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My anger deflates as quickly as it came. “You know?”
“I’ve always known Ava’s mine,” he snaps, a vein pulsing near his temple. “I was in love with you, Cora. It means I studied you at length. Every facial expression, every smile, every sigh. While you were busy trying to impress the Medvilles, I was watching you.”
“There’s a name for that. It’s stalker.”
A mean response because I knew how Spencer felt about me, but I lied to him, regardless. I’m not proud of what I did, deliberately sleeping with Harlan to ensure everyone thought he was the father of my child. And the lengths Spencer went to in order to ultimately protect Ava proves how much he loved his daughter despite me telling him otherwise.
I’ve made so many mistakes. I have to live with so many regrets. It’s sickening, but I vow to do better with Lucy.
“You were into me too.” A frown slashes his brow. “That’s how I knew Ava was mine because you targeted Harlan hard in the weeks after we slept together, like you needed his money, which meant you had something, or someone, to protect.”
I could lie to him again, but what’s the point? I must get out of this chamber and to do that, I need him on my side.
“You’re right. She’s yours.”
Anger sparks his eyes. “Thanks for the confirmation. Not that I need it. I’ve been a better parent to Ava than you ever were.” His glare is laser-like, skewering me with hatred. “Did you kill her?”
“Of course not. I’m not a monster.”
He pauses, as if begging to differ. “Lucy told me what happened, but I’m not sure I believe your story.”
Tears burn the back of my eyes at the memory of what I did. “It’s the truth. I just wanted to talk to Ava, but she wanted nothing to do with me. I went after her and in an effort to get away from me, she stumbled on the curb and fell in front of the bus.” Sorrow squeezes my chest at the loss of my daughter and yet another tiny white lie I have to tell. “It was horrific.”
“So horrific you came back here and pretended like you hadn’t even been in the city?” His tone is scathing. “Can you see how that might make me suspicious?”
I want to yell that I don’t care what he thinks. Ava is dead and all the retributions in the world won’t bring her back. But I need to tread carefully because now I’ve confirmed Lucy is his granddaughter, who knows how far he’ll go to turn her against me?
I never would’ve thought this gentle man, who knows about my ocean phobia, would trap me in here in some warped attempt at getting me to spill the truth. Placating him is the only way I’ll get out of here.
“You mentioned Lucy told you what I said to her about Ava’s death. Does that mean you’re chummy with her?”
“She trusts me, because I haven’t lied to her from the start.” He presses his face closer to the glass as if trying to get a closer look at me and his upper lip curls in a sneer, as if he doesn’t like what he sees. “Why did you do that? If you knew who she was, why not tell her when she arrived?”
At last, a question I can answer honestly.
“Because I wanted to give her time to get to know me.” I sweep my arms wide. “To fall in love with Arcania as much as I have. This will be her legacy and I didn’t want to force the issue—“
“I can’t believe this. You’re as obsessed as Harlan was.” He scowls. “Is Arcania all that matters to you?”
I want to deny his accusation, but there’s been enough lying. “Arcania is everything to me and knowing I have family to inherit it has made me tread carefully with Lucy. I don’t want to scare her off.”
“Like how you scared off her mother, you mean?”
“I loved Ava!” I yell, pounding the glass with my fist again. “But she abandoned Arcania and I don’t want Lucy to do the same, which is why I’ve made sure she falls in love with this place as much as I did.”
Spencer’s eyes widen and I realize that in the heat of the moment, I’ve said too much.
“What did you do?”
My heart sinks, but he’s lived at Arcania longer than I have, so I assume he knows what Magnus and Helga did to new arrivals to keep them happy.
“Do you know about the micro-dosing?”
His glower is formidable. “What the Medvilles did to newcomers? Yeah. Those weekly parties they threw for the employees where they’d spike the punch with whatever drug they had handy…” He trails off as realization dawns. “You’ve been drugging Lucy?”
His skin is mottled, his eyes so wide I can see the whites. I don’t blame him for being enraged, but he doesn’t understand. I’ll do anything to ensure Lucy stays with me here and gets what’s rightfully hers.
“Not drugging exactly, but micro-dosing with hallucinogens in her water bottles and smoothies, then projecting old videos of Ava onto the walls so she thinks the house has otherworldly qualities and her mother is tied to it somehow.”
