Page 60 of One Wild Ride

“You both live in California now?”

Last I knew they lived in Winnetka, just north of Chicago.

“Yes, we moved two years ago. Your father took on a client that is quite powerful. Has a lot of connections. You know how your father is, always trying to move up in the world.”

I rolled my eyes knowing what connections she was talking about. Where they saw money and power, every normal person saw crime and danger.

“I see you have moved on from Ava’s killing,” I said and watched my mother’s brown eyes for any hope of sorrow.

I was disappointed in what I found.

She scooted toward the end of the couch and reached over, placing her hand on mine. “Now, Aria, you know your sister wasn’t killed. She died of an overdose. The doctors confirmed it. I suspected she had a problem and hoped the clinic would’ve helped but we were just too late.”

I drew my hand back as if my mother’s touch was full of venom. “Clinic. Is that what you two have told yourself? You think if you say it enough you’ll believe it.” I laughed because if I didn’t I would sob. “Dad sold us to those people. Those disgusting criminals. His children. They drugged her and they would have drugged me but I escaped.”

I was the lucky one. Ava should have escaped. She was smart and brave and she deserved all the things. She could have found the cure for cancer or ended world hunger or done something that would go down in history. What could I do? I could paint. That doesn’t save lives. And even if I filled a million canvases with every color known to man, it would never bring her back.

My mother gazed down at her fingers and I noticed for the first time how worn they were. There were calluses and wrinkles and spots that I would expect to see on an eighty-year-old’s hands, not a fifty-five-year-old’s.

I leaned in as my mother started to speak with her head down as I could barely hear her.

“We were young when we had your sister. Your father had just started law school. It was hard in the beginning. The bills, the cost of college, and having a baby . . . we struggled. And then when you came your father had just started with a good law firm. We made a pact. He would take any job they gave him, even the cases none of the other lawyers would take, if it meant we would have enough money for you two.”

“That was then, Mom. And that’s no excuse for what happened to Ava.”

She gazed up at me, tears streaming down her face. “You’re right, Aria. But by then everything was out of control. And your father, he changed. It changed him. He became like them.”

The moment had come. My mother was finally admitting the truth. I fell to the floor, kneeled at her feet as I clasped her hands in her lap, my words pleading, “Then come with me. Get away from him. I can make sure you never see him again.”

Her eyes traveled my face as only a mother’s could. It had been so long since I had seen her look at me like that—full of love and pride.

“I’m so proud of you, Aria. No matter what’s happened, please know that I love you. That there hasn’t been a moment that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you.”

That’s when tears fell from my face. I knew what she was doing. For so long I told myself I never wanted to see her again, but now that she’s here I never wanted her to leave.

I hated her and my father for so long, but now, I felt nothing but pity. My sister and I needed their help that day and they turned their backs, leaving us in hell. But I refused to make the same mistakes as them.

“Mom, please, I promise I’ll help you.”

Her smile grew soft as she waved me up to sit next to her. She drew me into an embrace. It felt good and long overdue.

When she pulled back I had hope. “I do miss Chicago; it’s so nice this time of year.”

She pushed a few tendrils from my brow.

I nodded. “Yes, it is. We can visit the Tower Road beach and take walks like we used to.”

She laughed. “Remember when Ava was so excited that we had a warm day in May that she ran into the lake, not realizing how cold the water still was.”

I threw my head back with a deep belly laugh at the memory.

“I remember. She shivered so much and I was worried when her lips turned blue. I hugged her the whole walk back to keep her warm.”

“We were so happy then,” my mom said and then sighed.

“We can be that happy again.”

She squeezed my hand and was about to say something when something in her purse buzzed. I had no idea what was in her purse but deep in my bones I felt it related to me. My stomach twisted as my mother reached for her purse to pull out her cell phone.

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