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He’s a lot less weirded out by the helicopter than I am, that’s for sure.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Mother.”
My heart drops.
“Alda Penmayne?”
“I have no other mother,” August tells me. “You remember her?”
Oh, I remember Alda. I remember her face when she caught me dancing in the movie room. I remember her face when she was waiting for us at Crystal River Airport. I remember her telling me I was to walk home that day.
“Yes, I remember her, August. What’s she doing here? Did you know she was coming?”
August shakes his head.
“I don’t have a clue, and she didn’t call ahead. I don’t like this.”
“I really don’t want to see her, August.”
“Stay here,” he says. “I’ll talk to her and see what she wants. You don’t have to talk to her. She doesn’t have to know you’re here.”
“Please,” I whisper. “I really don’t want her to know I’m here, August.”
“I’ll make sure of that,” he says.
We can both tell it is already too late for us to do anything to escape. August leaps out of bed and hastily puts on some jeans and a shirt before he’s opening the door. I get a glimpse of Alda through the doorway. She’s descending into the penthouse from her landed helicopter. She can’t see me, but I canmost definitelysee her.
She’s accompanied by a small army of security as she makes her way into August’s penthouse. She looks like a powerful queen at the height of her powers over her dominion.
And, just like it was back when I was a teenager, she looks fuckingterrifying.
August gives me a sympathetic glance before he shuts his bedroom door. I’m appreciative that I don’t have to go out there and face the Penmayne matriarch.
But I can still hear their conversation through the door. Alda’s cutthroat voice penetrates the entire penthouse.
“Hello, August.”
“Mother, what are you doing here?” August asks her.
There is a long pause before she answers.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Octavia, and I thought it best to actually speak to you in person. You know how much I detest using the phone. So I flew out here this morning to catch you before you were in the hospital.”
“Talk to me about what with Octavia?” August asks.
“Well, I have heard the most awful thing about you publicly rejecting her, and I want to make sure that it was a mere rumor and not the truth,” she says. A pause. “Did I just wake you?”
I can hear movement outside the bedroom door.
“Yes, you did. There’s no need for you to come all this way to talk to me, Mother. Honestly, a phone call would have sufficed.”
“What are hiding in your bedroom, August? You seem suspicious.”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, August. Something is up.”
