I attended. More secrets and lies made up that building than bricks and mortar.
That it was dark out only just registered, and I realized they must have come directly from the police station to me. With my focus off Dad, I swallowed at the sight of his approval, and I didn’t tense up when Robert murmured, “We can get him a good lawyer.”
“A good lawyer?” she shrieked. “That isn’t enough! Not with what that little slut is saying!”
I blinked. “What little slut?” My arms bunched in outrage. “Thea hasn’t even woken up to say shit,” I snarled. “And she’s not a slut, goddammit!”
Dad shook his head. “Maria, Adam. Maria’s made accusations against Cain,” he rumbled, his gaze focused on Thea.
“What kind of accusations?” I asked, curious despite myself.
“She’s pregnant,” Dad told me. “She says Cain’s the father and that he raped her.”
My mouth curved into a sneer. “Bullshit. Cain didn’t rape her. They’re dating, and if anyone was going to rape anyone, it would be Maria. She’s so into Cain, it’s sickening.”
Dad blinked at that, then shrugged. “That’s what she’s saying. Her father came to us in the police station.” His jaw tensed. “That’s where we’ve been all afternoon.”
I didn’t care where they’d been, and my disinterest showed it.
“Don’t you even care that you’ve ruined his life?” Mom hurled at me, and I turned my focus onto her, wary in case she started hitting me again.
“He ruined his life. He hurt Thea. She did nothing to him. Nothing.”
“That’s a lie! She must have done something—”
I scowled at her, taken aback by the frantic nature of her tone. “How do you accidentally drown someone?” I spat, then I shook my head. “Never mind. You can make up whatever bullshit you want—”
“Bullshit? Your brother’s innocent.”
“Have you been taking too much Valium?” I growled. Then, I tensed up, and muttered, “Look, you don’t have to be here. Go. I don’t want Thea waking up when you’re here.”
She moved faster than I’d ever seen her, faster than even Dad could hold her. One second she was in his embrace, and the next she was beside me, her nails digging into my arms as she stared up at me, fingers digging in just as hard. There was something in her eyes that made me wonder if she was as insane as Cain, and that was confirmed when she spat, “You will make this right, Adam. You will make this better.”
“I don’t have to do shit. I didn’t do anything fucking wrong.” I shrugged off her hold, but her nails dug in with enough force to make me wonder if she could break my skin.
“You do, and you will,” she vowed. “Come with us. We’ve made arrangements.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I snarled. “I don’t care what kind of arrangements you’ve made. I’m staying here.”
Her mouth curved into a bitter sneer, and the mother I knew, the mother I thought I’d known, disappeared in a flash. There was more than the senator standing here, hell, there was a woman who shouldn’t be in public office.
Fuck, maybe being a psycho was in the blood?
Christ, was I as tainted as them?
No.
I refused to believe that. I wasn’t crazy, I wasn’t even mean. I wouldn’t have been able to care for Thea if I was evil, and she wouldn’t have loved me if I was as twisted as my twin. What she saw in him that first day was why she’d turned from Cain—I was hers because I was totally unlike him, and I had to find solace in that.
Maybe this was why Mom had always loved him more than me though. Because they were two peas in a pod—they were too alike, and she loved him for that, loved him for being born in her image.
She confirmed how much of a twisted bitch she was by threatening, “If you want your precious Thea to stay at Rosemore, to stay on the Almanac Team, you’ll do as I say.”
I shot my father a look, but his gaze was on his toes.
He was a party to this.
Even if he agreed with me about calling the cops, he agreed with whatever my mom had arranged.
“She won a scholarship,” I snarled. “She’s on the Almanac Team because she’s fucking good—”
“And all that can go away with a single phone call.” Her jaw tensed as she glared at Thea, at my woman, like she loathed her, when all Thea had done was go for a fucking swim. “And who the hell do