Page 161 of Pieces of Her (Andrea Oliver 1)

“QuellCorp,” Andy said.

“Billions,” Paula said. “All from the suffering and exploitation of the sick.”

“So you’re holding me ransom for money?”

“Hell no. I don’t want her fucking blood money. This has nothing to do with QuellCorp. The family divested years ago. None of them have anything to do with it. Except raking in the dough from their stock options.”

Andy wondered if that’s where the cash came from in the Reliant. You had to pay taxes on stock gains, but if Laura was in witness protection, then everything would be above-board.

Right?

Paula said, “Jane never told you any of this?”

Andy didn’t bother to confirm what the woman already knew.

“Did she tell you who your father is?”

Andy kept her mouth shut. She knew who her father was.

“Don’t you want to know?”

Gordon was her father. He had raised her, taken care of her, put up with her maddening silences and indecision.

Paula gave a heavy, disappointed sigh. “Nicholas Harp. She never told you?”

Andy felt her curiosity rise, but not for the obvious reason. She recognized the name from the Wikipedia page. Harp had died of an overdose years before Andy was born.

She told Paula, “You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not. Nick is the leader of the Army of the Changing World. Everybody should know his name, but especially you.”

“Wiki said that Clayton Morrow—”

“Nicholas Harp. That’s your father’s chosen name. Half of that bullshit on Wikipedia is lies. The other half is speculation.” Paula leaned across the table, excited. “The Army of the Changing World stood for something. We really were going to change the world. Then your mother lost her nerve and it all turned into a shitshow.”

Andy shook her head, because all they had done was kill people and terrorize the country. “That professor was murdered in San Francisco. Most of the people in your group are dead. Martin Queller was assassinated.”

“You mean, your grandfather?”

Andy felt jarred. She had not had time to make the connection.

Martin Queller was her grandfather.

He had been married to Annette Queller, her grandmother.

Which meant that Jasper Queller, the asshole billionaire, was her uncle.

Was Laura a billionaire, too?

“Finally putting it together, huh?” Paula tossed a stray piece of deli meat into her mouth. “Your father has been in prison for three decades because of Jane. She kept you away from him. You could’ve had a relationship, gotten to know who he is, but she denied you that honor.”

Andy knew exactly who Clayton Morrow was, and she wanted nothing to do with him. He was not her father any more than Jerry Randall was. She had to believe that, because the alternative would have her curled into a ball on the floor.

“Come on.” Paula wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Give me some more questions.”

Andy thought through the last few days, the list of unknowns she had jotted down after meeting Paula. “What changed your mind back in Austin? One minute you were telling me to leave, the next minute you were telling me to look for Clara Bellamy.”

Paula nodded, as if she approved of the question. “The pig whose nuts you marshmallowed. I figured you wouldn’t have done that if you were working with your mother.”