Page 31

“Did I get another daddy?” Ava snidely says as she prances into the living room, long blonde ponytail swinging with her walk. “I’m picking up a long queue of them. It’s to the point I don’t know who I’m supposed to listen to anymore.”

“Sit in the center of the coffee table.” Caleb demands of my daughter. A brutal word for Caleb is on the tip of my tongue but watching Ava do as she is commanded is a bit of a surprise.

“I guess you’ll be daddy number three– the silent, grumpy, misogynistic, sneering one.” Ava mutters as she folds herself onto the coffee table, sitting crossed-legged. None of us contradicts Ava’s statement, since I can tell by the way her voice wavers that she’s scared of Caleb.

Quick as a snake’s strike, Katya acts before anyone can stop her. Ava’s cellphone is torn from her vise-like death grip, then finds itself being smashed to smithereens by the heel of Katya’s boot.

Stunned, Cort, Caleb and I just lean back in our seats and watch in awe as Katya finds immense satisfaction by grinding the phone to bits beneath her foot.

“Ma! What the fuck?” Ava shouts, but immediately silences when a feminine palm shuts her mouth.

Hand wrapped around the front of our daughter’s face, Katya pulls Ava’s head back until Ava has to meet her mother’s disappointed gaze. “I’m frustrated and sad, and it would be wise of you not to move me into anger.” Katya calmly warns. “You’ll get a cellphone when you’ve earned one. Personally, we didn’t have cells when I was in high school.”

“Yeah, because they hadn’t been invented yet,” Ava flippantly mumbles around Katya’s palm.

“And I didn’t have one until four years ago. I was thirty-two, and it was bought and paid for with my own money. Interestingly enough, it was only a few months later when your father gave you a cellphone. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Since you are a child, I am responsible for your bills, yet you do nothing to earn your keep. Your grandfather would hate the child you’ve become,” Katya hisses in disgust.

“Mommy!” Ava cries out, the first real emotion erupting from our girl.

“I’m going to sound evil,” Kat warns. “Daughter, I love you with everything in me. But I don’t like you right now. I don’t recognize who you’ve become, and I won’t allow you to continue on this path.”

“Why are you so angry at me?” Ava whines.

“I know everything,” Kat breathes into Ava’s face, voice tight with distress. “Every single detail!”

“How? My dads don’t even know yet.” Ava’s voice twists into a pitiful whining sound that makes me cringe.

I sit frozen, needing to know what’s going on but scared to find out. Cortez sits next to me, making retching sounds, because he’s so upset with whatever crime Ava committed. Clearly my daughter is walking in her father’s footsteps.

“What did you think today was? Did you believe it was just an exercise in torture techniques?” Katya asks Ava as she looms over the girl. “It was Marcus trying to get Regina to play nice in a controlled environment where she couldn’t kill me.”

“I don’t understand why Regina is so mad at you,” Ava says, clearly bewildered. “I’m the one who hurt their family.”

“Well, Regina couldn’t beat you to death since you are a child. She is too loyal to those assholes to go to them.” Kat gestures to Cortez and me. “Plus, they could kick her ass back. When you’re frustrated, and refuse to blame your own son for his devious actions, and you can’t blame his blackmailer because he or she is unknown, yet you also refuse to blame your fiancé or his boys– the only recourse you have it to blame the girl’s mother because she can’t fight back, and no one will hear her when she screams! ”

Unfrozen by the pain and frustration in Katya’s voice, I make a demand. “Explain yourself. Is this about that apology bullshit Caleb was telling us about?”

“Two nights ago, right after I moved into my new home, after the last of Roarke and Aaron’s invasions, I had a visit from Regina. I was restless, so I went out to get groceries– anything to feel a sense of normalcy. I had just walked into the house, carrying armfuls of grocery bags, and Regina followed me in the front door. I hadn’t even realized she was behind me. If you must know, the only reason I didn’t turn Gunner away when he showed up the next morning was because I was petrified. Spy or not, I was happy to know someone was willing to keep me safe.”

