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I shoved her back a step, and she put a fearful hand to the place where I’d touched her, cowering back.
“It’s fine, Rook,” Ava Jade said in a deadpan voice. “She can’t ever hurt me again. If she tries, I’ll fucking end her.”
Valerie’s throat bobbed.
“I really am clean, Ava Jade. I’m… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your Thanksgiving.”
Enough.
Before Valerie could turn away like the kicked dog she was pretending to be, I lifted the purse from her shoulder and upturned it on the carpet, shaking out all its contents.
Valerie shrieked.
I kicked around the lipstick tubes, dollar bills, and panties that were now dotting the Persian carpet, but didn’t find what I was looking for.
I stuffed my hand into the purse, checking the other pockets and the zippered closure, but they were all empty. I thrust the purse back at Valerie, finding Ava Jade staring at me. “It’s clean,” I announced with a shrug. My Ghost didn’t seem upset though, a deep understanding was all I saw in her eyes.
She knew I suspected her mother wasn’t clean, and she trusted me. But the purse devoid of drugs or any drug paraphernalia begged to differ.
“You want to go, AJ?” Grey asked, settling a gentle hand on Ava Jade’s back as her mother dropped to her knees to collect her things back into her purse.
Humphrey returned, glowering at the scene.
“How dare you, Ava Jade, that is your mother. She’s been in rehab for months. I thought you’d be glad to see her.”
Humphrey helped the woman to her feet, whispering reassurances in her ear.
Ava Jade seethed quietly, watching her aunt and mother with a mix of dark and painful things glittering in her eyes.
“I don’t believe that for one second,” Ava Jade said. “She’s here to fleece you, Aunt Humphrey. Go ahead and call the rehab center she claims to have attended. I doubt they’ve ever heard of her.”
That struck a nerve with Valerie.
She pulled away from Ava Jade’s aunt and spat onto the carpet, her expression quickly changing from practiced weakness to the sort of deranged mania that only an addict could bring to the surface. “You always were a little bitch!”
“Valerie!” Humphrey exclaimed.
“Oh, don’t act so surprised,” Ava Jade slung at her aunt. “You know what she did to me and you still let her come here? You’re just as bad as she is.”
“I can’t stand for this,” Humphrey said, lengthening her spine, lifting her chin. “I must ask you all to leave. I never should have taken you in, you vile, vile girl. I should’ve known you’d turn out just as rotten as your father.”
Ghost’s eyes flashed with malice.
“When those men came here looking for money, I thought it was an opportunity to save you, but I can see now you don’t want to be saved.”
“What?” Ava Jade hissed, and I could see her pulse racing in her veins from here, could almost hear it. Taste it. Like when she was fighting in the ring, my Ghost radiated violence. My darkness was ready to go to war with hers.
“What?” Ava Jade repeated, showing her teeth. “What men?”
“Those awful gangsters. They said they’d kill him if I didn’t pay what he owed but I don’t negotiate with criminals.” She folded her arms over her chest.
Ava Jade snapped.
She took out a blade and closed the gap between herself and her aunt in a flash, not even I was fast enough to stop her. Though, I didn’t want to.
I watched, enraptured as Ava Jade held a blade to her aunt’s hanging throat. “You fucking monster. You could’ve saved him!” her voice broke.
Grey and Corvus stood next to me now, watching as our queen exacted the justice she deserved. She didn’t need our help here, as much as I would’ve loved to have a piece of it.
