Page 115 of Perilous

“I have a million things to say to you, Annika, but I don’t know where to begin or how. I’ve been a shell of myself for a very long time because of him.”

“So why is it different now?” I ask.

“He’s broke. Suddenly there were no more issues in my life. Other than withdrawal. A sudden withdrawal. I thought I was dying. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was in the hospital. Then everything started making sense to me.”

“So because he’s broke you’re back? For what? Revenge? You want money that doesn’t exist?”

“I want a relationship with my daughter. I want the chance to start over. I want to be me. And I want you to be you. I wrote you letters all the time. I knew in my heart he was never going to show them to you.”

I look back at Peri.

I think about the letter I saw from my mother. The one Peri stole from my father’s place the night he drugged him.

“This is too fucking much,” I say, lowering my head.

Peri lifts his left hand to my chin and lifts my gaze. He holds my chin. Tight. Controlling. Possessive.

“I’m in this world now too,” I tell her. “Is this what you want for me?”

“If you’re happy.”

“Want to know what he does to me? WhatPerilousdoes to me?”

“No, Annika,” my mother says. “That’s between you and him. He’s claimed you.”

I swallow hard. “So you were… claimed…?”

“Not the same as you,” she says. “There’s not much more I can say about it.”

“There are rules,” Peri whispers with a long growl. “What can be said and what cannot be said. Best to leave that part be, doll.”

“You know, I was the one who helped him get started,” my mother says. “I helped to build his first hedge fund. That was what I wanted to do. I fucked my boss. How’s that for truth?”

“So I get my brains from you?” I ask.

“And your beauty, if I may say so,” Peri adds.

“Are you fucking flirting with my mother?” I growl at him.

“Annika,” my mother says, laughing.

I smile. It’s hard to contain the sense of love and excitement I feel right now.

My mother! She’s really here! She’s alive!

My heart twists with crushing pain.

The realization of just how fucked up my father is and how fucked up my life…

“Mom,” I whisper.

My eyes fill with tears.

“I have so much to tell you,” she whispers and steps toward me. “There’s never enough apologies. Time can’t be erased.”

Peri steps away from behind me. He’s now standing at my left side. My mother stands just a foot away from me. All I can think about is hugging her. Jumping at her. Telling her I love her. But I don’t understand my feelings.

“Might as well just get this over with,” Peri says.

---