Katya is shaking with fear as she paces the living room. Cort tries to get her to sit with him so he can comfort her, but she won’t stay still.

“I have no one,” Katya whispers despondently. “My parents are liars. My oldest is acting like a demented princess,” Kat hisses at Ava. “My husbands are just relieved that I’m out of their lives and no longer a bother. Frankly, until Marcus made Regina play nice with me today, I thought he’d do anything short of killing me to get me to leave town. So when a mad woman comes into my home and beats me, I have no one to call for help, instinctually knowing to keep your mouth shut, because people die in Dominion when they go against the flow of the status quo.”

“What?!” Ava shouts as she lunges off the coffee table to corner her mother. Hands hovering over her mother’s arms, Ava’s voice shakes. “I freaking knew it! Ma, I asked you and you lied to my face. You said you were fine, asking if I saw any marks.”

“Dear daughter, your concern is admirable considering you know why Niel’s mother was so angry. It seems Regina didn’t want to be a grandmother, especially under the circumstances. It was a few minutes prior to her unwelcome visit that she’d heard all the sordid details of her grandchild’s conception, since Kent Preston was demanding answers and was out for blood.”

Stepping away from Ava, Katya continues her pacing, refusing to get within arm’s reach of anyone. “How do you think I found out every single detail? Regina spewed them while she hit and kicked and slapped and shoved and spit and threw me around the foyer. Regina couldn’t hit you, and she didn’t want to hit your dads, so she hit me instead. Because everything that happens to anyone is indirectly my fault, even if it happened when I didn’t know any of the fuckers were on this planet!”

“Are you okay?” I ask, fearing the answer after being on the receiving end of Regina’s wrath. I’m heartier and larger, able to take the hits, and Katya is as petite as women come. Now I understand why she kept throwing Roarke and Aaron out of her house that first night, and why she was so angry when I showed up last night.

“It’s not my first beating,” Katya mutters as she walks away from Ava like she can’t stand to be in our daughter’s presence. “As you well know.” She tacks on just to hurt me.

“Did Regina harm you?” Caleb cautiously asks, somehow instinctively knowing how to handle Katya.

“What do you think? She’s over a foot taller than me and a hundred pounds heavier. At one point, she held me at arm’s length by my hair. No matter what I did, I couldn’t defend myself.”

“Did you get checked over?” Caleb takes the lead, since he’s a stranger and Kat has no reason to hate him yet.

“No, it doesn’t matter.” Katya gasps for breath, as if she’s struggling to get enough oxygen. “I would take a thousand beatings, just so Ava didn’t have to. Regina would have snapped Ava’s neck with just one hit– Trust me, I’m stronger than I appear.”

“I think you need to show us.” Caleb demands, crowding Katya’s personal space.

“No.” Katya hisses, lashing out like a wild, wounded animal. She retreats a safe distance to the other side of the living room. “It’s private,” she mumbles, sounding delusional.

“Then I think you should take Ava into another room and show her what her actions cost her mother. Ava needs to see there is a cost to everything, whether she pays for it or not. Being rich and beautiful and smart and a child doesn’t make her exempt– it just makes her a selfish little cunt who doesn’t give a shit about anyone but herself.”

“Don’t talk about my daughter like that!” Katya snaps at Caleb. He stepped over the line, finally making himself her enemy.

“We need to give Ava the benefit of the doubt– we haven’t heard her side of events yet. For all we know, Regina lied or was lied to, so what she told Katya might not be accurate.”

“You being the voice of reason terrifies me, Ez.” Cortez blindly reaches for my hand, fingers twisting with mine.

“Take off that goddamn sweater you’ve been hiding in for the past three days and show your daughter what her actions cost!” Caleb screams at Katya, finally losing the calm that is essentially him. “It’s bad enough that the Whittenhowers are in upheaval– the scandal is about to make international news and will affect our highest level of government –but a living, breathing human being will be born in a few months. Show Ava what she cost you too. Take that fucking sweater off!”

