Page 121 of Destiny

I frown. “Why would that matter?”

“To a normal person, it wouldn’t. Wendy Madigan is about as far from a normal person as you can get. She was obsessed with my father. She felt they were soul mates, life mates, whatever. I mean, she was willing to kill him and herself so they could be together forever. She never accepted the fact that he chose Daphne over her. My father admitted to the sex that resulted in me. She trapped him into it, and I’m sure he probably refused to do it again.”

“But if she had your father’s sperm all those years, why didn’t she inseminate herself before?”

“My mother—I mean, Daphne—was pregnant with Joe before they got married. And then Talon came along three years later. Wendy was busy finishing school, becoming an investigative journalist. And doing God knows what else with her secret organizations. The timing makes perfect sense when you think of it from Wendy’s point of view.”

“Ryan, none of this will ever make perfect sense to me.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of scary that it makes sense to me. But only because I’ve grown to understand her. Which freaks me out more than a little.”

“I hate Ava being in there alone with her.”

“I’m not a fan of it either,” Ryan says. “But I know my daughter. And I think you know her too, Ryan. She’s her own person, and she feels she needs to do this. So we need to let her do this. Remember, she’s smart. Shewillask for help if she needs it.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ava

“Grandmother, I want to be honest with you about something.”

“What is that, my dear?”

“I’m in love with a man. I’m in love with Brendan Murphy.”

Wendy’s eyes close. Her skin of her eyelids has a translucent look.

“Yes, I see,” she says. “I believe he’s the great-nephew of Sean Murphy, who was a friend of your grandfather’s.”

“Yes. What happened to the original Sean Murphy, Grandmother?”

Wendy opens her eyes. “It was a shame. It was a needless death.”

My pulse races, but I work to appear calm. “What do you mean? A needless death?”

“He was very important to Brad, and Patricia Watson was very important to Daphne.”

“Brendan swears that his great-uncle didn’t do drugs. That someone must’ve drugged him.”

“Ava,” she says, turning to look into my eyes, “sometimes the innocent get caught in the middle of a battle for a person’s soul.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means…” She sighs. “It means that there are casualties in every war.”

“War?” My heart thrums against my sternum. “I’m not sure I follow, Grandmother.”

“Know only this. When you were born, I realized the purpose of everything I’d put into motion. It was for you, Ava.”

“Please, I’m trying to understand.”

Wendy sneers. “Brad and I should have been together. I was his true love. Daphne… She was a siren. She stole my man out from under me, trapped him, and she had to pay.”

“But…”

“Oh, Ava. I didn’t have to do much to make Daphne pay. I took her best friend. I took Brad’s best friend. But Daphne… Her own mental illness was her cross to bear.”

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