Page 186 of Sweet Venom

“How so? You can’t just believe your deranged son’s rhetoric. That boy was mentally unwell, and we all knew it. Why are you even considering his ramblings?”

“Because I did a DNA test.” Lawrence drags a black leather folder from the top of the desk and places it on the coffee table in front of us. “First, Violet and me. As you can see, we share approximately twenty-five percent of our DNA, meaning we share a close familial relationship. Half-sibling, to be more specific. Then I performed another DNA test that shows Violet shares fifty percent of her DNA with Father, and there’s a ninety-nine point nine percent chance of him being her biological father.”

The first to reach for the tests are Lilith and Jude. Marguerite looks away, her face scrunched in a dark frown. Winston’s face pales further, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t even look at me. Kane and Atlas lean down to study the tests, but I’m just staring dumbfounded at Lawrence.

“How…?”

“You have to forgive me, Violet. I might have collected your DNA without your consent, but I needed to confirm a few things first. Such as…” Lawrence pulls out the bracelet. The one that was bloody is now shiny new. “You gave this to Savannah Winters in case she needed it to reach you, didn’t you, Father?”

Winston looks at me for the first time, and I can’t unsee it. My eyes are in his frail ones. The color blue that’s bordering on teal is so unique and strikingly the same. “Where is she?Savannah?”

“She died about twelve years ago.” I choke on my words. “Drug overdose.”

He nods once, and I think I see a sliver of pain pass through him.

I want to ask him many things, but he speaks again, looking out into the distance. “She was a star ballerina. A beautiful swan that I trapped. I didn’t know she was pregnant, though.”

“Because Mother made sure of it,” Lawrence says, looking at Marguerite. “According to the former head of staff you sent to the Caribbean with enough fortune to keep her mouth shut, Savannah came here to ask for money for her and the baby in her belly. You told her if she didn’t abort it, you’d kill them both. You gave her some pocket change to disappear, but apparently, Savannah just put on the show of having an abortion and bribed the doctor to let her keep the baby. Then she moved a couple of states down and started from scratch in the worst circumstances imaginable. Maybe she thought there would be a day where she’d show up in front of my father again and use Violet for money. Maybe she died before she could ever do that.”

My heart thumps so loudly, I can barely hear anything beyond my own heartbeat.

All this time, I thought I was the daughter of one of my mother’s clients, but she was a ballerina? I thought she was just a socialite before she fell from grace.

No wonder she used to hate anyNutcrackerholiday season shows, but sometimes, when she was drunk, she’d be whirling and dancing and then crying.

Turns out, I really did kill her career.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lawrence.” Marguerite huffs. “You can’t accuse me without proof.”

“Oh, I have proof. Aside from the former head of staff’s testimony, I have records of when you sold some of your properties via an agent around the time you had to pay the former head of staff and Savannah from your own money. I also have records of Swiss bank transactions to one of our former guards that you’ve been paying to assassinate Violet for a few months now—including the time when my son got shot.”

Atlas whistles. “Wow. You’ve been quite busy, Mother.”

“All this time…” Jude stands up. “It’s been you?”

Marguerite cowers in her seat. “I was just protecting my family. That leech, Savannah, was trouble. I could see all her gold-digging ploys in her beady eyes. I should’ve killed her when she first showed up at my door, that greedy whore! I thought we were done with her nonsense, but then I spotted this little gremlin on Jude’s bike in front of the house up the hill. I had my suspicions she was that bitch’s daughter since she looks so much like her and confirmed it with a little background check, so of course I had to eliminate her. I couldn’t let her continue her mother’s cursed legacy and become a parasite to my family!”

“I never wanted to be part of your family!” I scream back. “I don’t care about any of your wealth or a father I’ve never met. I lived my entire life believing I was fatherless, and this changes nothing.”

“You say that now, but then you’ll have your greedy hands all over my family.”

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Mother,” Lawrence says. “If you cared about family so much, you wouldn’t have killed your own grandson just to get rid of Violet.”

“He got in the way like an idiot.”

“You killed my son!” Lawrence yells, losing his cool forthe first time. “You put a bullet inmy.Fucking. Son, Mother! So don’t you dare sit there and try to play the role of a victim.”

Winston stands up, banging his cane on the floor. The whole room falls silent as Marguerite grabs onto his hand. “Honey, you know I did this for us, forourfamily.”

“There’s no us or family when you attempted to kill my daughter and murdered my grandson. Pack your things and leave by tomorrow morning.” His expression is cool and unperturbed as he pulls his hand free. “Lawrence, Atlas. Strip this woman of every last dime to her name.”

Lawrence nods.

Atlas salutes. “I’ll invest your money well, Mother.”

“Winston!” she cries, her voice cracking. “You can’t do this to me.”

He stops by the door and glances at me. “I’m sorry, child.”