Caleb screams in a stunned Katya’s face while he tears the sweater from her back. My hand immediately raises to cover my mouth, as Cort’s pain-filled gasp echoes around the living room, with Ava’s tortured sob joining the fray.

Katya’s flesh is black and red from the loose waist of her jeans up, and I suspect her lower body looks much the same. Regina didn’t beat Katya while in a rage. It was calculated and done with great finesse. If you beat someone while controlled by your emotions, you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from hitting the visible locations.

Katya’s hands, neck, and face are free of marks. When clothed, Katya looks perfectly healthy. Now that she stands before us in a pair of jeans and a bra, she looks like she’s been run over by an eighteen-wheeler.

Hit so viciously, several spots show knuckle marks, I’m positive one is a shoe imprint. Where the heel impacted, the skin burst. Katya did her best to cover the wounds with bandages, along with hiding her shame with that ugly, oversized sweater.

Judging by the fury radiating off Caleb, this confrontation has been two days coming. He waited for the big reveal, so he could use it as a lesson for Ava, not realizing the severity of the beating. Now Caleb stands before Katya, with her sweater wavering around in his hands, because he’s physically vibrating with anger.

I know just how Caleb feels. Only worse. “I’m going to kill her,” I breathe my vow.

“You’ll change your mind once you hear what Ava’s done,” Cort breathes back in horror. “I’ll help you beat Ava that badly if you want. She needs it.”

The severity of Cort’s words causes me to abruptly face him. “What?!” I bark in outrage. “You’re talking about beating our daughter.”

“Ava, look at your mother!” Caleb demands. “Regina didn’t do this to her– you did! And you did all of this shit because Niel kissed a girl who wasn’t you. This is the mark of a little bitch who needs to see the truth and consequences of her actions or she’ll never change. She’ll grow up to be a monster just like her father.”

“Gunner,” Katya numbly orders. “You’ve made your point. My daughter has seen the show and will undoubtedly have nightmares that will keep me up as well. Give back my sweater.” She listlessly reaches for the garment.

“Is anything broken?” Caleb asks, reaching out to trail a fingertip along a nasty bruise bisecting Katya’s ribs.

“No touch!” Kat hisses, back hitting the wall as she jumps away from him.

Ignoring how petrified Kat is, Caleb calmly asks again. “Is anything broken? I don’t like how angry this looks. You might have internal injuries.”

Cort tries to stand and stop Caleb’s questioning assault, but I think it’s in Katya’s best interests to answer the question. I wrap my good hand around Cort’s wrist, not allowing him to intervene.

“Kat won’t accept help from us.” I whisper in Cort’s ear. “And I don’t blame her.”

“I didn’t know,” Cort hoarsely breathes out as he turns his face away to hide a mortified expression. “I’ve seen Kitten four times since this happened. I–”

“Your choice, Syn and/or Levi, but one or both is going to check you over. If they say you need a doctor, you’re going.” Caleb declares, leaving no room for argument.

“We need to finish this with Ava first.” Kat tugs her sweater back, not taking a breath until she’s fully covered back up.

“Mommy.” Ava pleads after we all sit in our assigned seats, her ass glued in the center of the coffee table. “I know you’ll listen to me– it’s not what Regina said.”

Katya eyes the broken cellphone lying by her foot. “I’ve failed as your mother, since you didn’t trust me enough to come to me when you needed me the most. That’s what I’m angry over– I’m angry at myself.”

“No. You don’t understand!”

“Make me understand,” Katya demands, and all the men in the living room fade away until it’s just a mother and daughter speaking to one another from inches apart. “Dominion has a way of forcing good people to do bad things, irrevocably changing them forever. Make me understand why you did what you did. I’m not judging you– I need to understand you to help you.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Ava’s on the verge of going on the defensive, but whatever look Katya tosses her way changes everything. “I don’t know where to begin.”

“I blame myself for Generation Next.” Katya’s admission surprises us all. “I was humoring you, thinking it was just something you could do to flex your skills, because all you’ve ever wanted to do was be a journalist–”

“Not anymore.” Ava chokes on a sob, pale face blooming red. “Words are dangerous.”

