The moment he says the words, air gets trapped in my lungs, and I shake my head frantically.
“No.”
“Yes.” He stands too. “It’s what he offers the Marx women as a twenty-fifth birthday gift.”
“I don’t believe you.” I shake my head, taking a step back.
“Okay, you’re right. Offering it as a gift is a little far-fetched.” He shrugs like this conversation is no big deal. “It’s normally an ultimatum. One he makes practically impossible to choose the alternative. That’s one part I don’t have a lot of information on, but he did it. To your sisters. To his own daughters.”
“Who? Which one of my cousins?”
“Bernadette,” he answers grimly. “She was the first, and that’s what started his obsession with it. She fell pregnant to a family rival and ran off with him when she was twenty-five. By the time Ewan found her, the baby had been born, only two weeks old. The father of the baby was found floating down the Murray a week later, and the child was taken from her and adopted out. Ewan told Bernadette that if she ever got pregnant again, thesame thing would happen, so he urged her to agree to a hysterectomy.” AJ shrugs. “And she did.”
“But she was an adult…” I flop back down onto the chair. “I don’t understand why she’d do that…”
“Your uncle doesn’t make it easy to leave, Lily. You know that.”
He’s right. Idoknow that.
“Who else?” I ask, needing all the information.
“Your cousins, Cassandra and Fallon.”
“So,everyfemale Marx over twenty-five?” I ask, and he nods.
“Quinlan’s next in line. Her birthday is later this year.” His words send a brittle chill over me, and I gulp thickly.
Shit. Little Quinny. She was only five years old when I left.
It’s hard to wrap my head around this, and almost impossible to believe, but this is Ewan Marx we are talking about, and it sounds like he’s become more unhinged over the years.
“So what’s so urgent that I need to get back for Gracie’s twenty-first birthday?” I ask, needing to piece this together.
“It’ll be the first time in years that every Marx family member will be in one place at the same time,” he admits, and my brows shoot up.
“How do I know you’re not planning to bomb the place and remove us all from existence?”
“Well, you’d have to take my word that I’m not planning to do that.”
I scoff, and he chuckles.
“Ewan is my target, Lily. He’s the one who has the final say over everything that happens in the Marx family. And he’s the one who’s done unspeakable things. Your cousins and siblings are not my concern and therefore not my target.”
“What aboutmyparents?” I ask, and he shrugs.
“I have a feeling any part they played will resolve itself.”
Throwing my hands up, I shake my head. “What does that even mean?”
“That’s all I can tell you,” he sighs. “So, how about it? Do you want to return home for a little family reunion and light a fire under Ewan’s arse?”
Do I want to return home? Not really.
But do I want to light a fire under Ewan’s arse? Hell yes, I do.
A slow, sinister smirk pulls at my lips. “If I can corroborate this information about my sisters and cousins, then yeah, I’ll go home for the party.”
AJ smiles. Like actually smiles.
