Page 126 of Nest Of Lies

At the far end of the room, I spot movement in the dark. I edge forward, moving swiftly, until I realise that what I’m looking at is a very naked China Raines.

Her bones are sticking out, she looks far too thin, and her hair is a bird's nest. She’s smeared with streaks that I can’t and don’t want to identify.

But worse is the mutters. She’s talking to herself, and she hasn’t even noticed us yet.

Lia lunges past me, but I stop her and shake my head.

Instead, I look at Anderson.

He approaches her and speaks softly. Mills returns to the room and gives me an up nod.

I turn back and drag Lia up against my chest.

“What are you doing, China?”

She pauses and turns her head. “The answers here. I have to find it.”

“Okay, can I help you?” Andy asks softly.

She hesitates, and then gives him a quick, erratic nod.

“Hey, China, when was the last time you slept?”

China whips back to the wall. “I don’t know.”

“Have you had anything to eat or drink?”

She shakes her head. “I have to find the answer.”

“Okay. Okay. What’s the question?”

China stops and goes completely still. “When did it go wrong?”

I look up at the wall, the huge wall of lines, and I see the picture, the big picture. Arrows, a wall of arrows pointing down to one word.

Aurelia.

I make a decision to take the consequences on the chin. I whirl away with Lia and carry her back through the mansion until we get out the front.

I set her down, and she turns, ready to go back in there.

“No.” I don’t bark the command, but she stops all the same.

Her lower lip trembles. “But she’s my mother.”

“No, Lia. She’s the woman who hurt you and abandoned you. She’s not your mother. We are your family. Take my hand, and let’s go home.”

A single tear runs down her cheek.

I keep my hand out, waiting for her to take it.

“If I let her go, she’ll be alone. She’s my mother.”

“China Raines will never be alone,” a voice says coldly. A woman in expensive clothes walks up the porch stairs. She’s in a black suit and has gold on her neck and fingers. Anyone would know who she was instantly.

“Aunt Cara,” Lia says warily.

Another woman who looks like a softer version of Cara and China appears, and I realise this must be Chile who would be Auryn’s mother. My anger spikes. And where were they when Lia was left alone and suffering?

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