Page 107 of The Confidant

“It will be fine,” Maman waves him off with a fond smile.

“What will you do with the house?” Daniella asks warily.

I tilt back in my chair like I got gut-punched. Even Daniella doesn’t know about this? They’re best friends who tell each other everything. Or is that a lie, too? I’m starting to wonder aboutallof my family.

How broken are we? How far gone has Maman gone?

“Sell it, of course,” Maman reaches out for her hand and gushes, “You can come with us.”

“Move again?” Daniella asks, trying to mask her plaintive tone.

“I’m sure we can find more help for that,” Maman assures her. She acts as if there’s nothing wrong with what she’s planning. Not just to uproot herself, but Dani and Joseph, too. Next, she’ll have everyone moving here.

“That’s it? Screw everyone else?” Trevor’s friendly mask has slipped, with a bland, mocking tone.

“That’s the kind of behavior that doesn’t belong around a little one.” Maman’s eyes narrow on him the same way she would if she were scolding any of us. This time, I see the clear disdain she holds for him.

Unlucky for her, the feeling is mutual on Trevor’s side. And he’s learning not to keep that anger built up inside him.

“Did you discuss this withanyof your family before deciding you’re going to change their entire lives?” Trevor presses on, crossing his arms over his chest.

Already force-feeding her logic.

“No, she didn’t,” Joseph strides in, looking pissed. The way he’s scowling has my shoulders tensing up. Not in fear of him but in concern. Addie isn’t with him, and he’s furious. I’m out of my seat again before I think about moving.

“Hang on, son. She’s ok,” he puts a hand up to stop me without taking his focus off the back of Maman’s head.

“I know it’s sudden,” Maman says with a sigh, turning to face him. “This will be good for us.”

“We’ll discuss that when we gethome,” he tells her in a stern voice, his anger going from white hot to freezing in seconds. “You told me we’re here to check in with Adelaide, not this. Seems we have a lot to talk about. First, I’d like to know why Adelaide isn’tallowedto call me Pa.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Maman asks in confusion.

Daniella raises her brows at the response. She shares a disbelieving look with Sophia but stays quiet.

“I saw that,” Suzette snaps, leaning forward to point at them both. “What was that? What do you two know that we don’t?”

Joseph turns to Dani with a grim look. She folds immediately, withering in her chair like a scared teen.

“Maman didn’t like it. She told Addie she could never call you that. So you wouldn’t pick her as a favorite.”

The faint defensive mutter has the hair on the back of my neck standing up. A shiver of cold runs down my spine.

Addie never said a word about it. I thought she just wanted to give me my own space to be with him. A real connection with a father figure without her in the way. She’s the one who got me to talk to Joseph in the first place.

I remember her chattering away while I sullenly walked around the yard with her. When she shoved me into the shed where Joseph was working on his project car and slammed the door shut, I was just as bewildered as he was.

As a teen that was doing a lot of illegal shit out of some inner rebellion to continue punishing myself, a heart-to-heart with a cop wasn’t on my agenda. I was pissed at her for months after.

“And you, Dani? Did you not like it? Sophia? Hell, all of you?” Joseph spears us with his interrogation stare without mercy.

Dani and Sophia wilt in their seats, and Suzette looks completely confused. I admit I feel the same, even though my expression is frozen.

Joseph nods and rubs a hard hand over his jaw angrily. The next question is all for Maman.

“Why?”

“It sounds worse than it is,” Maman frowns at him.

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