I inhale, and my breath is ragged, nearly choking me.
“You came here because your family wanted to infiltrate mine. You maneuvered your way into my life in order to take control of this town. You know my brother died because he found out about you, and you probably had something to do with his murder. You’ve known all this time exactly who you are, and you used me. You fucking used me!”
Cherry’s mouth hangs open as she shakes her head wordlessly.
“I was falling for it, too.” I lean in, nose-to-nose with her. “I was starting to think I was actually in love with you.
“Nate…” I can barely hear her whisper.
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” I growl into her face and tighten my grip on her arms until she cringes. “You wanted me to fall for it all. You wanted me in so deep, I wouldn’t be able to turn away from you. Well, it didn’t work. You are going to tell me the truth, Ms. Ramsay. You’re going to tell me now.”
“I…I don’t—” Cherry turns her head to the side, squeezing her eyes shut.
Outside the office, I hear shouting.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Antony Orso!”
Suddenly, the door is thrown open. I see Antony trying to block my sister from entering. A moment later, Nora’s knee comes up, and Antony cries out. He crumples where he stands as he grasps his crotch, and Nora shoves past him and marches straight up to me.
“Get your hands off of her!” Nora yells as she grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me away from Cherry. Without missing a beat, she turns me around and smacks me across the face.
“Nora, get out of here!” I shove her and take a step back, knocking the chair over in the process.
As the chair crashes to the floor, Cherry yelps. I glance at her and see her pulling her knees up to her chest as she turns to press her shoulder against the back of the couch, still crying.
“Have you lost your motherfucking mind?” Nora screams at me. “Antony just told me about all this so-called evidence, and I swear to God, Nataniele, you are all a bunch of complete morons if that’s how you put it together!”
“Leave, Nora! Now!”
“I didn’t know anything about this, Nora,” Cherry cries. “I swear I didn’t!”
“I know that, Cherry.” Nora glares at me, hands on her hips. “My brother just forgot how to spell the word ‘assume.’” She turns back to me. “Really, Nate, how could you think all of this added up to Cherry deceiving you?”
“Micha knew about her, Nora! He knew, and that’s what got him killed! He was killed to protect her identity, and she knows it!”
“How would she know any of that?” Nora says.
“He had a file on her. That woman—Virginia Bay—that wasn’t her real name. Cherry is Leanne Ramsay’s daughter, dammit!”
“How do you know that?”
“The picture. The forged birth certificates…it all adds up.”
“None of it adds up!” Nora takes a closed-fist swing at me, but I duck out of the way this time and continue to dodge her as she comes at me. “Even if it did, none of this points to Cherry knowing anything. You put two and two together and ended up with nine, you idiot!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” I yell back. “I’m protecting our family!”
I move to the back of the desk to put some distance between us, but Nora grabs a cup full of pens off my desk and hurls it at me, scattering its contents all over the room. Pops laughs.
“Clearly I know a lot more than you do!” Nora slams her palm on the top of the desk. “Do you think I’d ever put this family second? Did I question your motives when you killed my husband? If I had any notion that Cherry was working with the Ramsays, do you think I would hesitate to point it out to you myself?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Of course you didn’t because none of it is true! You are jumping to conclusions, just like Pops! You aren’t thinking it through, Nate! Stop reacting and start thinking!”
“But she’s Leanne’s daughter!” I say again.
“Is she? Did you find a real birth certificate, seal and all? Did you go to vital records and view the original? No, you didn’t. None of you have. You have a fucking picture of Roland Ramsay with a pregnant woman—that’s what you have! You don’t even know if that’s his wife in the photo!”
I pause for a moment, considering her words.
“Just because your sister can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not true.” Pops shifts from one side of the room to the other, leaning toward me and then away again. The motion makes my head spin. “She’s a liar, and you fell for it. You never should have been entrusted to lead this family.”
Family first—always.
“I have to assume, Nora. I have to protect us. I…I know we don’t want to believe it, but we have to consider…” I shake my head trying to clear it as the words get stuck in my throat. I look down at the desk and Micha’s file. I take a deep breath and try to speak calmly. “You have to consider it, Nora. Worst case, Cherry knows who killed Micha.”
“Best case, Nate,” Nora sneers, “she doesn’t know a damn thing! It’s also the most likely case. If she were here for the Ramsays, she’d be asking about our business, trying to get information, not making fucking PB and Js!”
That knot in my stomach has returned. In the back of
