Daph slides back into my lap. “Better?”
Margot blows out a breath. “Everything I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room. Understood?”
“Understood,” I murmur.
“What’s going on?” Daphne whispers.
“You can’t even tell Bea,” Margot says.
“Whoa.”
“Promise, Daph?”
“Holy shit, but yeah, I promise.”
“Thank you. I know she’s trustworthy, but the fewer people who know, the better, always. I don’t want to pull you into this, but I might need you, so I want you to be prepared.” Margot pauses, heads to the door, locks it, and then comes closer, squatting in front of us. “You know how Dad’s cheated on Mom our entire lives?”
Daph makes a face. “I mean, I suspected, but I kinda didn’t want to know.”
“Most of his affairs are covered with NDAs and payoffs, but he missed one.”
I straighten, seeing where this is going. “You’re taking him down.”
Margot waves a hand. “You and your imagination.”
That wasn’t a denial. “Long game?” I ask her.
“There are things you don’t need to know yet, and I shouldn’t even tell you this, but like I said, I think I’m going to need help, and you need time to absorb this. Daph, it turns out…we have triplet half-brothers in a little town in Colorado.”
Daphne squeaks.
Understandable.
That’s not something I saw coming.
I grip Daph tighter because she is, indeed, at risk of falling on the floor if I don’t. “Triplet half-brothers?” I repeat to Margot.
“I did a DNA test a few months ago—fake name, don’t worry—and we matched as sharing a parent. Clearly not our mothers, so by default… And honestly, who’s surprised? The triplet part aside. That part was more than I was expecting.”
“Oh my god,” Daphne whispers.
“I’ve had…something…in the works for a while, and I’ve needed one lastthing, and I think they’re it,” Margot says, which I suspect is as close as I’m going to get to confirmation that she’s been plotting to destroy her father since he disinherited Daphne. “So I’m headed to Colorado to get to know them and see if they want to…help.”
“You should probably never be around a tornado,” I tell Margot while soft screams carry through the speaker Daphne and I have set up to listen in on the movie behind us.
“Was that aSharknadojoke?” Margot asks.
“Yes. Was it good?”
She smiles at me. “It was awful.”
“Oh my god, I get it.” Daphne tips her head back and laughs. “She’d be the shark in the tornado.”
“Donottell anyone,” Margot says.
“Triplets,” Daphne breathes.
“Identical, in fact. And from what I can tell so far through email conversations with one of them, they’re definitely related to you.”