“Exactly.” Katya nods in time with her speech. “I agreed to publish your little pamphlet, not realizing its contents. Adults. You attacked adults.”

“Ma, not attacked.” Ava sits up straight, shoulders back, defiant eyes glaring in my direction. “Justice. Generation Next was about justice. Truth.”

“You’re fourteen– your brain isn’t fully formed when it comes to decision-making and reasoning skills. With the written word, you have a great responsibility to your readers. Words have power, and you were too young to wield it. That weapon has been flipped to harm you and your fellow members of Generation Next.”

“No way does Regina know that–”

“I am no moron, little girl.” Katya is a different woman than the one who interacted with me for four years. Our daughter is familiar with this woman she calls mother. “As soon as that video went viral, I knew you had a hand in it. Explain in detail, because we need to know how to help you through this.”

Guilty eyes flick to the annihilated cellphone at her feet. “Niel wanted to show us his tower, so we ditched Ella and Prissy. Niel, Spyder, Whitney, and I trekked through the woods, just joking around. We were arrogant.”

“We all felt invincible as teenagers, but that feeling is usually torn from you by the time you hit your twenties and reality sets in.” Caleb surprisingly joins the conversation. “Some of us lose that sense much younger, or we get reckless because we no longer give a fuck.”

“Invincible.” Ava nods her head, not looking to happy about agreeing with Caleb. “I know what everyone is saying, how I was jealous, so I blackmailed Whitney and Niel and recorded the whole thing. But that’s not true. Niel and I were only friends. We were just–”

“Cohorts,” I finish for our daughter.

“Thank God,” Katya mutters in relief. No doubt realizing the implications surrounding the fact that Waters is actually Atwater, making the whole lot of them cousins.

“Whitney and I were never catfighting over Niel– they both wanted me to stop them from doing something they would regret.” Silent tears streak down Ava’s cheeks, too much burden on shoulders so young. “I was their buffer and their punisher when they disobeyed their own rules. I’ve never– Good Lord, I’ve never had a crush on anyone. All sex does is cause problems.”

Ava gestures between us all, sobs wracking her willowy frame. “I’m never getting married. Never giving a man power over me. If the human race could exist without you assholes, I’d head the war on eradicating your gender.”

“Holy fuck!” Cortez falls back to rest his head on the sofa cushion. “Monster, it hurts to hear you talk like that.”

“Why?!” Ava shouts, face turning beet-red with rage. “Why? What good are men to women, other than making babies? All you do is cheat and lie and betray and rape and never take responsibility for your actions. Entitled asshats. Guys always pick a girl to take the fall. Look at me, look at Niel, which one of us looks like the monster?”

“Forget they’re even here with us.” Katya reaches forward, wincing as her injuries pull, fingertips tugging on Ava’s chin. “Look at me and tell me what happened.”

“I should have called you, but a bunch of shit happened at once, and I just…” Ava stares down where she’s wringing her hands in her lap. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you, Ma. I didn’t want to hurt you or Aunt Lis. The tower–”

“Shit!” Caleb hisses as if in pain. “I know where this is headed, and I just want everyone to know that no one but Grant and Roarke realized the connection. Even Syn wasn’t positive.”

“What’s going on?” Katya tries to look back and forth between us, but the movement of her neck causes pain.

“Niel wasn’t supposed to take anyone up to the tower– heirs only. But that day Whitt declared both Niel and Whitney heir apparent, so he thought it would be okay. Spyder and I tagged along. I stepped into the top floor of the tower and was amazed by all the journals. So many secrets to be discovered.”

