Page 122 of Vengeance and Vipers
‘Raise me for what?’
She shrugs. ‘You’d know better than me. We just did what we were told. They owned us all. They said if we did the job, they’d free us when it was done. One day, they came, and we’d kept our end, so they kept theirs.’
Tears come to my eyes, and she sighs like I’m an inconvenience to her.
‘Look, I’m sorry if they never told you, but I did my job, and I held up my end. I’m free now. I have a husband, kids of my own. They don’t know about my past, and I want to keep it that way.’
But why—
She paces away from me. ‘If I’d said no, I’d have been punished severely, and they would have just picked someone else. You know how it works.’
I nod.Yeah, I know how it works.
‘What are you doing here?’ I ask.
She flashes me a ring. ‘I told you. I have a family now,’ she says.
I take a deep breath. My mom’s gone from dead to fake in the space of two minutes.
I stare at her.
She looks bored.
‘Who am I?’ I ask. ‘Can you tell me? Who were my real parents?’
She shakes her head. ‘I never knew anything about your biological parents or where you came from. I can’t help you. I’m going to go back to the party now. You stay away from me and my husband, do you hear me?’
I nod numbly.
She steps forward. ‘And, just in case you’re too stupid to realize, you can’t tell anyone about this,’ she says, her voice sharp. ‘No one can know that you met me. In return, I won’t tell anyone that you’re here either, but you keep your mouth shut, Julia.’ She looks me up and down. ‘Because we both know he didn’t let you go, did he?’
I shake my head.
‘Don’t you dare try to make me feel bad!’ she hisses. ‘If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else.’
She turns away and goes to the door. ‘He always gets what he wants. They all do.’
The woman who I thought was my mother leaves the room without looking at me again, and I’m left alone, reeling.
That was my mom. I loved her. Was it really all pretend for her all that time? I stay where I am, afraid I’ll faint or something if I get up.
Who am I? Who were my parents? Are they dead? Why was I taken from them? Why did they do all those things to me?
‘I don’t understand any of this,’ I whisper to myself.
I can’t go back to the party now. I just can’t. The door to the Parlor opens, and a tipsy couple stumble in, giggling. I leave the room quickly as they enter, wanting to be alone. But there are people everywhere, and I don’t want to see any of the clan right now, either.
I make for the kitchen, slipping inside and belatedly remembering that the catering staff are using it as their base of operations.
I make my way quickly across the room to the back, feeling stifled and lightheaded.
I need some air!
I run out of the house with a gasp, my head spinning. I close the heavy door behind me, leaning on it as I try not to cry.
‘Are you okay, sweetheart? What’s wrong?’
I look up to find Tabitha propped up against the brickwork, smoking a cigarette.
