then she smiled, polite, warm, and falsely understanding.
"I want you to tell me something, Seraphim."
Her voice remained gentle, but her eyes studied me like a puzzle missing pieces. "Who… exactly… was that girl?"
My heartbeat stuttered.
"I…She's just someone we ran into the other day," I answered, keeping my tone steady. "I forgot something, and she brought it."
"Oh?"
She raised a brow with a slow, precise grace.
"Funny. Grey has never allowed visitors into this house without announcing them. And he certainly never forgets to inform me of… acquaintances."
Her smile sweetened. Dangerously.
I swallowed. "It wasn't planned. She insisted."
"Did she?" She tilted her head. "She looked very comfortable walking through the gate. As though it wasn't her first time."
My pulse throbbed in my throat.
She leaned back in her chair, fingertips touching like she was scheming behind the small gesture.
"Tell me, dear… is there something about your marriage that I should know?"
Her eyes pinned me, unblinking.
"Because I watch. And I listen. And when things don't align…"Her smile thinned.
"…I ask."
A spike of panic flared in me. My hands trembled slightly on my lap, so I pressed my fingers together to hide it.
"There's nothing wrong," I said quietly. "Grey and I are still adjusting, that's all."
"A good marriage doesn't need adjusting," she replied instantly. "It just needs truth."
Her words felt like knives dipped in honey.
Then she stood, moved closer, and lowered her voice.
"I like you, Seraphim."
She brushed a nonexistent speck from my shoulder.
"But I will not tolerate lies in my son's home. Especially not from strangers pretending to be family."
My breath caught.Stranger, pretending, family,
three words that sliced straight through me.
Before I could respond, she stepped back and waved her hand, dismissing me as though the conversation hadn't been a quiet interrogation.
"You may go now."
I stood, nodding stiffly, and walked out with my heart pounding in my ears.
When I got to the room, Grey was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, hands clasped like a man waiting for a verdict.
The moment I entered, his head snapped up. "What happened?"
I closed the door behind me and exhaled shakily.
"She's really suspicious, we're breaking apart" I said. "She's Very suspicious."
Grey's jaw flexed. "What did she say?"
I repeated every word. Every sharp smile. Every probing question.
He cursed under his breath, pacing. "I knew Lucy showing up would be a problem. I knew it."
"You and Lucy didn't exactly make it better," I shot back. "You two were stumbling over your whack ass lies like children who had never lied before."
He turned sharply toward me. "And what did you expect me to say? 'Mother, this is the woman I've been fucking before I married a stranger and I still fuck?' Should I have said that?"
His voice rose, then lowered abruptly as he remembered the walls weren't soundproof.
"This is your fault," he hissed. "If you hadn't acted weird out there"
"My fault?"
I stepped toward him, heat surging through my chest. I couldn't believe he was trying to turn this on me.
"She walked into the house, Grey. Into your mother's line of sight. I didn't drag her here."
He halted. His eyes were burning frustration, fear, ego, everything mixing.
"Everything is starting to fall apart."
"And I'm trying," I whispered. "I'm trying to help you hold it together."
The silence between us thickened, vibrating with all the things we didn't say.
Then he asked, "What else did she ask?"
"She asked," I swallowed, "if our marriage is real."
Grey froze.
The air in the room suddenly became hotter.
Then he turned away from me completely, shoulders stiff. A dismissal.
So I left him there — angry, silent, unreadable,and stepped into the hallway.
But he followed. Because angry silence wasn't enough, apparently.
"Seraphim," he said sharply. "Stop."
I turned.
He walked toward me until only a breath separated us. His voice lowered — dangerously quiet.
"You need to be more careful with what you say to her."
"I didn't say anything wrong," I replied. "I held the lie together. While you stood there looking like guilt personified."
His nostrils flared.
"You're the one who should know how to tame your girl down, and tell her to stop causing unnecessary scenarios, okay" I said with all the anger in me because he literally just tried to turn the entire situation on me now.
He was silent for a while, it felt as though my words cut through him, and immediately spikes of guilt struck me. I had to clear the air and bring the tension down a little.
"Look we'll both lose if you continue this way" I said and then I finally turned and left him standing there.
One would think he's finally come back to his senses, right? But of course grey would always be grey.
I went to pick up a shirt from my room and went into another room because I already had enough drama in one morning.
I took my bath and set out to see Nana.