Eyes glossy, face flushed, Ava rides a high. “Niel wouldn’t let me open any of the journals, but he dragged me over to the wall. Generations of pictures of past patriarchs lined the stone wall. He was telling us all their history, getting off on knowing stuff we didn’t. When he got to his great-grandfather– Grant Atwater –my eyes flicked down a picture and I saw…”

Trailing off, Ava hugs herself, looking for all the world to want to crawl into her mother’s lap and never leave it again. “Grandpa. I saw Grandpa, only his name was listed as Maximillian Atwater. I was stunned, ya know? I wanted to call you right then and there, but I didn’t want to make you feel like I was. Grandma, Aunt Lis, you and me, we were betrayed by yet another goddamn worthless man.”

Lunging from the coffee table, Ava stalks off to pace the living room, having to release the pressure building or explode. “Mom, I need you to know that Cory guy, his DNA is going to come back as Grandpa’s son. You weren’t in the ballroom yet when he walked in. I recognized Grandpa’s laugh before Cory even spoke to Gwen. He’s less than a year younger than you, which means Grandpa cheated on Grandma because she only gave him two daughters.”

Eyes held wide, Katya keeps sucking in deep breaths, on the verge of hyperventilating. “Yeah, I gathered that when I spoke to Priscilla on Christmas day. She didn’t pull any punches.”

“I. HATE. Men!” Ava bellows long and loud, with the attributes of a raging banshee. “Sitting in that meeting, it took everything in me not to smother Gwendolyn Meyers for treating every woman in the ballroom as nothing but a womb, as if our kids only matter if they have a dick. And everyone allowed it!”

Stalking to stand in front of Katya, with her back to Cortez and me, Ava spills everything. “I was reeling from that picture when I got a text message. I was given two choices– either record Whitney and Niel or Generation Next would be exposed and the twins would be executed.”

All the blood rushes out of me in a flood, leaving me lightheaded and dizzy. Next to me, Cortez leans forward to rest his head between his thighs, like he’s on the verge of passing out. Upstairs, tucked safely in their beds, the twins are sleeping. A shadow breaks free from the entryway to the foyer, Roarke ghosting upstairs to stand guard.

Stone-cold, Katya just stares at Ava, waiting for the punchline.

“No one knew about Niel and Whitney but me, not even Spyder. No one knew about Grandpa until thirty seconds before, yet that text made it clear they knew. It was perfectly timed. The phone number was untraceable, and they knew things no one else did. It was insinuated that Niel was romantically involved with his cousin, but they meant me, not Whitney.”

“Why didn’t you tell us immediately?” Katya is speaking at the same time Caleb demands, “Niel knew he was to contact Syn immediately.”

“Y’all thought exactly what they wanted you to think– I was stuck in a catch-22.” Ava glares at everyone in the living room. “I knew no matter what, I’d be blamed. We all realized we were related, protecting the twins was the only thing that mattered, but Niel and Whitney were more than happy to have an excuse to mess around.”

“I know Niel– why would he risk everything?” Caleb voices exactly what I’m thinking.

“We took a vote.” Ava drops like a live grenade. “I wanted to call Mom and have her make sure Roarke never took his eyes off the twins. I told Niel to call Syn. I wanted to trap our blackmailer. If Whitney had voted with me, Spyder would have too. It would have been majority rule. But Niel had the dick vote.”

“Dick vote?” Cort croaks out, sounding as if he’s caught between laughing and puking.

“Dick vote. If you have a dick, suddenly you’re far superior to where your vote counts more than ours. I was the most rational, intelligent, and least emotional person in that tower, but they all ignored me. Spyder is weak– a follower. I love the girl, but she should never make decisions. Niel and Whitney were too blinded by getting to break the one rule I enforce. Dick vote– the one with the dick votes and he’s automatically the majority, because I’m just a girl, so what the fuck do I know, right?”

“Ava, I need you to stop talking about men–”

“Shut up, Gunner,” Katya snarls, not even looking in his direction. “Can the old-school bullshit around my daughter.”

“Everyone’s calling me a monster, right?” Ava glares at Cortez, nothing but betrayal bleeding in his direction. “I’m going to pull out the I’m a child card and use it now. No one would listen to me, yet I was blamed.”

“I didn’t blame you.” Katya reaches forward, wincing as she moves. Cupping our daughter’s cheek, she whispers something none of us can hear. Voice pitching louder, she allows us to hear the rest. “I blame myself for you not trusting me.”

