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“You know that bullshit doesn’t apply to us.”
I stop, just hearing something she said. “Cummings saw Fairweather before Fairweather came to the house?”
She studies me for a very long minute. “What happened to phase two? Because a birth control shot was certainly not going to get your wife pregnant, was it?”
“Was?”
She blinks, drinks the rest of the vodka in her glass and stands taller when she faces me again. “Was. How is your wife feeling these days? Any happy news for us? You two did have that second honeymoon, another secret you kept, so tell us, does the happy couple have news of an impending birth?”
Was.
My stomach drops out as I process the word. Its meaning.
Cummings knew what I’d talked to Fairweather about. He knew and interceded.
I stand, my stomach tight, my hands fists at my sides. “What did you do, Mother?”
She swallows, turns to pour herself a second vodka and drinks it before facing me gain. I creep toward her. “What did you do?”
“I made sure we stayed on track for phase two, that’s what.”
My hand is around her throat before I can register the movement. I’m so angry, I don’t think. I can’t. I can barely breathe. Her eyes go wide, and her glass drops to the floor, but in an instant, Caius is pulling me off. Or trying to. He’s yelling at me to let her go, but his voice is a far-away echo becausefuck!Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Madelena’s appetite of late. The few mornings she’s not felt well, although those bursts passed so quickly neither of us gave it any thought. Today, throwing up like she was, was it because of what she’d learned? Or was it because my mother had interfered? Because the birth control shot wasn’t one at all.
“What have you done?”
Caius tears me away from her and shoves me across the room.
“Mom. Get out,” Caius tells her.
“I won’t—” she starts, but he cuts her off.
“Get out!” he orders her, gripping me by the collar as I stalk toward her.
“I told you… Fuck! I told you I would do this in my time. Mine. Not yours. Not my brother’s. Mine. How dare you? How dare you?”
“How dare I?” she asks. She’s half-in, half-out of the door. It’s taking all Caius has to hold me back. If he releases me, I’m not sure what I’ll do. “How dareyouchoose the spawn of the man who raped your father’s sister, who passed her around to his friends to be raped by each and every one of them, over your own family?” she spits, eyes ablaze, ugly now. Hateful. Vengeful.
“Brother, calm down,” Caius tries. “Mom. Get the hell out of here!”
“You choose her again, now. Over us!” my mother hisses.
“Get out!” Caius roars, and she runs just as I get free of my brother. He’s closer to the door though and slams it shut, blocking my path.
“Get out of my way. Get the fuck out of my way!” I order.
“What are you going to do? Kill your own mother?” he asks.
I take another step before his words penetrate my skull. Then stop. I push my hands into my hair, pulling at it, because what the fuck am I going to do?
Madelena’s breasts have felt fuller. We were joking about how much she can eat just this afternoon. God. I’m a fucking idiot. Is she pregnant? Is Madelena pregnant?
I spin and wrap my hand around my brother’s throat. I hold him against the door. “Did you know?”
“No. Fuck, no.” He pulls me off. We battle as I try to get my hands around his throat, and he fights to keep me off.
“Are you fucking sure?” I ask.
