Now, every day she wakes up to a growing fear of a threat she can’t name but is sure draws closer to her with each stolen moment.
Oscar just kisses her worries away and promises that soon they will leave Atlantis behind. He pointedly ignores the ominous Lita menace. Whenever and wherever she appears, he just stares right through her.
This morning a sleek BMW coasted through the rusty gates of Atlantis and parked in front of the big house. The grey-suited man who exited the vehicle was expected by her father. August shook the man’s hand and led him into the house while Lita trailed after them. Ren had watched it all from the shadows of the brothel where she was sprawled with Oscar, smoking some of Monty’s cigarettes.
“He’s a lawyer,” Brigitte is now saying with snotty authority when Ren enters the bedroom where her sisters are trying on clothes and admiring their bodies in the closet mirror. Bree smiles at her reflection and twists sideways. “He’s here because Mina made such a shit show out of her life and now there’s some housekeeping to be done.”
Of course a man like that would have to be a lawyer but it annoys Ren that Brigitte seems to have all the information already.
“How would you know?” Ren grumbles, flopping on her own unmade bed.
“If you climb over all the antique crap in the den and stand underneath the air vent you can hear every word that’s said in Daddy’s study.”
“And I suppose that’s what you did.” Ren rolls over on her stomach and despite herself, hopes Bree will share whatever else she learned, especially if it involves Oscar’s mother.
“Naturally. It’s not like August and Lita ever tell us anything.”
Ren sits up. “So?”
“So what?”
“So what’s this garbage about Aunt Mina?”
Brigitte preens and rolls the side of her shirt down, exposing a shoulder. She sucks her cheeks in and offers the mirror her most provocative pose. “You’re always yelling at me for gossiping, Loren. I should probably try to turn over a new leaf for your sake. Starting now. So I don’t think I should say a word about Aunt Mina and the disaster she made.”
Ren jumps to her feet and gets between her sister and the mirror. “Bree! You better tell me whatever you know right now.”
“You shouldn’t threaten people, Ren. You sound preposterous.”
“What threat? That was a threat?”
Brigitte pouts. “Your tone was negative. It startled me.”
Ava finishes smearing a thick layer of lipstick on herself and joins the conversation. “Come on, spill it. I want to know too. Do we have another hot blooded cousin stashed somewhere?”
“Nope,” Bree smiles. “In fact we don’t even really have one.”
Ren shakes her head. “Quit speaking in riddles.”
“I’m not. Mina never went through with Oscar’s adoption. She paid off a stack of important people for that kid and then didn’t even bother to finish the basic paperwork. So Oscar Anonymous is no Savage.”
Ren mulls this over. It sounds just like everything she’s ever heard about the chronically irresponsible Mina. It might be a pain in the ass for Oscar, but not the end of the world. “Is that all?”
“Hmmm,” Bree taps a fuchsia fingernail against her teeth. “Almost. Apparently the great globetrotting basket case didn’t leave a will either so Oscar doesn’t get anything, which actually doesn’t matter since she didn’t own shit except a pile of debt and eight trunks full of the tackiest designer labels her bad credit would buy her.”
Ava stops examining a turquoise necklace and looks at Ren. “What does all that mean exactly? What does it mean for Oscar?”
It means he’s nameless and penniless.
Brigitte is staring at her and looks slightly mournful. “It means Lita is already making the case to toss him out on his ass.”
Hearing it out loud is unsettling but Ren and Oscar have already talked about what they would do, where they would go. Of course they were counting on having a few more resources at their disposal but Ren isn’t bothered by the idea of working hard, doing without. As long as she gets to keep Oscar nothing else matters.
“Well,” she says lightly. “Lita never did waste an opportunity to be a bitch.”
Ava’s eyes are wide. “You’d better watch out for her, Ren. There’s something off between her and Oscar. It’s like she hates him or something.”
“The feeling is likely mutual.”
Ava swallows and sinks down on the edge of her bed. “Sometimes I think she hates you too.”
“Again, mutual.”
Bree pulls her shirt over her head and cups her breasts, pushing them together. “Did you guys do it?”
“Who? Do what?”
She grins sweetly. “You’re such a shitty liar. You fucked him, didn’t you?”
“Brigitte!” Ava squeals.
“What? She can do it but I can’t even say it? I am surprised, Loren. I kind of thought you’d die a knee-locked virgin.”
Ren doesn’t react. Bree’s just fishing like she always does. She knows nothing.
“We haven’t done anything. We’re friends. And to hell with you and your filthy mind, Brigitte.”
“Don’t be pissed at me. I just repeat what I hear. Although it would be better if it wasn’t true, especially given all the circumstances.”
“All what circumstances? So he’s not rolling in cash and his last name is a question mark. So what?”
“I meant in light of who else he might have fucked since he got here. Although if that’s true, his standards are disgustingly low. Oh my god, would you stop with the face of shock every time I drop the F bomb? Let’s all say it! Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!”
“Fuck,” says Ava with a weak smile.
Ren feels slightly dizzy. “Brigitte, you’re not making any sense. You have not messed around with Oscar.”
“God no. Not me. And you can’t point the finger at Ava either.”
“Then what in the hell are you babbling about?”
Bree starts to talk, then seems to change her mind. She glances out the window and sighs. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Ren’s had enough. If she hangs out in here for much longer trying to dodge Brigitte’s outlandish crap there might be blood. She rushes out of the room and ignores Ava when she tries to call her back.
When she reaches the hallway where her father’s study is, she hears voices and the sound of a slowly opening door. She feels slightly idiotic ducking into the den and flattening herself against the wall but further family communication isn’t appealing right now.
The den is densely packed with the possessions of the dead. Every once in a while August mentions clearing it out and letting Ren have it as a bedroom but that day will likely never come. Ren finds herself wedged between an empty curio cabinet and the mounted head of an antlered creature that was probably felled by Rex Savage.
There are footsteps in the hallway and the murmuring of men. And one woman.
Murmur murmur “of course” murmur murmur “rotten publicity” murmur murmur “good thing he isn’t a child” murmur murmur. Then, nothing.
Once the men’s voices recede, Ren peeks out from behind the bristly animal head and sees Lita there alone, standing in the hallway, examining her reflection before a giant round mirror in a manner reminiscent of a gothic evil fairy tale queen.