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That would fit, if it made Dad so angry that he went after Catherine, but something about it feels off. “Maybe. What was he doing when you left?”
“He brought Mom upstairs.” A subtle shiver. “I don’t go near their bedroom when they’re in there.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “I don’t blame you.”
“Catherine just…she doesn’t want to get married.” Lydia leans into me, her shoulders rounding.
“I know.”
“Hehurther.”
“It’s awful.”
“Butwhy?” She pops up and looks at me, her dark eyes shining. Tears and disbelief. “I don’t understand what happened. He’s—he’s a monster. What happened to make him act like this?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Lyd.”
She stares at me. Shakes her head. “Some dads are like him. I know that. I’m not some naïve little kid. Catherine didn’t get caught smoking weed by the bleachers, though. She didn’t—”
“Hey. Listen to me. It’s not okay for him to cane you for smoking weed, either. It’s not okay for him to do thatever.”
“But Catherine’s not doing anything. She just doesn’t want to marry Jacob Chambers. How can he act like this when she’s not doing anything?”
“I don’t—”
“There’s no reason! It’s not like we’re in one of those old movies. We won’t lose all our money if Catherine doesn’t get married. Dad will still have tons of money.”
There isonething that could have him on edge, and that’s the consortium. I’m in it now. Gabriel and Jacob are in it now. I have to hold it together for Lydia, but a cold, prickling feeling whips over my stomach. The initiation he made us participate in was extreme, from having me kidnapped outside the bakery to forcing Gabriel and Jacob to have sex with me in front of the rest of the members.
“That’s true. He’ll still have all his money.”
“He’s ourdad.And he’s doing the worst possible thing to Catherine. How can he do this? How can he be so evil?”
Lydia breaks, folding into me, and her pinched sobs crack my heart open.
I’m not going to tell her that locking Catherine in her room isn’t the worst he can do. If he’d have me kidnapped and used as some weird sacrifice for the consortium, he won’t hesitate to go further with Catherine.
I can feel her heartbreak in her shaking shoulders.
What can I say? I’ve known what our dad was like since I was a little girl. He showed me exactly who he was, and taught me to be the same way. Part of me still held out hope. Part of me was like Lydia. I thought there would be a line he wouldn’t cross.
That line doesn’t exist. The initiation proved that. It could be why he’s escalated things with Catherine. As much as that night hurt Gabriel, he still managed to get the upper hand. He managed to turn my father’s sick little sacrifice into a show he was running.
I wouldn’t have guessed that the initiation would push him over the edge like this. But then…sometimes people’s breaking points are unpredictable. My father taught me to look for weak spots in contracts and relationships. Lots of the games he played were designed to teach me to exploit those weaknesses. To push on soft, vulnerable places until they bent or broke.
Breaking Catherine could be a way of getting Jacob under his thumb. If Jacob thinks he owes our father, then he might be convinced to turn on Gabriel.
“I wish I had an answer for you, Lyddie.” I stroke her hair. It doesn’t feel like enough. It’snotenough. “I wish I knew.”
Maybe, if I’d known, I could have changed things.
I close my eyes and picture sinking my fists into fresh dough. I picture hoisting a fifty-pound bag of flour from the delivery truck to the kitchen. I picture Gabriel’s eyes fluttering shut at the taste of my buttercream frosting.
Getting wrapped up in guilt isn’t going to help anybody, least of all Catherine.
That doesn’t mean I’m letting myself off the hook. People died because of the things I said to my dad. But Catherine is alive now, and she needs help. I can’t second-guess myself. I can’t let her down.
Lydia takes a shaky breath and sits back up, swiping even harder at her face. “Okay, I’m—I’m fine. What should we do? How do we—can we stop him? What do we have to do to stop him?”
