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“What do you think a flesh sale is, Juliet?” When I don’t answer, my mind blanking, she rolls her eyes and lets the gun fall to her hip. “Christ, you’ve lived with your sister all this time, and you two never talked about what happened to her?”
I glance up at the pictures, then back at her, confusion causing a deep throb in my head. Nausea rips through me as I process, recalling how my father used Caroline, how he was trying tosell her to Kieranbefore Elia proposed to her.
But then, what she’s insinuating istrafficking.Girls kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder, forced to commercialize their innocence.
Tears sting my eyes as the realization sinks in, weighing me down like a concrete block tied to my ankle. My hands curl into fists, the guilt amplifying tenfold when I remember how badly I missed my father, how I ignored Caroline’s pain and experiences in light of the loss I had endured.
How, up until this moment, the blackest, most evil part of my soul was still hoping my mother would change.
“I tried to get your father to involve you as well, said you’d be worth twice as much as Caroline based on age alone. But he swore his men didn’t want damaged goods.” Her lips press into a thin line and she shrugs, like she doesn’t know how her words cut me.
A piece of my soul breaks off and shatters, dissolving into my veins. It drags my sadness along with it, coating my insides like a Picasso, making my body wobble even as I prop myself against the wall for support.
“We thought we could buy Kieran off, keep him from siccing the FBI on us after he took down his brother Murphy. So, your father offered Caroline in exchange for his silence, and a flash drive that would damn the entire town if it got into the wrong hands.” Distance grows in her irises, memories stealing her attention; I scoot the soles of my feet across the floor, edging farther away as she continues. “Of course, we didn’t know he’d already ratted us out. They shut down our whole operation, forced your father to rely on the connections he’d made. Theyguttedus, Juliet. Took the majority of our girls, our resources, and seized a huge portion ofmyfinances. And they didn’t even know who they were dealing with.”
She points the barrel of her gun up at a picture of Elia, then another of the Ivers posing in front of Ivers International. “It was easy to redirect attention from an esteemed senator to the crime lords running this shitty little town while I spread business around, took it elsewhere. Factories, businesses already delving into criminal territory that had less to lose. I tried to locate the flash drive Kieran has, but I know he buried it in that tomb instead of his brother. You ever ask what he did with his body? I bet that’s a fun story.”
Blinking away the haze forming behind my eyes, the knowledge that one of our town’s revered priests is involved in criminal activity and that the bones I found in Kieran’s closet all those weeks ago now have a likely ID, I wring my hands together just for something to do. I can’t focus on the latter half of that statement, not considering I knew about it, knew what I was getting into when I chose to sleep with Kieran.
And every subsequent time, I knew. He never tried to hide himself or make excuses. The only apologies I get from him revolve around my pain. Hurt he’s never inflicted, at least not on purpose or without reason.
Skeletons in my closet he’s not responsible for.
Even with the knowledge of what he does for a living, the unconventionality of the mafia and its contrast of ambiguous codes and breaking the law,thisstill seems worse.
Maybe that’s how Caroline justifies Elia’s trade.
Goodness outweighing the evil inside, a reverse preservation.
Because even industry criminals have rules. Limits. My parents, Father O’Leary, Murphy—they aren’t the same.
They’re depraved in a way that makes even the Devil’s skin crawl.
“Are you… are you telling me you’ve been running a sex trafficking ring?”
“You didn’t think your father would be the brains behind it, did you? That man was about as bright as a bag of rocks. Where would he have gotten the money to fund something like that, anyway?” Laughing to herself, she swipes hair back from her face, returning her attention to me. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I freeze in place, my heart stuttering. I’m closer to the door at this point than I am her, but she still has that damn gun. My odds aren’t great.
But after a lifetime of being her emotional punching bag, of trying to navigate the rift she caused between Caroline and me, I’ll be damned if I let her keep me here without a fight.
There’s no point in acknowledging any growth in myself if I can’t make use of it. Put it into action, Hana says.Manifest it.
Even if it hurts.
Even if it kills you.
My hand flies to the locket around my neck, and I channel some of my sister’s strength, some of Kieran’s determination, Elia’s protection. It warps inside me, a hurricane building until I feel it implode, an explosion lighting up every inch of my being.
When I launch myself at my mother, throwing as much of my weight into the jump as possible to carry me to her, I concentrate on the euphoria that speeds through you like a drug when you finally confront your demons.
And now, this isn’t a fight I intend to lose. Not when I’ve already squandered so much.
The attack throws her off, and she startles, stumbling back as my fist connects with her jaw, my fingers scraping for traction in her scalp; I grip at the roots, yanking back and shoving her into the wall.
Her arm jerks into me, a defensive move, knocking the gun into my ribs and stealing the air from my lungs. It stuns me for a split second, pain radiating through my body like a bomb detonating inside, pushing a paralyzing tingle down my limbs.
Regaining my momentum as she tries to shift her fingers back over the trigger, I land a fist into her stomach, reveling in the whoosh of breath that escapes her, then slam the side of her skull into the cement wall, the soft thud of bone splitting beneath the force not one I think I’ll ever forget.
