She bent low to sweep up her phone. “Your father just told me Cassius came to the house. He knows where they live.” No, I refused to believe one more lie. “Cassius will see his threat through with them.”
Pushing to my feet, I hated the seconds that dragged by in confusion, so I relented and followed her out. Looking at her differently, I threw daggers into her back because I was sickened by her. By them both.
We hurriedly returned to the house, though I didn’t bother going in. Both of us climbed into Mom’s Mercedes-Benz, and she drove us out of the Garden District at breakneck speed. I didn’t know exactly where we were going, but I knew it was to them. She didn’t have to say anything. The way she weaved in and out of traffic, she was scared.
“And you’re supposed to be the adults,” I muttered, dragging on my seat belt.
“You dare to judge me,” she seethed.
“Yes, actually, I do.”
“You have no idea what I have been through. What your father wanted to do . . .”
“Then tell me.”
“You’d never understand. You’ve never lived. You’ve been kept safe. Away from anything that would ever upset you.”
“Mom, we’ve been literally kept prisoner. You never let us out. You’re hardly home. You knew what kind of man Dad was and you didn’t stop him from hurting us.”
“He hurt me, too. You didn’t see it because I tried to protect you from his violence.”
“Protect us? You did nothing.”
“He wanted to kill them.”
My throat tightened with terror. “What?”
“Stephen refused to let them die at the hands of that man, so he was going to kill them himself.”
An ice-cold chill slithered up my spine, my mind trying to grasp what she was saying.
She looked pale. “Kill his own children. My children.” Her shrill voice rang through the air as she continued, “I didn’t let him though.” Her head shook back and forth. “No. I couldn’t let my babies die. I came up with another plan. And he agreed.” Her hands formed into a prayer.
“We were the decoy.”
“I couldn’t let them die. You’re not a mother, Anya. You wouldn’t understand.”
“It’s fucked up. You see that right?”
She stared off at nothing. “And what was it all for. . .that man is going to kill them anyways.”
I didn’t voice my own fears, but I knew Cassius, and that knowledge scared me more than anything. I’d left him full of anger and bitterness. I’d left him broken all over again.
Broken enough to kill?
I tried to hold it together and not show any fear in case she fed off it. But as more time passed, my jaw rattled with fear for those children, and my knee bounced up and down that it was taking so long to get there.
I was a mess.
Like someone had stabbed my heart with adrenaline, it pumped rapidly, feeling like it was going to beat out of my chest. If I thought it could explode, it would. I felt dizzy as she sped up, taking turns way too fast.
I wasn’t sure how long we drove. Less than an hour. But eventually, she stomped on the brake, causing the seat belt to slice me in two—or that was what it felt like because it yanked my neck with such force. I watched as she scrambled to undo her seat belt and get out.
The towering bronze gate looked secure. Mom exited, throwing the car door wide open and running toward a pedestrian entrance at the side. She rummaged around in her handbag for a key—a key for that lock. Before she could use it, the tall gate swung open.
Terror flashed over Victoria’s face as she went on through.
I knew where we were even without her telling me. This was fourteen years of truth pouring out. The past that had been hidden glaringly presented in all its ugliness.
I was going to meet the children we had replaced. Though they wouldn’t be kids any longer, I mused darkly. Like me, they’d aged and grown into young adults. They’d lived a life of seclusion, just like us. Yes, I was the decoy, but I imagined they, too, had suffered.
Surely, they had because they’d not been allowed to flourish beyond these walls. Or maybe they had the lives we’d so desperately wanted. All those years when Mom and Dad weren’t around, this was where they’d come.
Soon, I’d be able to ask these questions myself. Soon, I’d see what they looked like. Would she look like me? Would she hate me even though I had no part in this?
The sun had set over the vast estate. It was bigger than the home I grew up in, but it was obvious the real Anya and Archie lacked for nothing. The grounds of the property were deserted. The woodland surrounding it provided the kind of cover a family in hiding might need.
And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that something was terribly wrong.
Don’t do that to yourself.
Don’t carry the blame.
Yet, I did as if I was the cause of all this turmoil.
The home I grew up in was a fortress. I found it hard to believe Stephen didn’t provide the same level of security for his blood. Following the woman I had once thought of as my mother, I watched as her skin paled and terror reflected in her eyes as she came to the same conclusion as me.
Something had happened here . . .
But what?
The surrounding air was heavy, and when I inhaled deeply, I thought I could smell copper. The scent of blood. Or maybe it was the acrid scent of dread. Afraid to walk another step. Afraid to open the door. Afraid to see what lurked behind the walls.
Would there be carnage?
With a sharp inhale, I summoned every bit of strength I had, ready to take a step forward. But first, I threw a glance at my mother.
“Are you coming?”
Our gazes locked.
Fear festered in her eyes, and her hands shook as doubt swept across her eyes.
“I can go in alone if you want,” I whispered.
Cassius wouldn’t hurt me. If he was still here, he could hurt her. Without a doubt, he would try.
“Maybe it’d be safer if I go in alone.” I tried to convince myself.
She squared her shoulders, making the trepidation go away as fast as it presented itself. “They’re my children.”
Right, because if you want to just stab a knife into my heart while you’re at it—go ahead. My mom had already done so much damage, she’d be hard-pressed to have anything left to destroy.
With a nod, I looked up at the imposing door, then reached out and turned the handle.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but when it opened with no resistance, I felt like I’d gotten punched in the stomach. A part of me hoped we weren’t too late and wished with all my heart this nervous feeling weaving its way inside was unwarranted, but as the door creaked open, I knew deep in my gut Cassius had been here.
Together, we headed in.
It was bathed in darkness like I was walking into a crime scene. Our footsteps echoed as we progressed farther inside, bouncing off the walls and breaking the silence. The fine hairs on my forearms prickled.
It was warm. Somewhere in the house, a window or door had been left open, allowing the musky Louisiana air to filter in.
Too thick to breathe. Or maybe it was fear that made inhaling a struggle.
“This way,” she said.
I followed, wary of each step she took because I didn’t trust anything she did. As we walked through the foyer, I took it all in.