13. Alison
By the time I get home, my engagement ring has been photographed from at least six different angles.
Those are only the pictures I know about.
There’s one of Victor sliding it onto my finger.
Another of him kissing my cheek. One zoomed in so closely I can see the tiny freckle beside my knuckle, which means someone at Edgewood desperately needs a hobby that doesn’t involve me.
The hallway disaster has done nothing to help.
GlossX is a mess. Everyone saw Victor come to school.
Everyone saw the ring. Then everyone saw him cross half the atrium to confront Ryan and the boys while half the student body recorded it.
By last period, nobody was pretending to care about anything else.
I close the front door behind me and let my bag slip from my shoulder. Dad’s car isn’t outside. The relief comes so quickly it makes me angry. I don’t want to be relieved that my father isn’t home.
“Alison?”
Mom is at the kitchen island with a cup of tea and a stack of papers when I walk in.
She glances up with a smile. Then her eyes fall to my hand, and the smile disappears.
It’s only a second. Maybe less. But I see it.
For one horrible moment, my mother looks at Victor’s ring like she’s looking at a bruise.
Then she blinks and reaches for my hand.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
I make myself smile. “I know. You may need sunglasses.”
That gets a small laugh from her. “Come here.” I set my bag on the stool and let her take my hand. She turns it beneath the kitchen lights, studying the diamond. “Good Lord.”
“That was almost exactly what I said.”
“Victor chose this?”
“Apparently.” Mom looks at me. I smile sweetly. “I know. I underestimated him too.”
“Alison.”
“What? He did very well.”
She almost smiles again. Almost. Her thumb moves over the band. “When did he give it to you?”
“Today.”
“At school?” I nod. Her eyes come back to mine. “Did you know he was coming?”
“No. He was in town.” I say it exactly the way Victor did. Mom’s mouth tightens. I pull the cream envelope from my bag. “He brought me something else too.”
The second she sees the name embossed across the front, she goes still. “Celeste Fournier agreed?”
My fingers stop on the envelope. “Agreed?”
Mom releases my hand. “She’s extremely selective.”
“You know her?”
“Everyone knows Celeste.” Mom picks up her tea. I watch her.
“Did she plan Victor’s other weddings?” The cup stops before it reaches her mouth. “Mom?”
“I don’t remember.”
I stare at her. She drinks her tea. “You do.”
Her eyes lift to mine. I don’t push again. Not yet. Mom is like a frightened animal sometimes — the harder I reach, the farther she retreats. So I set Celeste’s envelope down and wait. Finally, she sighs.
“I knew Marianne.” There it is.
“How well?”
“Not very.”
“But you knew her.”
“Yes.”
“What was she like?”
Mom looks down into her cup. “She was lovely.” I wait. Mom sighs again. “She was funny. Very social. She served on several charity boards. She traveled. She was always doing something.”
“Before Victor?”
Her eyes flick toward the kitchen doorway. Dad isn’t home. She still checks.
“She changed after they married.”
A cold feeling settles in my stomach. “How?”
“She stopped doing things without him.”
“Because she wanted to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I don’t know, Alison.” Her voice sharpens, then immediately lowers.
She looks toward the doorway again. I notice that too.
“Victor began answering invitations for both of them,” she says quietly.
“Sometimes Marianne would agree to something and then he would cancel it later. She stopped returning calls as often. Eventually, people stopped seeing much of her at all.”
“And Victor explained why.”
Mom looks at me. “Yes.”
“Were you afraid for her?” Mom doesn’t answer. “Mom.”
Her fingers tighten around her mug. “Sometimes.”
The word is barely audible. It still lands hard. I look at the ring on my finger.
“Then why me?” Mom closes her eyes. “Why would Dad choose Victor for me if you both knew what happened to Marianne?”
“Your father didn’t see Victor the way I did.”
“How did he see him?”
“Disciplined.”
Something bitter crawls up my throat. Of course. Victor decides where his wife goes, who she speaks to, when she’s allowed to exist outside of him, and Dad calls him disciplined.
“Why Victor?”
“Alison.”
“Why him?”
“You know why.”
“No. I know what Dad tells me.”
Mom puts her cup down. “Our families have business interests together. Relationships. Connections.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Then uncomplicate it.” That earns me a tired look. I don’t smile. “Does Dad owe Victor something?”
Her expression changes. Barely. But enough.
“Does Victor owe Dad?” She starts collecting the papers on the island. “What does Dad get when I marry him?”
“Alison, stop.”
“What does Victor get?”
“It isn’t simply what your father gets.” Her hands freeze. So do mine. Mom realizes what she said.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Mom.”
“That’s enough.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“There are things about the agreement you don’t understand.”
