My sister and I, clinging to each other, along with Hank, my brother-in-law, had watched the truth revealed day after day. The atrocities too violent to understand. We had always known he was flawed, distant, and volatile, but we’d not known it extended outside of our own family. After our mother died, he’d essentially drifted further and further away from us, spending months away from home while we stayed with the staff. Mara and I had held on to each other as tightly as we could through those years.
We’d gone to college, forging our own paths. Mara hoped to have an acting career and had gone to drama school where she’d met and married Hank Dalton, an aspiring director at the time. Now, he was a renowned film director. Powerful in his own right. She’d no longer needed my father or his nepotism. But me? I benefited, all right. It was my father who got me green-lighted right into the industry. I was hired by the most prestigious talentagency in California. A corner office by the time I was thirty. Clients who included the town’s finest actors and actresses, and they all wanted to work with me. Despite everything, I’d been good at my job. A firm but fair negotiating style—and a deep desire to do right by my client—had brought professional success.
My father had insisted Mara could not pursue an acting career until after college. Ironic that he would insist she wait until she was older to pursue a career. He knew exactly what kinds of monsters ran our town because he was one. Or, as it turned out, the very worst one. But after Hank broke into the industry, roles for Mara opened up, not only in her husband’s films but others too.
After the news broke, I became as much a pariah as my father, even though I had done nothing wrong, other than enjoying the wealth and lifestyle my father’s career had given me. All of which made me sick now. I hated the man I’d been then. Naive and smug, thinking the world would continue to open right up for good old Jefferson Grady Hale.
Now, I ran harder, calves burning, chest tight. The sand gave way beneath my feet, refusing to offer firm ground. It felt fitting. That’s exactly how it had felt when the truth had finally come out.
People spoke of nepotism about people like Mara and me, raised with privilege and power. They were mostly critical, those voices, screaming on social media about nepo babies. But they didn’t understand the flip side of it all. When it all came crashing down around us, we were the children of a monster. How was that for privilege? Suddenly, we were shunned, talked about behind closed doors, now tainted. No one would ever hear or see our names without remembering what our father had done to those women. Apparently, nepotism worked both ways.
Looking back, I don’t know if I made the decision to leave that life behind and start over as a pauper by the sea or it had been made for me. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
Mara, on the other hand, remained entrenched in that world. Her husband’s career had taken off when his first action movie hit box office gold. Now, he was one of the men who called the shots, and my sister benefited from it, but I didn’t blame her for it. She was talented and hard-working and really good at her job. Why should her dreams die just because of what he’d done?
But I’d just wanted out. And now, it was all crashing back around me.
My pace faltered, breath rasping now. I tasted salt on my lips that had nothing to do with the sea. I slowed to a jog, then to a walk, hands braced on my knees as I bent forward, lungs heaving. The ocean roared, crashing to shore, not caring if a storm brewed within me.
You ran away. And you’ve lived a lie for years.
My friends didn’t know who I really was. Esme had no idea that the blood of a monster ran through my veins. I’d hoped to keep it that way. Deep down, I was afraid no one would love me if they knew who I really was. Especially Esme. But there was no way I could keep it from her. Not after my reaction to the news last night. I had to tell her the truth and face whatever consequences came my way.
I straightened, wiped rain and sweat from my face, and started back toward the path that led home, Lady Gaga now singing a ballad in my ear that made me feel unbearably lonesome. By the time I reached my little house, I was thoroughly soaked. I peeled off my wet clothes and got into a hot shower. When I got out, I saw there were several messages from my sister asking me to call her.
It was not yet eight. Mara would be getting the kids ready for school. She dropped them off around eight-thirty. I texted herto call me when she got back from her school run. As much as I didn’t want to face any of this, I had to. I couldn’t let Mara handle it alone.
Ten minutes later,I was sitting on my couch, sipping coffee, when the phone rang. Mara.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked.
“Not really,” Mara said. “You?”
“Can’t say that I am, no.”
“Hank and I just got off the phone with the probate counsel. They’ve picked up his body from the prison and taken it to the county morgue. There will be a full autopsy. After they determine cause of death, they’ll want us to authorize the release of his remains.”
I pressed the heels of my hands into my cheekbones and let out a long breath. “Okay. Did the attorney say if Dad left instructions about what he wanted?”
“Just that he asked to be cremated.”
“Okay.”
“But they want to confirm cause of death and determine whether it’s a murder or suicide,” Mara said. “It will take a few weeks.”
I nodded, staring down at the phone on my coffee table. “What do you think? Suicide?”
“I have no earthly idea. All I know is that no one’s going to miss him.”
As harsh as it sounded, it was true.
“The attorney wants us to come in for a meeting,” Mara said. “Apparently, we were left something in the will.”
“Did you tell him we don’t want anything?” I asked.
“If that’s true, then we have to do it properly. Paperwork and all that.” Mara paused. She must be sitting outside by her pool, because I could hear the sounds of birdsong in the background. “But listen, I think you need to really think about what you want and don’t want. After the estate was liquidated and used to settle with the victims and pay all the legal fees, there wasn’t much left, but apparently Dad set up irrevocable trusts for us long before he was arrested. The money’s protected. Now that Dad’s dead, we need to decide what we want to do.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, swallowing the bitter taste that had developed in my mouth.
