And it is.
Not because it pretends I’ve always belonged, but because it makes space for the fact that Imightbelong now.
Z’s moved on to a leather jacket from Helen. He looks like a young James Dean.
Sox has abandoned her chair and is now investigating the wrapping paper carnage, batting at a ribbon and getting tangled in it. She drags a long piece of curly ribbon across the floor, prancing like she’s won a prize.
Caleb laughs—the first real laugh I’ve heard from him all morning—and reaches down to untangle her. “You’re supposed to wait for your present, Sox.”
“She has a present?” Z asks, eyebrows raised.
“Of course she does,” Helen says, like it’s obvious. “She’s family.”
She pulls out a small package and unwraps it herself—a new toy mouse and a bag of fancy cat treats.
Sox immediately loses interest in the ribbon and attacks the mouse, carrying it off to her chair like she’s killed it herself.
The whole thing is so absurdly domestic that it makes my chest hurt.
Dad’s actually reading a book Helen got him. Andsmilingabout it.
Fucking faker.
The whole morning feels like a dream we’re all pretending isn’t a lie. Like thisisa movie set, and we’re all just the actors.
I’ve been sitting on this for weeks, watching and waiting for Silas to break character. Finally, I can’t stand it anymore. Him sitting here, pretending to be the All-American father on a perfect Christmas morning.
I stand up, glaring at him. “You’re such a fucking hypocrite. Weknow, all right? We knowthis is all just another con. Just give it up already.”
Sox’s head pops up from her chair, ears flattening. She can sense the shift in the room. Animals always know when shit’s about to go down.
Helen gasps, and Silas puts a hand on her knee. As ifhe’snow the steadying presence here. It only infuriates me more.
“Get your hands off her.” I can’t help launching to my feet. “She’s a good woman, and you’re a fucking criminal! God knows what weird sex shit you’ve dragged herinto while you’re stealing everything out from under her.”
That sets him off, and he’s on his feet the next second, facing off with me, the vein in his neck bulging.
Sox jumps down from the chair and slinks toward the hallway. Smart cat. Getting out while she can.
“I don’t know what you think you know, but you need to shut your mouth before you say something you regret.”
“You gonnamakeme,Dad?” I sneer the last word, looking him up and down. “At least you’re finally showing your true colors instead of this part you’ve been playing. Iknowabout the sex dungeon business.”
Another gasp from Helen, and I register her standing up from the couch, but only barely, because now I’m on a roll. “Iknowyou’ve been talking to guys from the old MC. Lonestar Devils. Ring any bells?”
His widening eyes tell me thatding, ding, ding, it sure does.
I lean in further for my final stab. “I just wanna know if you’re using the dungeon to launder money for them or traffic girls?”
“Oh God, Silas,” Helen gasps, face white as a sheet as she reaches out to grab Silas’s elbow. “I never thought they’d come after the children, too.”
“What?” But right as my head swings toward her in confusion, her whole body just… sways like the floor shifted under her.
“Mom!” Caleb leaps up beside me right as I jump forward to catch her.
But Silas is there first, catching her as she faints into his arms, her lips suddenly tinged gray.
THIRTY-TWO