“I did trust you, Mom!” Frustrated, Ava stalks away again, footsteps pounding like drum beats. “They took my phone from me. I sat in the stairwell braiding Spyder’s hair while they pressed record. They recorded themselves, yet it’s my fault. Niel couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, yet it’s my fault. Niel didn’t wrap it up, yet it’s my fault. Whitney said yes, yet it’s my fault. Whitney said yes to having sex without a condom, yet it’s my fault. They uploaded the video to YouTube themselves, yet it’s my fault. They get pregnant, yet it’s my fault.”

“Monster, no one is blaming you–”

“Don’t.” Now Katya has set Cortez as her next target. “Do not interrupt our daughter again, because you know they’re blaming her. You should have heard Regina.”

“They are,” I admit without hesitation. “They’re going to find someone to take the fall. Probably a gardener’s son willing to take a payoff. They’ll say he seduced Whitney and took the video, hoping for a payout.”

“Or they’ll say I was jealous.” Ava hits the nail on the head. “So I took the video of some poor guy with Whitney, and Niel won’t get into any trouble. I’m a minor, which makes it easier on them. They won’t have to prosecute some dude for taking the video and trying to extort money. With jealousy not a punishable offense, I can’t be arrested for uploading a video of people older than me, even if they aren’t eighteen yet. Whitney will be a whore, her kid a bastard. The girls get the shame and blame, where this will follow me for the rest of my life, but never the entitled little boys with their big dicks.”

Caleb coughs, struggling not to interject something Katya and Ava would find beyond misogynistic. I learned a few years ago to keep my mouth shut when it came to the war of the sexes, because Ava and Katya without fail present a united front. They turn everything into patriarchy and misogyny. I wish Caleb well, having to be around them twenty-four/seven.

“I have nightmares. Sick nightmares of them moaning, no matter how far Spyder and I got away from the tower, and I never even watched the video. Sex is disgusting– I couldn’t imagine giving anyone that power over me.”

The part of me that is the father to a teenage girl is celebrating, while the psychiatrist in me is distraught, never wanting Ava to close herself off from love and intimacy. The man who has lived firmly in reality these past few days, he gladly takes all the blame.

“I never wanted you to have to live this way.” Anyone with ears could hear how much Katya is blaming herself and herself alone. For once, we’re on the same page, both of us acting like martyrs.

“There are only three people at fault.” Ava points at us, and I fear what comes next. “Niel and Whitney and our blackmailer, because they gave into the terrorist, so we couldn’t figure out who it was. I will not take the blame for this!”

“You won’t,” Katya demands, directed solely at me. “You. Won’t.”

“I love Niel, but he was thinking with his dick, which makes me hate him. Us women, we’re just illogical creatures, but we don’t have a dick we think with that gets us into trouble. It was a double gut-punch to be ignored then blamed– they didn’t give a shit about me. But it makes me sick that Niel’s mother attacked Mom because of it.”

Needing to help, I try to jump into the conversation. “I’ll speak to her–”

“Oh, that’s rich.” Ava releases peels of disgusted laughter. “You gonna screw her again while you’re at it? Hmm? That woman should have cut her son’s dick off, not gone after Mom. You should have heard Regina at lunch, practically gloating. Proud of herself, like she was better than Mom because she screwed you. Mark my words, she’s going to regret ever touching my mother.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Caleb beats me to the punch.

Enraged, my daughter reveals her bloodthirsty side. “The men I call my grandfathers are dead to me. My grandmother is dead to me, because any woman who puts up with a man making her feel less for not giving him a son is a worthless woman. She should have left Max , because of how that would make Aunt Lis, Mom, Az, and me feel, like we’re worthless to Grandpa because we don’t have a dick. What about Marcus Zane? He can’t carry the Atwater name, not like Cory’s future son could, so Max probably doesn’t care that he was born. Marcus should have left Regina the second she screwed you, Dad .”