I straighten. “What agreement?” Her face changes. “What agreement, Mom?”
The front door slams. Mom goes pale.
Dad’s voice carries through the foyer. “I don’t care how many copies are circulating. Get them taken down.”
Mom gathers the rest of the papers so quickly one slides onto the floor. I bend to pick it up. “I’ve got it.”
She takes it from me before I can even look at it and shoves it into the pile.
Dad is still on the phone. “Then call whoever you need to call. I shouldn’t have to explain this to you.”
His footsteps come closer. Mom puts the papers beneath a folder and moves her tea aside.
I know this version of Dad. The clipped words. The heavy footsteps. The way every object he touches seems to land a little harder than necessary. Mom knows him too. She becomes smaller without actually moving.
Dad enters the kitchen. His tie is crooked. I’ve almost never seen Dad with a crooked tie. He sees Mom. Then me. Then my hand. Some of the fury leaves his face. “He gave it to you.”
I look at the ring. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew.” Of course he did. Dad ends the call and holds out his hand. I give him mine. He examines the diamond. “Much better.”
I pull my hand back. “He brought Celeste’s information too.”
Dad glances toward the envelope. “You’ll call her tonight.”
“I was planning to.”
“Seven.”
“All right.” I make myself smile. “He did very well with the ring.”
“He did.”
Dad gives a satisfied nod. I give him what he wants. I’m pleased. I’m grateful. I’m excited. Everything is going exactly as planned. His phone buzzes again. Dad looks at the screen and his jaw clenches. Apparently my performance isn’t enough today.
“Is everything all right?”
“No, Alison. It isn’t.” He drops his phone onto the island.
“What happened at Edgewood today was unacceptable.” My stomach tightens.
“Victor should never have engaged those boys.” That catches me completely off guard.
Dad paces away from us. “Five eighteen-year-olds stood in front of him making jokes, and he allowed them to drag him into a public spectacle.”
“They weren’t—“ Dad looks at me. I stop. He isn’t interested in what actually happened.
“Arthur Walsh will already have every recording. The Monaghans will have them. The Andersons. The Rorkes. Every family Victor decided to insult in front of a hallway full of cameras now has a recording of him doing it.” His voice rises.
“He dragged the Penningtons into it. Lucian. Adeena. Reece Hall. Hartley. Katya. He discussed the Rorkes’ dead daughter and their lost child in front of half the fucking school.
” Mom flinches beside me. Dad drags a hand over his face. “He knows better.”
I stare at him. I’ve heard Dad angry at people before. I’ve heard him defend Victor. I’ve heard him tell me how fortunate I am. I have never once heard him angry because Victor made a mistake.
His phone buzzes again. Dad ignores it.
“Is Victor upset?”
His eyes cut to mine. “Victor has every reason to be upset.”
Before I can ask anything else, Tobias comes racing down the hallway. “Ally!”
I barely turn before he wraps himself around me. The knot in my chest loosens automatically. “Hello, bug.”
He pulls back. Then sees my hand. His eyes get enormous. “Whoa, Is that real?”
“I certainly hope so.”
He takes my hand in both of his and studies the diamond. “It’s huge. How much did it cost?”
“That’s not an appropriate question.” Dad’s voice cuts straight through us.
Tobias immediately releases my hand. “Sorry.”
I smooth his hair. Dad notices. I let my hand fall. Tobias looks at the ring again. “Does this mean you’re getting married now?”
“Not today.”
“But soon?”
“Yes,” Dad says.
Tobias looks at me. His excitement disappears. “Then can I live with you?”
My heart squeezes. Dad answers before I can. “No. Alison will live with Victor. You will live here.”
Tobias moves closer to me. “I don’t want to.”
The kitchen goes silent. Mom’s hand tightens around her mug. My stomach drops.
Dad slowly turns toward Tobias. “What did you say?”
Tobias’s face changes, he hangs his little head staring at his shoes. “I—“
“Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”
Tobias looks at me. Dad slaps him. Hard. The sound cracks through the kitchen. Tobias’s head snaps sideways and he stumbles into the island.
“Tobias!” Mom screams.
For half a second, I can’t move. I can’t understand what I just saw. Then Tobias starts sobbing.
Dad grabs his upper arm and yanks him upright. “When I speak to you, you look at me!”
Tobias tries to pull away. Dad’s fingers tighten. He cries out.
Something inside me snaps. “Let go of him.”
Dad ignores me. “Tobias, when I give you an instruction—“
“Let go of him!”
His head turns. That look has stopped me my entire life. Not today. I cross the kitchen and grab Tobias. Dad doesn’t release him.
“Stop!” Tobias screams when we’re both pulling him.
I shove Dad’s arm away and wrench Tobias behind me. “Don’t touch him.”