Page 45 of Absolution

I accept it before sinking low into my chair. “I’m listening.”

She sits across from me before informing me, “Her name is Diana Byrne. She was my best friend. We were inseparable.” She closes her eyes as if she’s struggling to remember something—something that brings her pain. “I was smitten with your father when I met him. Diana and I were at a party. She saw him first and liked him too, but he said he wasn’t interested in her. He wanted me.” My shrilling cell interrupts.

When I take it out, I notice it is Viktor calling again.

“Do you need to take that?”

I shake my head. “No. Keep going.”

She tells me that, at first, everything was great. She dated my father and married him three months after they met. They were a big happy family. Then my father started acting differently once Viktor was born. He was home less and less, and Diana wasn’t spending time with her either. She thought it was because of Viktor, but one night she caught my father fucking Diana at the restaurant. That was when she learned that my father had been in a relationship with both of them from the very beginning.

Diana didn’t care that she was sleeping with her best friend’s husband. She wasn’t even apologetic.

Later, my mother found out Diana was pregnant with me. My father told Mom that she was to raise me as her own, and Diana’s name was never to be mentioned.

“Did you know?” I demand.

“Know what?” my mother asks as her eyes bounce between mine.

My cell rings again, and once again, the screen reads Viktor.

“Fuck.” I slide my finger across the screen of my cell and push it to my ear. “I can’t talk right now.”

“Too bad. You need to get to the mansion right now,” Viktor orders.

“I’m in the middle of something. I’ll be there when I can.”

I face my mother after hanging up the call.

“Is everything okay?”

Her worry grows when I ask, “Did you know Ava is my sister?”

“What?” She is surprised by my question.

“Diana told me today that she’s also her mother. That makes Ava my sister. Tell me she’s lying.” She stays quiet, frustrating me further. “Mom…”

“No… I don’t know. Ava never talks about her mother. I’ve never seen pictures of her.”

Her eyes shoot down to my cell when it pings. It’s a message from Viktor.

Viktor:Ava is missing. Fucking come to the mansion NOW!

“Fuck. I have to go.” I leap out of my chair and race for the front door.

Dian’s words replay in my head,“Your sister needs you.”

Mom follows me. “What’s going on?”

“This conversation isn’t over. I need the picture back, Mom.”

She hands it to me—hesitantly. “Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t know who Ava’s mother is, but you can’t simply take someone at their word.” Except I know better. DianaisAva’s mother.

“I love you, Mom.”

As I sprint to my car, I call Viktor.

He answers immediately.

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