Don’t we all? “Let’s do this.” I open the door and step inside.
The frail, gray-haired woman isn’t quite what I expected, though she should be.
“What do you want? I told them I didn’t want people like you in my room.”
And so it starts off brilliantly. Did I really expect anything different? “My name is Massimo Vincenti, and this is Everett Jaymes. We’re your grandsons.”
“You are nothing to me. I told that little sl—”
I take a step forward. “You might want to consider your words very carefully.”
She snorts. “Like I have to listen to anything you say.”
“If you want my money, you do.”
“Your money? Like you could give me anything I want.” She turns her head towards the dirty window.
“My actual grandmother would call you foolish. I’ll just remind you of what you missed out on. My name is Massimo Vincenti. I own the largest tech security company in the world. My net worth is in the billions. That’s with a B, in case you are confused. Now, if you answer my questions, I will write a check to get you out of this dump and into a decent nursing home.”
She ignores my speech and stares at Everett. “How did you end up white?”
“Because Temperance isn’t my mother. Tanith is.” Everett watches her as closely as I do.
“Who is Tanith? My daughter’s name is Temperance.”
“Your other daughter. Temperance’s twin.” Is she lying, or does she not remember her own daughter?
“I don’t have another daughter. Just Temperance. She was supposed to be my perfect child. Then your father ruined her.”
The way she said ‘perfect’ strikes me as odd. “Mother is perfect.”
“I tried my best to make her that way. Her father had some questionable relatives in his family line.” Her nose twists in disgust. “That wasn’t acceptable. I couldn’t mar my bloodline with a baby that might…might look like that.” She tells Everett, but side-eyes me.
“You can’t just decide how your child looks when she’s born.” There have been some research studies into genetically modifying humans, but that kind of testing hasn’t been allowed in human trials yet, let alone more than fifty years ago…except they cloned…no, that’s illegal.
“If you have enough money, you can do anything you want. And I wanted my daughter to have blonde hair and blue eyes. That’s what I bought and paid for.”
“You adopted a baby?” Why didn’t I think of that? It would make sense that my mother was nothing like her parents.
“Absolutely not. I’m not a disgusting peasant. My family comes from kings. I went to the doctor, and they fixed my baby to make sure she was born perfect. What, are you stupid? Of course, you are…it’s all the filth you got from your father.”
Hitting an old woman would be wrong…but listening to her speak like that about my family…
Dad asked you to get this done.
You need more information.
Get it done and get out of here, so you never have to see this woman again.
“What about my mother, Tanith?”
“Are you deaf? I told you I only had one child.”
“So, you gave away the second baby.”
She snorts. “You’re stupid and deaf. Do you think I would have undergone all of those procedures to have the perfect daughter and let them put two babies in me? It was bad enough carrying the one. There was no way I wanted to become a blimp. Fatsos are almost as vile as n—”
I clear my throat as a clear warning.