Ava repeatedly stresses her grandfathers’ names, but at least she’s still calling me Dad. “I think this is something we need to work through at a later date, when it’s not mixed in with what happened between Niel and Whitney. Maybe force Max and Clara to join us. Wait for the DNA test to see if Cory Fitzpatrick is even related to you.”

“Ava, none of this is your business.” Cort attempts to turn the tide of the conversation, because Katya and I are too stunned to say anything. “You don’t get a say in anything we do.”

“A man is weak to stay with a woman who cheats on him with his own son– I never want to see Marcus again for as long as he’s with that evil woman. Everyone wonders why Marcus has lost his mind. Regina cut his dick off when she screwed Dad, so what good is Marcus in Dominion? The land where dick rules.”

“Not everything is black and white, little girl.” Caleb takes over, because we’re all speechless. I give him mad props for not laughing, even if it’s obvious by the way his eyes are glistening, teeth pressed into his bottom lip. “They’re adults and it’s none of your business.”

Ava gestures to Katya. “My mother– my business. That woman beat the shit out of Mom because of me, instead of blaming the little prince, Niel. That’s rational. She screwed my dad behind my mom’s back– she blamed Mom today, pretty much saying Mom wasn’t sexy enough or masculine enough to keep Dad’s interest. My business. If you hurt my mother, you’re dead to me– how’s that for black and white?”

“Are you sure you’re not a blood-relation to Syn?” Caleb mutters wryly. “Cory is a kind, gentle soul, no way is he hanging in your family tree. I think the reason your mother and Syn never got along is because of how much they’re alike. Syn would shit a brick if she could hear you now– probably give you a medal or something.”

“Lara raised her, didn’t she?” Katya offers as explanation. “Nature versus nurture. My nature thanks to Clara Walden. Syn’s nurture thanks to Lara Walden. Cory’s hanging on another branch with Priscilla and my father, which is why he’s kind and gentle by nature.”

Speaking of nature– my possessive nature loathes how easily Caleb and Katya volley back and forth with one another.

Stalking to the entrance to the foyer, Ava manages to make her footsteps as loud as possible, gaining our undivided attention. She makes her grand exit, as dramatic as Cort could possibly imagine.

“You think Generation Next had the power to destroy adults, just wait and see how much power I have at my fingertips now, when no one can trace the truth back to me. I will ruin Regina Regal, and I don’t care who I take down with her.”

Biting back laughter, I imagine my daughter as a one-dimensional villain in a novel, then remember she is my daughter, which means she meant every single word she uttered.

Katya struggles to stand from the loveseat, palms pressed hard against her thighs as she rises. “Ava–”

“NO!” Our daughter whips around so fast, her own ponytail swats her in the cheek. “If you go back to him–” Ava flips me off as a way of gesturing at me, and I’m stunned speechless. “You’re dead to me too, Mom.”

A heartbeat passes as we listen to Ava clomp up the staircase, none of us able to form speech yet. Then uncomfortable laughter descends.

“We need to stop her,” Cortez is the voice of reason. “Ava will take Regina down.”

“Eh!” Caleb points at the bits of circuitry smashed into the rug. “The teenage girl’s magic wand is broken.”

Chuckling, Katya struggles to bend down. “Allow me to pick up the mic Ava just dropped.” Twisting at an unnatural angle, Katya’s ear-piercing scream has ice flooding my veins. The bleating will forever haunt my nightmares.

“Call Syn NOW!” Caleb bellows at me, charging across the room to catch Katya before she lands on the floor.

Cort hits his knees, immediately falling to Katya’s side, as I pull my cellphone from my back pocket.

“Tell them to bring the bus!” Caleb shouts in a panic, which utterly terrifies me. “I don’t like the looks of that wound on her side.”

“No. Don’t touch me!” Lashing out like a wounded animal, Katya finds strength in her panic. She charges out of the living room, cuts across the foyer, then locks herself in the powder room before anyone has the chance to react.

For the rest of my days, that scream will haunt me, but not as much as what happens in the next hour.