I had a one-track mind, and it begged for blood.
First, I called Andras, my hands choking the steering wheel of my Prius as it zinged through familiar streets.
He picked up on the first ring. “I see you have come to your senses.”
Yes, and all five of them want to feast on your blood.
“I texted you an address. Meet me there.”
“It’s ten—”
I hung up, knowing he’d come. Even the prospect of a longer jail sentence for his son must’ve made him tremble.
So stupid, Fae.
You should’ve known it was too good to be true when The Andras Horvath showed up the day you landed back from Seoul and offered to take you under his wing.
I let a snake into my garden. A spy.
Time after time, he convinced me to focus on fencing. Random training sessions that interfered with lawyer meetings. Tears in my training gear that required money to replace.
Distraction after distraction.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up in front of my childhood home. I stood on the very step I’d been abandoned on as an infant.
Suddenly, I couldn’t fathom why I ever wanted to live here. A sliver of regret collided into me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have rejected Zach’s invitation to join me, but I needed to stick up for myself. If I didn’t learn now, I’d rely on him forever.
I shoved my key into the hole and jiggled it, only to discover Vera had changed the locks. A cloud of cold condensation rushed past my lips as I laughed to myself.
“Of course. Doesn’t matter.” I dumped the key onto the mat, pounding my fist on the door until it rattled. “It’s only your house on paper. You were never welcome here.”
The pitter-patter of slippers dragged across the hardwood.
“Someone woke up today and chose violence.” Tabby groaned on the other side of the door. “Hell-oooo, tone it down. I’m on my way.”
“Did you DoorDash without asking me what I want?” Reggie’s voice came from above, probably up in her room. “What’s all that noise? Who died? Ugh, please say Farrow.”
Not that I needed any more reason to be mad, but I just got it.
Tabby swung the door open, only to find me standing on the porch, alive and well, waving back at her.
Her nose scrunched, my mere presence apparently stinking up the place. “Speak of the devil.”
“I’ll take being a devil over being a common bitch.” I shouldered past her, striding into the house. “Where’s your mother?”
The sour tinge of decaying food slipped into my nostrils. A thick layer of dust coated the entryway bench.
Something smelled like wet fur, though the Ballantine women only liked animals on their plates and coats.
As expected, nobody had bothered to clean up since I’d left.
Tabby chased me into the living room, breathless as she tried to keep up with my pace. “Mom changed the locks.”
No shit.
Footsteps hammered down the stairs. Reggie rounded the corner seconds later.
“You have no right to be here.” She yanked the sleeve of my jacket, but I pushed her off. “You ruined our lives. You quit the company, and now we’re poor.”
“And you’re suing us?” Tabby splayed her arms out, trying to stop me from crossing. “You should sue whoever cuts your hair first, you horrible witch. Is it even straight?”
For starters, I cut my own hair with one of those haircutting clips that promised a straight cut. I supposed I had a case against them, too.
I stepped around the giant gap between Tabby’s outstretched arm and the television. “You wanted me to be your maid.”
“It’s called paying off your debts.”
“Debts? I’m not the one dripping in Prada.” I tilted my head, eyeing her blouse. “Well, I suppose it’s Frada now.”
“Yes, debts.” Reggie tossed her hands up. “Daddy and Mommy footed the bill for your little trip to Korea. He practically bled out for you. You know how much money that school cost? We couldn’t even afford to keep my horses.”
“Nothing.”
“Huh?”
“It cost nothing, because I had a full scholarship.” I dipped into the dining room after finding the living room empty. “And the horses went to an equine therapy center because you never fed them.”
“I had school.”
“So did I.” I spun, getting in Tabby’s face. “I only left for Korea because you spent every waking moment reminding me that I’m not part of this family.”
She and Reggie followed me into the kitchen. I surveyed the room, discovering mountains of cardboard boxes piled up in the pantry.
I swiveled to them. “You’re moving?”
“We can’t afford this house anymore, can we?” To prove her point, Reggie pushed past me and taped up a half-empty box with enough toxic energy to light up Vegas. “The HOA alone is eight hundred bucks a month.”
Tabby joined her, closing up boxes with barely anything in them. “We’re renting it out and moving to an apartment so we can afford groceries. Happy now?”
No, actually.
I didn’t take any pleasure in their misfortune. I only ever wanted them to stop screwing around with my life. Vera, on the other hand…
I snatched up a free box, stuffing it with my belongings. “Where’s your mother?”
While they had no right to kick me out of a home I owned, I didn’t trust them not to toss out my stuff.
“She’s not home,” Tabby lied at the exact same time Vera burst in from the garage, sweating in her skintight zebra-print bodysuit.
The fumes from her hair spray alone made me dizzy.
“Girls, you have to help me out here with the boxes—” Her words died in her throat the minute she spotted me. “What are you doing here, you little shit?”
Guess the gloves were officially off.
