“Hello, my bloom,” she says, her voice as thick as poisoned honey. “You came.”
Clover doesn’t respond. She doesn’t move. She just stares at Terra as though she’s remembering every pain that’s ever been inflicted by her hand.
“I wasn’t sure you would,” Terra continues, moving closer. Slowly. Methodically. “I thought perhaps you’d learned to be smarter. Less naive.”
“I’ve learned a lot of things,” Clover says, and I’m so damn proud of how level her voice is. “Including that you killed Miriam.”
Terra’s smile doesn’t waver. “Is it really murder if all you do is not supply the epinephrine?” She cackles, and even the wildlife knows to run in fear. “Miriam was weak,” she hisses. “She kept me drugged for years because she wanted me by her side and was too scared of me to send me to prison. But the thing about drugs is you eventually build a tolerance. Then all I had to do was…wait for the right moment. She thought she was protecting you, but she was only keeping you from your destiny. I simply…corrected her mistake.”
“You murdered her,” Clover accuses.
“I freed us both. Those raging cunts, Vivian and Dahlia, stole everything from me. A father, my first love, then Edward and Valen, Calla, even my future. Miriam had to die so we could be free to resume our true calling.”
Who the hell are Dahlia and Calla?
“Who’s Calla?” The question flies from Clover’s mouth like a ball of fire. She’s practically vibrating.
“Oh, my sweet, broken bloom.” Terra’s voice drips with condescension. “Calla’s not a who, she’s you.”
Terra soaks in Clover’s pain before continuing, but I have no fucking idea what’s happening.
“A scared little girl who survived a car crash that killed her parents.” The words hit their mark, covering Clover in their venom. “I took you in. I renamed you. Reshaped you. Calla died in that car with her whore of a mother—and Clover Styx was born. My daughter, as you were always meant to be. My perfect creation.”
“She’s lost her damn marbles,” Chase groans. “I’ve heard cartoon villains sound less theatrical.”
“Shut up,” Roman hisses.
The sound that erupts from Clover is all anguish and pain. It’s grief and rage and two decades of stolen identity collapsing in on itself.
“Steady, Valen. Steady,” Roman whispers.
I’m ready to rip out my earpiece.
“You didn’t save me,” Clover chokes out. “You consumed me.”
“Oh, don’t sound so fucking weak, Clover. That’s not who I raised. The womb you grew in belonged to a stupid, lying whore. I did everything to ensure you were stronger, smarter, more capable to take on a world where we were in control of our own destiny.”
My hand twitches with the need to wrap around her throat. Terra catches the slight movement, and her gaze shifts to me for the first time, a sinister snarl curling her lips.
“You did bring him. How…touching. The lost prince returns to my kingdom.”
“The kingdom isn’t yours anymore,” I say, standing to my full height behind Clover.
“Isn’t it?” Terra spreads her arms wide. “I built this place. This forest is my playground. That tree, my homage to a better, pure, free way of life. Every inch of this property belongs to me,regardless of what that bitch aunt of yours led you to believe. You’re trespassing on hallowed ground.”
“Free for who?” Clover says, the words rumbling low in her throat. “You built a prison. There was no freedom here. Children were props, a conduit for your fucked-up beliefs. But I escaped. Valen escaped. We escaped you.”
“Did you?” Terra tilts her head at an unnatural angle that reminds me of every horror movie I’ve ever seen. “Because here you are. Standing exactly where I wanted you. In the spot you’ve always belonged.”
“I’m not here because you wanted it,” Clover says. “I’m here to end this.”
The telltale poof of guns fired with a suppressor catches my attention, and I glance around wildly.
“Shots fired,” Roman confirms. “Two men down. She’s on her own now.”
“Oh, my dear little bloom.” Terra’s laugh is eerie and terrible in its emptiness. “This is only the beginning. You think you can leave me? That you can discard me like all the others before you?”
She takes another step forward, and red dots cover her chest.
