54. Kiera
KIERA
All I could do was blink, trying to force the words to compute. But Maura had no patience for my slack-jawed silence.
“...Aren’t you going to say congratulations?” she sucked her teeth as she leaned back in her seat.
“I need a second,” I murmured, pinching the bridge of my nose. “When the fuck did you even start dating Isaac?”
Crossing her arms, she leaned back in her seat with a dismissive glare. “I mean, I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for months. I told you I had something important to discuss with you. Don’t know how much more explicit I could have been without ruining the surprise,”
“You can’t do this,” I shook my head.
“Kiera! How could you say that!” She scoffed, lowering her voice as she leaned closer to the table. “I understand why you’re upset, but this is no way for a young lady to behave…”
“You do?”
“Of course I do!” She hissed, glancing over her shoulder with narrowed eyes.
“I know that he was your father’s best friend.
And that must be odd for you. But it’s been a very long time since Brennan passed.
I think it’s time you let it go. I think you’ll find that having a new father around will be good for you! ”
My jaw nearly hit the table. And though a laugh bubbled up from my chest, there was nothing but white hot rage coursing through my veins. “That’s not what I’m upset about, you psycho. And that monster will never be a father to me.”
Maura rolled her eyes. “Well now you’re just being dramatic. I don’t know why I expected any better from you.”
“Ditto,” I spat, planting my palms on the table. “Do you even know what Isaac has done?”
“What do you know about Isaac?” she laughed, “You were a kid when you knew him.”
“Which makes it all the worse.”
At that, dark recognition flickered in her eyes — a horrible question tugged at the edge of her mind, but she shoved it away before the horror could take hold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He—”
“Don’t.” Her voice dropped an octave, and though her lips were pulled into a tight line, the flicker of fear in her eyes was desperate, pleading.
She was so afraid of the truth — always had been. But that was because she’d never been brave enough to face it. The truth made the treatment she’d endured, the men she’d chosen, just a little bit easier to swallow.
For her, avoidance was a matter of life and death. But if I could make her look at it, make her listen to those horrible stories and hold her hand through it, maybe there was still hope to break her out of it.
“He tried to traffick me, Mom.” The words burned as they slid past my throat. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever said it out loud. “I was twelve, and he took money from Keith Cortes in exchange for a night with me one summer. Probably would have arranged more if all went well.
“But it wasn’t just me,” I shook my head, surprised to feel tears streaming down my cheeks.
“He’s been doing it for decades: targeting vulnerable women, and then vulnerable children.
Using the technology Dad created for Zeus in order to fund his operation, identify potential victims, cover his own tracks…
“And when Dad tried to stop him… Isaac killed him.” I paused, searching her blank expression for some hint of understanding.
Her eyes stayed glued to the table. “He’s a monster, Mom.
Like, truly heinous, doesn’t have a soul, scum of the Earth kind of bad.
And for whatever else we disagree on… you deserve better than him. ”
Silence pulled up a seat, settling at the table like a curious spectator to our conversation. I sat, waiting for her to say something, hoping to catch her eyes and see something click.
But when my mother finally looked up at me, her lips were pulled into a tight, placating smile. She cleared her throat as she adjusted her coat. “You always did have quite the imagination, Kiera.”
“...Are you serious?” My voice cracked, collapsing under the force of my tightening throat.
“Then again, I can’t say it’s all your fault,” she shook her head. “The media, they create such nasty stories. Any jealous, spiteful person is allowed to spread libel as long as it gets the outlet more clicks.”
“The media won’t even cover this,” I shook my head, hoping to clank enough brain cells together to parse through what she was saying. “The journalists are all too worried Issac will kill them or sue them into oblivion if they say anything.”
“Oh, enough,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m disappointed. I know you’re not the sharpest, but I never expected you could be so cruel. This is no way to talk about your future father.”
“I’d rather be cruel than complacent!” I hissed.
“I can’t believe you’re willing to bury your head in the sand for a few dollars.
I’m sure you’re just itching to be on the ground floor when they go public.
Plug your ears with enough cash, drink yourself to sleep, and you might be able to forget your new mansion is built on a foundation of fraud and sex crimes! ”
I clenched my fist, letting my fingers dig into the edge of the table. As soon as the mention of the IPO passed my lips, I knew I’d fucked up. All I could do was hope that the slip up went over Maura’s head. Though from the way she tensed at the far table, I knew it wasn’t missed on Leo.
She tensed at her own table, palms pressed to her seat like she was ready to leap into action. Holding my gaze through her sunglasses, she tensed her jaw as if to ask, Do you need an out?
I shook my head as subtly as I could manage, taking a deep breath as I returned my gaze to Maura’s scrunched up face.
Her lips were pursed and her brows furrowed as if she’d tasted a moldy lemon. “The way you treat your own mother! It’s disgusting, you should be disgusted.”
“Oh, I’m disgusted,” I laughed. “And why are we pretending? You’ve never been much of a mother to me, Maura.”
She gasped, clasping a hand to her cheek as if I’d slapped her.
And despite my best attempt to keep my head on straight, to remember exactly the kind of mind games she played, I couldn’t help it; genuine or not, the sorrow welling up in her eyes tugged at my heartstrings.
My first instinct was to comfort her. But while our time apart hadn’t made me impervious to feeling sad for her, I knew better than to let myself get sucked into the trap.
As much as it broke me to admit it, I knew there was no getting through to her. She’d already made up her mind; preserving her comfort was worth more to her than doing what was right.
More important than me, even.
I took a deep breath, trying to commit her face to memory. Then, swallowing down the burning sensation at the back of my throat, I spoke to her calmly. “I hope one day you chose yourself over these men. But I can’t keep choosing you over myself. I love you.”
Before she could respond, I stood from the table and stormed out of the diner. Leo wasn’t far behind me, but by the time she reached the door, I was already on the back of Spencer’s bike.
“You okay, Bunny?” She asked, voice thick with worry as she looked at me over her shoulder.
“No,” I said shakily, pulling the helmet over my head and snapping the strap into place. “Please, just get me out of here.”
She didn’t need to be asked twice. As soon as my hands wrapped around Spencer’s waist, she pulled out of the parking lot. Leo — having slipped out from the shop and mounted her own black bike — was following close behind us.
It wasn’t the first time they’d rescued me from my old life. But unlike the alcohol-fueled adrenaline rush that had forced me into their path before, this moment hit me with sobering weight: my mother was well and truly lost to me.