“Not more heinous than that, but she made it very clear to me that she paid Mathias and Simpson off with that five million. She paid them with my own money to take my son!” He clenched his hands into fists. “Wendy would have been satisfied to hurt either one of you, but Talon was younger and easier prey. She paid Mathias and Simpson to take him and… Well, you all know what happened. I don’t want to repeat it.”
“No.” This time, Talon stood. “I’ll say it for you. Don’t think you shouldn’t have to hear what those bastards did to me. They starved me, beat me, raped me, inflicted such pain on me that I couldn’t have ever imagined. They told me I was worthless. An animal. They made me beg for food, for a blanket. They taunted me with ice water when I was so thirsty I couldn’t even make tears. They made me say that I liked being raped…that I liked their big cocks up my ass.” Our father closed his eyes, cringing. “A ten-year-old boy! Your son! I cried out for you that first time. I cried out for Mother. No one listened. No one came. My twisted half uncle finally let me go. He did more for me than you did.” My father’s head sank into his hands. “Easy, Tal,” I said. “Oh, hell, no,” Joe said. “Our father needs to hear this.” I looked to Marjorie, who was about to burst into tears. “I don’t disagree. But she doesn’t.” Marjorie choked back sobs. “It’s okay. I’m okay.” Joe and Talon both shifted their gazes to our little sister. “God. You’re right. I’m sorry, Marj,” Joe said. “Yeah, me too.” Talon sat back down. She nodded. “I know. I’m okay.” “And I know I was spared because I was Wendy’s son.” Acid burned my tongue. “Let’s get on with it.” Our father lifted his head and nodded. “Daphne was pregnant, and due to the added stress of Talon’s kidnapping, she went into premature labor. You all know that Marjorie wasn’t expected to live. But our baby girl did.” “And I came home to a new sister,” Talon said. This time he had a soft smile on his face. “A beautiful baby doll. The only thing that convinced me there was some good left in the world.” Marj smiled through her tears. “But Daphne was never the same after that. She did her best, but dealing with a newborn out of the NICU and then with a child who’d been through hell… She loved you both very much, but it was too much for her. She began to fade away, until the mother you knew and loved was no longer there. She couldn’t touch any of you anymore.” “Why didn’t you get her help?” Talon asked. “I did, of course. But then someone else got involved.” “Let me guess,” I said sardonically. “My mother.” This had Wendy Madigan written all over it. My father nodded. “She began to threaten your mother, and in her already precarious mental state, I couldn’t have that. After what had happened to Talon, I knew Wendy was capable of anything. The best way to deal with it was to fake your mother’s suicide. Even Wendy never knew.” I couldn’t find fault with my father’s words. If Wendy had known Daphne was alive, she would have told me. No one knew. Not until we found her on the island. “All this time, you were the only one who knew she was alive?” I said. “Yes. Until now.” “Do you think Mother is safe where she is?” Marj asked. “As long as Wendy’s locked up in psych, yes.” “You stayed with us then,” Marj said. “Why did you eventually leave us?” “I stayed until you were of age, baby girl. That was the promise I made to you the day you were born, and I fulfilled it. After that, I knew your brothers would take care of you, and I needed to go to your mother.” “Does she know you?” “On her good days, she does. I visited her often before I left here. She was in a private compound in Florida.” “How did she end up in a replica of our house on that godforsaken island?” Talon asked. “Another long story.” He sighed. “By the time you all were adults, your mother had made a bit of progress—she remembered the three of you that she had borne, though she was convinced you were still young—and she kept asking to ‘go home.’ I couldn’t actually bring her here, because everyone thought she was dead. Plus, I couldn’t risk Wendy finding her. Wendy had uncovered almost everything about me, so I had to use kid gloves where your mother was concerned. So I did the next best thing. When I ‘died,’ I knew I couldn’t move assets around because you kids would go looking. So instead, I took the money earmarked for my bequest to the Fleming Corporation and used it to construct the replica. It calmed your mother to be ‘home,’ but sometimes she still needed an escape from the sensory disruption. So I built the guesthouse.” “The muted white,” I said, more to myself than to my father. “Yes. Sometimes your mo— Daphne needs to be free from all stimulation, so I’d take her there.” “Why that island?” I asked. “Adjacent to that awful place.” He cleared his throat. “Because I own it.”