Page 46 of Hemmed

“You’re both liars. Tell them. Tell them what you really are. Tell them who you really are.”

The team was absolutely perplexed by the entire conversation. It was as if Victoria was losing her mind as well.

Then Nine stared at Yulia. Really stared. Short, petite, brown hair laced with a colored dye of blonde. She had interesting features, almost elfish. But it was her size that suddenly had him knowing.

“Oh, shit.”

“Tell them. Tell them everything. Come on, Mommy, Daddy, you can do it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“Victoria, you’re not in trouble,” said Mo. “I promise, honey. But explain this to us. We’re all listening. The team is on the other end of the line.”

“You’ll hate me. You’ll make me leave!” she yelled.

“No. No, we won’t,” he said calmly. The shriek of her voice made them all worry if perhaps she’d inherited some of her mother’s illness. If, in fact, Yulia was her mother.

“Please, Victoria,” asked Nine as quietly as he could manage.

“I was four the last time I saw them, but I remembered. The minute I saw their faces, I knew who they were. I remember everything. It’s one of the many problems with being a genius. You remember it all.”

“You’re not a genius,” said Yulia. “You were a pain in the ass, always asking questions!”

“Lady, I will only say this one more time,” said Tailor. “Shut the fuck up, or I will rip your limbs from your body.” Yulia knew the man wasn’t just making a threat. He would follow through in a heartbeat, not worried about killing her at all.

“They yelled at one another all the time, fighting. He decided to leave her.”

“Leave your mother?” asked Gaspar.

“I won’t call her that. Or him father. My mother and father are here,” she said, turning to look at Mo. He smiled at her, wanting to weep for his adopted daughter.

“Alright, sweetie. Go on,” said Gaspar.

“He left us. Left me with her.”

“I didn’t leave you,” said Krauss. “I left your mother, but not you. I moved away for a while, starting a new life, and when I’d returned, she said you’d died.”

“I’m sure she wished that I had,” said Victoria. “I found out what she was doing with the books. She didn’t expect her four-year-old genius to figure out that she was cheating her own father and his partners.”

“You’re sick!” said Yulia.

Tailor hit her so hard he thought he might have broken her neck. Her head snapped to the side, then she wept, staring at the man.

“I warned you.”

“I sent an e-mail to Uncle Boris. I have no idea if he’s really my uncle or not. She got mad. Really, really mad and beat me. Richard stopped her from killing me.”

Nine turned to look at the man who was trussed up on the floor. He removed the tape from his mouth.

“Is she remembering everything right?” The man looked at his boss, then back at the man. His life was over no matter what happened here tonight.

“Yes. She was out of her mind and didn’t know what she was doing. I told her I’d take care of the kid. I took her to an orphanage that said it was for brilliant children. I never saw her again after that.”

“Well, your intention was good, but the result fucking sucked,” said Ghost. “That kid has been through hell.”

“You told me she was dead,” said Krauss.

“She is dead! She’s dead to me and to you,” said the woman, slowly losing her grip on reality. She felt the pulse of electricity at her neck again and screamed, writhing in the chair.

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