King's eyes widen, mimicking my own shock. More bits of information I’d heard over the years catapult to the forefront.
Of course I'd heard of R.J. Turner. He was King's dead criminal uncle. He started as a small-town drug dealer before expanding his operation to more lucrative ways to make money. He used Gray, his little brother and King's father, as one of his distributors while getting him hooked as an insurance policy—until Gray killed him.
Does that make them…?
Before I can put things in order, Mara drops the blade and starts pacing in front of us, her heels clicking against the concrete. "Daddy always had a temper, you know? Everyone feared him." She pauses, examining her manicure with a diabolical smirk. Dropping her hand, she props her fists on her hips. "So, one day, the mood struck him to have some fun"—she puts air quotes around the word—"with his little brother's girl crush."
She looks pointedly at King before continuing her track in front of us. "Which resulted in…" She stops abruptly, pirouettes, and waves at herself. "Moi."
She taps her finger to her chin. "Unfortunately, said girl had some issues." Mara holds up a finger. "She was only a teenager herself." Finger number two goes up. "She grew up with a violently drunk father that beat her on the regular." Finger number three joins the first two. "And getting raped by her friend's brother doesn't result in a healthy mental state. Ergo, she wasn't able to care for her baby."
Dropping her hand, she starts moving again. "The baby ended up in a foster home—multiple, actually—but that's not important." She waves us off as if we are catching up with a long-lost friend.
All I can do is stare. The pain I woke up to is momentarily forgotten.
How is this real?
"A few years later, the girl found herself a nice, boring husband. Clueless schmuck." Mara clucks her tongue. "She hid her damaged past from him, suppressed the urges that fought to break free." Mara swirls her finger next to her head.
The spots in my vision are back.
"So…" Mara looks at King as she continues ourconversation. "One day, she tracked down her daughter and convinced your father—her childhood friend who didn't protect her from his brother—to take her daughter in. The baby was his niece, after all. Gray always did her bidding, no matter how much he loved Stephanie." She shakes her head. "Anyway, Gray convinced Stephanie to raise his niece alongside their one-year-old daughter. Stephanie really was a pushover." Mara purses her lips, propping her hands on her sides.
I peer at King for the first time. Her face is flushed, and her mouth is pressed so tightly I can barely make out the red. She's fighting against her better judgment of letting Mara finish her story.
"What's with the talking in third person?" King lost the fight.
"I tell my life's story the way I want to tell it, sis," Mara snaps.
"According to your little trip down memory lane, it'scuz," King challenges.
"Touché." She smiles genuinely.
This woman is as unstable as…
"Wait." The missing link finally forms. "If R.J. Turner is your father," I state, and Mara turns to me, brows raised. "Thegirlyou're talking about…the one he raped…" All the air gets sucked out of my lungs. "Your mother is Emily Sumner," I breathe the name.
"Ohhh, look at your deductive skills. You are not so dense after all." Mara regards me proudly.
Emily Sumner. Birth name: Emily Kaczmarek."That makes you…" I can't bring myself to say it.
"I'm your bestie's big sister, yes!" She steeples her hands under her chin.
Mara Rachel Turner is Lilly's half sister and King's cousin. Dread knots my stomach.
How is this possible? Why has no one ever found the connection?
"Emily couldn't take care of me herself without revealing the remnants of her damage to her husband. Plus, she was dealing withthe burdenof another baby." She trains her attention on King. "So, I became your big sister instead."
"Did Uncle Ronnie—?"
"He knew about me, but he didn't care much. I was a nuisance. A hindrance in expanding his business. Which is why his untimely demise didn't faze me. Actually, it worked in my favor."
"What do you mean?"
I follow theirchatwith fascination, ignoring the tingling warning in my chest.
"His second took over and kept the chair warm for me until I was ready to take over what was mine. The Turner territory belonged to me. I was the rightful heir." Mara pokes her chest. "After leaving you, I stayed with Emily for a few months until we decided I was more useful in the States."