“Grabbing my stuff.” I flipped open the cabinet above the sink, fetching my favorite Mickey Mouse plate that Dad had kept because he knew I loved eating grilled cheese on it. “Oh, and delivering some news.”
“Let me guess—should I expect the sheriff here any time soon?” Vera folded her arms, eyes squinting at me like she was cocking a gun. “Because I obtained my own legal counse—”
“I know you killed him.”
The silence that followed soaked into the walls. Vera turned the same shade as her bodysuit. Tabby and Reggie glanced at each other, whisper-shouting nonsense.
Tabby scratched her temple. Reggie’s head reared back. Neither looked particularly in-the-know. The panic on their faces said it all.
They had no clue what Vera had done.
“W-what are you talking about?” Vera stormed to the sink, barely managing to fill up a glass with her shaking hands. “Killed who?”
“You’re so bad at this. Always were.” I moved toward the stairs with my box. “That’s why Dad sent me away. To spare me your so-called parenting.”
The three of them chased me up the steps.
“Your father was killed by a valet.” Vera stomped her heels on the hardwood, no doubt leaving dents. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Other than paying said valet 200k for his troubles, you mean.” I swiveled, sending her a sweet smile in the hall. “Yeah, that’s not going to fly in a court of law.”
“You have no way of proving this nonsense.”
I zipped down the corridor to my room, swinging the door open, momentarily taken aback by what I saw.
“Where is everything?” I hated that my voice cracked.
Vera, Reggie, and Tabby filled the doorway like bouncers.
Not leaving me an inch to escape.
A satisfied smirk pulled at Tabby’s lips. “Oh, we thought it was all trash, so we threw it out.”
“Sorry, Fae.” Reggie examined her coffin-shaped nails. “There’s a difference between vintage and garbage.”
“Your stuff smells.” Tabby jerked a thumb behind her. “Like, all the way from across the hall. Bleach.” She shivered. “Made me gag.”
First-degree murder is a lifetime jail sentence, I reminded myself, edging away from them in case I did something stupid. Drop it to ten years, and I might weigh the pros and cons.
These vultures had left nothing.
Not even a speck of lint.
All of my memories—gone. The display full of fencing medals. The épées I’d competed with as a kid. The box of Broadway tickets I saved from trips to New York with Dad.
Gone, gone, gone.
In every version of revenge I’d conjured, I’d always intended to take only what Dad wanted me to have. I would never do anything like this to them.
Heat stormed up my cheeks, so hot I feared my head would combust on the spot.
“You have no proof.” Vera stepped past the doorframe, crowding me. “To these lies you’re spewing under my own roof.”
I met her in the middle, standing my ground. “My roof.”
Gloves off, indeed.
Without the threat of blackmail looming over my head, I no longer needed to roll over whenever she bullied me. I had truth on my side. And a spine as strong as the Lotte Tower.
Even with her heels on, I stared down my nose at her. “I own fifty-percent of this house.”
Dad had transferred his share of the deed to me as soon as I’d turned eighteen. His way of making me feel welcome.
This place is yours, just as much as it is theirs, baby girl.
Vera closed the gap between us, bumping me with her chest. Her mouth opened, but the front door crashed against the wall, interrupting her.
“Vera? Are you here, drágám?”
Andras.
His voice felt like cyanide running through my bloodstream.
Then, I registered what he’d said.
Drágám.
Babe.
The word painted a more gruesome reality.
I reared back, lips parted. “How long have you been having an affair with Andras?”
It was the last piece that clicked everything into place.
How else would Vera, Andras, and his son be connected? He hadn’t met her through his son.
His son had met her through him.
“This has nothing to do with your father.” Vera’s cheeks reddened beneath three pounds of makeup. “Andras and I got to know each other after your father’s passing. I was a mess.”
Still are.
Andras burst past Tabby and Reggie, leaving them stumbling face-first onto the carpet. Sweat soaked his bare chest, gluing thick hairs flat to his skin.
He wore plaid pajama pants, hotel slippers, and a grimace that would put Steve Carell out of business.
Not his first time here, I noted.
He’d gone straight up.
“Oh, hey, Andras.” I leaned against my dresser, tipping my chin at him. “Glad you could make it.”
He glanced between me and Vera. “Farrow—”
I held up a hand. “Vera was just telling me this thing between you is brand new. Which is so very fascinating, considering she somehow got to know your son before you two hit it off. I wonder how they met. It couldn’t possibly be through an affair between Vera and his father, could it?”
Andras’ face turned paper white, his hands curling into fists. “Leave Eugene out of this.”
“Did you know she helped with his wife’s medical treatment? There’s a word for this.” I pretended to think, snapping my fingers. “Blood money? No. Conspiracy to commit murder? Definitely not. Sounds so serious.” I tapped my lip with a finger. “Hmm…”
Reggie gasped.
Tabby hid behind her sister.
And Vera?
Vera decided now would be a good time to launch herself at me.
