“I don’t know. I guess I’ve grown into myself.”
Margot looks at me like I’m wearing an eyepatch and a peg leg. “Sure.”
I frown. “You’ve worn stuff like this. Remember your masquerade dress that almost showed your nipples?”
“So? I don’t have huge Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader titties!”
“That doesn’t matter! Mom still almost made you go home and change!”
Margot flinches at the mention of our stepmom. “Okay, so maybe I’ve almost showed some skin, but you’re all shy and now you’re like…” She casts a glance at the doorway. “…Are these kidnapper guys making you dress like this?”
It’s hard to hear Margot talk about the men I care for, the men who rescued me from Mr. Parker, as ‘kidnapper guys.’ But that is what they are. It’s notallthey are, but it’s where our history starts. Now that I’m free of Mr. Parker, free to do whatever I like, I can appreciate how tricky it’ll be to bring my sister and friends to our side. To show them Velvet House is where I want to be. I smile. “Yes and no. Eli bought me this dress, but I wanted to wear it.”
“But they did kidnap you?”
“Yes, but now I’m free to do whatever I want, and I want to be with them.”
Margot picks up her glass and takes a long slug of wine. “I think you need to tell me what happened.”
“The guys said we only have an hour here before we have to leave…”
“So, talk fast.”
We sit side by side at the kitchen counter as I try to explain what happened after I was taken on my wedding day. It’s a hard story to tell. I condense some of the scarier things and leave out others. I don’t mention Orchard or bribing Adriano with my virginity or the Baskerville twins. That makes it sound like I ran away from Mr. Parker’s limo all by myself, but I can’t risk blowing their cover.
As I talk, Margot looks more and more horrified. But she’s not freaked out by my escape or that Mr. Parker is a monster or even that I was held in a cage. She’s freaked out that I’ve lost my virginity in bits and pieces to four different guys.
“Are you serious?” She keeps saying. “You’re sleeping with Elliot Morelliandthat blond guyandthat giant guyandthat cute muscly one? And they all know about it? And they’re okay with it?”
“Um, I think so,” I say and try to return to my story. But Margot keeps dragging me back. “You slept with them because you were scared of them, right?”
“No, Ididn’twant to sleep with them when I was scared of them.”
“So then how…?”
“We got to know each other more and I… wanted to.”
“Youwantedto have a bunch of threesomes with criminals?”
“I mean… it’s not a threesome if there are five people, is it?”
That makes Margot scream.
I try to explain how things at Velvet House feel normal and make sense to me, but the more I talk, the more Margot gets suspicious and freaked out. I give up and jump to explaining the negotiation and how Mr. Parker can’t come near me anymore.
“…so, I’m free,” I tell Margot. “Our whole family is. Mr. Parker has to go marry someone else and leave us all alone. And once the air has cleared, Bobby says I might be able to meet with Zia Teresa’s daughters and explain what happened, so they have closure.”
“Right.” Margot pours herself another huge glass of wine. “Are you sure Mr. Parker killed Teresa? It wasn’t an accident?”
I think back to that afternoon in the hospital, the dimly lit room, the man putting his hands around Zia’s neck, and I want to slap my sister. “Of course it wasn’t an accident. Mr. Parker ordered his men to kill Zia. He didn’t have to, but he wanted revenge.”
“For what? You didn’t kidnap yourself!”
“Because he didn’t get to marry me. And he wasn’t the first man to touch me. And now that I’m not a virgin, he hates me. He said he always hated Zia, too.”
Margot lifts her wine and drinks deeply. I lay a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
She shakes her head. “I can’t believe Teresa is gone.”
