“I got rid of them.”
At first her words don’t register and I blink a few times in confusion.
“What?” I ask.
“I got rid of them.” She changes lanes and shrugs. “Your Aunt Adri had her suspicions and I never ignore those.”
“Mom,” I sit up straight, “please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I went by Mr. O’Connor’s house around eight the evening Adri told me about seeing you run out of the school. Just to chat.” She grins, “Mr. O’Connor was shocked to see me and said, and I quote, ‘whatever Ivy has told you, it’s not true, Mrs. Greene’, I told him I was there just for a quick chat about my troubled teenage daughter.”
“Mom, stop.” I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head.
“They agreed, it must be hard raising a daughter as troubled as you, so far into drugs, and partying all the time. It was all I needed to know so I could do what I needed to do.”
“This has to be a joke.”
I look around once more just as we pull into the Torres’ Compound. Why the fuck are we here?
“Mom!” I yell into the car’s interior, “what did you do to Mr. O’Connor?”
“I wanted to kill them Ivy,” her voice is deadly low and the tone sounds nothing like the mother I know. “No one should touch a minor, no matter how much they ask for it.” Her eyes cut to mine, “I made them leave Whitsborough and they were only allowed to take what their pockets could fill. That’s it. But I promise you, if they ever bring their pedophile asses back into my town, I will skin them alive and you will fucking watch.”
I can feel my mouth gaping open and shut, my eyes about ready to pop out of my head. I make a few squeaking noises but I can’t seem to form a fucking word.
“I gave you the name Greene,” her bright blue eyes stare into mine, “but you are a fucking Torres. Maybe, I needed to do this sooner because Ivy, you became a victim of the very thing I’m eradicating.”
“Mom,” I’m fucking speechless, “I don’t…”
“Let’s go.” She opens her car door and slams it shut behind her.
I slowly get out and look around the compound, now that I’m older this place looks less menacing and more deserted. This area is comprised of mostly factories and this building looks like one above land, but underneath it’s a fucking village.
The large garage style door in the front opens and I see my Uncle Trent stand there with his hands on his hips.
“If it ain’t my two most favourite ladies.” I love the man but I need him to fuck off so I can talk to my fucking mother.
“Hey Mano,” Mom pulls him in for a hug.
“Ivy!” He pulls me in for a hug, “are you here to see your mama fight? Should be a doozy one.” He grins.
“She’s here for the job, too.” Mom interjects and Uncle Trent’s head snaps towards her.
“What?” His brows drop and his eyes narrow, “did I hear that right?”
“She should be there, don’t you agree?”
“I don’t know, Loca.” Trent eyes me, “she’s not like you, at her age you were… different.”
“Ivy,” she turns on me. “He thinks you’re weak.”
“Wait,” Uncle Trent throws up his hands, “I said different.”
“You’re not weak,” Mom walks ahead of us and towards the elevators, “and you’re going to prove it.”
I chase after her as Uncle Trent closes the door. “Mom!” I’m panting when I get to her side.
“What?” She asks exasperated.
“Are you making me fight?”
Her mouth turns up into a sadistic smile and she smooths her hand down my hair.
“No baby,” she tugs softly on the hair’s ends, “something far worse.”
“Ember,” Uncle Trent says with a warning in his tone.
“Tell him you’re a Torres.” She’s staring intently at me and I want to please her but above all else, I trust her.
“I’m a Torres, Uncle Trent.” I say it with force and a bit of annoyance that he thinks me weak. After everything I’ve been through, I am far from weak.
“That’s my girl.” Mom pats my cheek and we step into the elevator.
“What is this going to be? Black Slaughter’s apprenticeship? Her sidekick training program?” Uncle Trent asks my mother. Black Slaughter? That’s what Dean was saying.
“Black Slaughter?” I ask Mom as we step off the elevator.
“Come with me,” she grabs my hand and leads me down the corridor to where the dorms are.
She pulls me into a room and shuts the door. I look around in awe at the posters of my mom on the walls and her fight gear on the small table in the corner. It’s a small room with a queen bed in the center, side tables, a desk, and a washroom/closet combo. She has a small bar fridge on her table and when I open it, there’s Gatorades and water inside.
“I think it’s time I told you about our family, Ivy, and what it is we do.” She says as she sits on the bed.
I don’t know why I’m suddenly scared and nervous, I shouldn’t be because I always knew my family’s past was strange.
“I was raised by a single mother, this much you know, and you know I didn’t find Uncle Emmett until I was about your age. But what you don’t know is that my father was a mob boss, the kingpin of the underground world here in New York. He had his hand in pretty much everything, prostitution, human trafficking, drugs, weapons, the police, and government officials.
“When my mother had me and Emmett, Nana Jenna helped her escape but she was only able to take me, and Emmett was stuck here to be raised in a mob environment. My father ended up going to prison because my mother testified to the FBI, he went away for fifteen years
