Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
So I chose not to see.
Never again. Never fucking again.
I will never have a blind spot—not when it comes to the Steels. Not when it comes to anything.
My phone rings. Speak of the devil. Ruby Steel.
“Yeah? This is Brendan.”
“Brendan, it’s Ruby Steel.”
“Hi, Ruby. How’s Ava?”
“She’s hanging in there. She’s with her father and her”—throat clear—“grandmother at the moment.”
“You’re not with them?”
“No. It’s best that I’m not there. But that’s why I’m calling. I wanted to check to see if Tucker was able to help you.”
“Yes, thank you for the recommendation. He already got the results back to us.”
“And?”
“What the hell, I guess you know everything anyway. It seems that my father and Lauren’s son, Jack, share a grandparent. Which makes absolutely no sense at all.”
“I see.” Her tone is odd, almost robotic.
“My grandfather’s brother, as you know, died at Brad Steel’s wedding.”
“Yes. I’ve been thinking about this. And I have a working theory.”
“I have a working theory too,” I say. “Although I haven’t even allowed myself to think about it.”
“I’d like to meet with you and your father. I think we have some digging to do.”
“Whose side are you on, Ruby?”
“There’s only one side here, Brendan. The side against Wendy Madigan. She may be Ryan’s mother and Ava’s grandmother, but she is the enemy. We would all be wise never to forget that.”
“I haven’t forgotten that. Do you feel Ava has?”
Ruby pauses a moment before she speaks. “No, I don’t think Ava has, but Ryan and I are concerned. Ava seems to want something from Wendy. She seems to feel some kind of connection to her. And I’m not just talking genetically.”
“Yes, I got that feeling as well. Especially when she was reading some cards, and when she figured out exactly who Wendy was.”
“Ryan doesn’t want to leave Ava’s side right now, and I don’t blame him. I think Ava would like to be left alone with Wendy, but Ryan won’t allow it. However, I don’t plan to be anywhere near the woman. And I just have a feeling that…a lot more is going on here.”
“Yes.”
“I know you’re busy—”
“Actually, Ruby, I’m not. I’m taking a week off from work. I’ve got all my shifts covered with the addition of some temps.”
“So you’re pulling an Ava? Very strange indeed.”
“Stranger for her than for me. But yes, I suppose I’m pulling an Ava. My father and I… We want to figure out this thing with his great-uncle once and for all.”
“I do too, Brendan. Can the two of you meet me later today?”
“Yeah. I think he’d appreciate that.”
“Actually, I’d like to meet Lauren.”
“I can probably arrange that. I’ll call Jack.”
“Great. If the three of us could go over there sometime today, I think that would be helpful.”
“Yeah. I’ll arrange it if I can and get back in touch with you as soon as I know anything.”
“Thank you, Brendan. And for what it’s worth, I hope you and Ava work things out.”
“I do too, Ruby.”
“I wasn’t born a Steel, and I know better than most that they’re not always the easiest people to love. But they are worth it in the end, Brendan. Trust me on that.”
“I do love your daughter, Ruby. That’s not in question at all. I’ll call Jack and get back to you.”
“Very well. Thank you, Brendan.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ava
I need a break.
Why am I doing this again?
Why do I feel like I need to know something from this woman?
Because she makes up a quarter of my DNA? She makes up half of my dad’s, a quarter of Gina’s as well.
Does it even matter?
I don’t have to be anything like her.
But I feel something about her. Some kind of bizarre link.
I wipe my mouth and then rinse it with water from the sink. Then I walk out of my room.
My mother’s in the kitchen. “Ava, do you need anything?”
I shake my head.
“You look a little…green.”
“Just things.”
Mom touches my arm. “You don’t have to do this.”
I meet her gaze. “Mom. I do have to. There’s a reason why she reached out to me. Not to Dad. Not to her other daughter. Not to Gina. But to me, Mom.”
“Ava, you can’t try to make sense of anything a crazy person does.”
“But is she truly crazy?”
Mom’s gaze darkens. “You know what she’s done. How can you even ask that?”
“Evil doesn’t necessarily mean crazy, Mom. I get the feeling she knew what she was doing every step of the way.”
“You know, it’s funny,” Mom says. “You can look back at our history. People like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, even more recent as Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh. Each of them knew exactly what they were doing. They were sociopathic, yes. Psychopathic, even. In fact, Aunt Mel says there’s not a lot of difference between the two. But Aunt Jade says the insanity plea wouldn’t have worked for any of them. So you have to ask yourself… What is true insanity? Is there even a valid definition? Aunt Jade and Aunt Melanie look at it two different ways—as an attorney and as a psychiatrist. Aunt Mel has studied these things, and so has Aunt Jade, from a completely different angle. But they both agree that an insanity plea would not work for Wendy Madigan.”