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“Do you know her, Dad?”
Mr. Dixon was pale, his grip on Mrs. Quinn fierce. “No. I . . .”
“Why is she so protective of this niece of hers?” Holt’s low rumble from behind me was full of menace. Baker slid an arm around his waist, though his jaw remained clenched.
Andrew appeared ready to spit fire. “Does anybody know what the hell is going on? Because this seems way too convenient to be a coincidence.”
Terra shrugged off Marlow’s mother as she made her way toward me.
“Thanks,” I said as she approached.
“I am sorry. I know you kept someone from raping me. I was out of it, but that much I remember.”
“Stay away from him.” Ivette yanked on Terra’s arm.
“Easy there. This is between us. Has nothing to do with you.”
“You raped my daughter,” she screamed. Her mouth snapped shut.
The color drained from Terra’s face. “You’re my aunt,” she whispered.
I tried to do mental calculations in my head to no avail. Terra would be a few years older than Holt, so the math didn’t add up.
Ivette smoothed her hair. “You’re right, sweetheart. You’ve always been like a daughter to me. I spoke out of turn.”
Marlow recoiled. I untangled our fingers and put an arm around her shoulders.
“She had something to do with this?” I flicked my chin at Ivette.
Terra’s cheeks turned scarlet. “She said she saw you”—she swallowed hard—“rape me.”
Rage boiled deep within me into a rolling current. “When? How?”
“The party was at her house.” Her gaze flicked to Marlow’s mother. “Aunt Ivette was the cool aunt.”
“You had a house in Cape Elizabeth? Even though at that time you were still married to Mr. Dixon?” I asked incredulously. It was difficult to wrap my mind around this woman being in the same town in Maine I grew up in.
The woman remained silent, clutching her niece’s shoulder.
“The details were fuzzy at first. But I remember you getting him off of me. Aunt Ivette must have seen you putting my clothes back on. The next thing I knew, there’s a non-disclosure agreement and a settlement.”
I pointed at Ivette. “You knew my family had money. You seized the opportunity to collect.”
“And if my dear niece hadn’t opened her mouth, we could’ve gotten even more.”
My frown deepened. “It was you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The texts. The leaks to the press.Youdid it.”
“I’m not the one who solicited sex from a federal agent.” She brushed off an imaginary piece of lint from her arm.
“You wouldn’t get any money. Terra would have.” She flashed me a devious smile as Terra paled. “She’d have given you some.”
“It was my duty to make sure she was justly served. That measly amount your parents gave didn’t even last until Terra went to college.”
“I thought it was supposed to be for her college.”
