"No one leaves until the effects of the truth serum fade." Yoleta latched the door to the dining room.

Zill kicked Yoleta to the floor. "If you believe you're the strongest woman in the room, you're wrong." She fumbled for another laser gun strapped to her ankle, but her father tackled her.

"Ida is not dead. She is a reborn elemental," Quig said.

"You should have kept that nugget of delusion to yourself," Chase said.

Madd-Ox spoke. "I'm the loser, working holidays and weekends. Stanton took my money and gave me a worthless title, gift cards, and a car I couldn't drive. I sleep six hours a night, so I can protect Junior during my time off."

"I'll love you always," Grew-Ella said.

Zill laughed at Madd-Ox. "Everyone knows you're a loser. I lost my money too, and I'm clawing my way back."

He crumpled. "Yoleta pays me well, but I beg her to give me broken elite status or fire me, but she never does. Trent's daughter and Junior are—" Madd-Ox stabbed himself with a pen from his pocket. "I'm not going to humiliate myself anymore." He stabbed himself again and dropped the pen.

Quig and Madd-Ox placed their hands over each other's mouths to help each other not talk about Junior.

"A random woman paid Trent to father her kids, but she abandoned the ugly freaks," Zill said abruptly.

"What?" Paul asked.

Zill laughed. "Dad, you also don't want to know what I did to that stupid girl when I was her stepmother."

Madd-Ox stomped away from her. "Stop talking about her."

Yoleta spoke to change the conversation. "Madd-Ox, I'm sorry, I've been so concerned with saving the kingdom. I ignore how much you have sacrificed."

"You don't care." Madd-Ox trembled.

Yoleta lowered her head. "Madd-Ox, you're not worthless, but I love to tease you. And I regret everything—"

His father, Paul, interrupted. "We planned to adopt you officially much earlier, but Sean-Mack and Yoleta kept stopping it, even after you turned eighteen." He hugged him tightly.

"Zill is genetically my half-sister, but she drugged Grew-Ella, and Yoleta has lied to protect Zill because she is in denial of the monster she's become."

"I was wrong, I didn't lie, not about that, but maybe I lied to myself," Yoleta said. "But I found out about the druggings."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Paul asked.

"My wife isn't a toad. You manipulated naive Grew-Ella into marrying your darling Quig." Chase tore at Paul's shirt and dragged him across the room. "How could you let this happen?"

Karen pried him loose from her husband. "Quig never arranged a forced engagement contract behind my back."

"Zill, the fact that Quig is a broken elite meant Chase couldn't keep abusing the contract against me," Grew-Ella said.

"No, I saved your life. Sean-Mack planned to kill you. I wasn't abusive, was I?" Chase asked Grew-Ella.

Words burst out of Grew-Ella's mouth, as her head tilted toward her brother-in-law. "You and Sean-Mack sent me to a workhouse and threatened the man I love. I hate you! Please give me time to forgive you and leave us alone."

Chase rushed to the table and threw a plate of chicken nuggets against the wall. "We didn't need Quig falling for you. Zill has been my boss in the engagement contract, and we've been married for almost four years. She needs this as much as I do. Nothing I did to make you happy worked because you were too hung up on Quig. You have no right to your choices."

"You finally admit you both tortured us." Grew-Ella stared at Chase.

"We needed you because..." He meant to keep his secrets in his mouth, but they burst through. "Zill can't carry our children."

"That isn't true." Grew-Ella smashed a plate and clutched a shard of the porcelain between her fingers. "Zill has a greater chance of conceiving than I do. She has five adult sons and a stepdaughter, and had a chance to adopt me. She would have treated me like Vex's son, so it was for the best."

"He works for Yoleta as one of her spineless guards. There are some things even I wouldn't do for money," Zill said.

Grew-Ella waved her shard. "Dad didn't want me at first, either. Everyone wished for a prettier baby except for Mom Karen."

"I wasn't sure I was going to be a good father," Paul said. "My parents helped raise Zill. She knew right from wrong."

"They taught me lies about beauty." Zill stared at Grew-Ella. "It's not my fault that Dad knocked Mom up at thirteen. And I don't care to raise another child. Chase does because he's fourteen years younger than me, but I enjoy torturing you because it's fun." Zill inched closer to Grew-Ella.

"Touch me, and I'll stab you in your kneecaps. I'm never coming with you."

Chase spoke loudly, and his misery burst through. "Because of the sterility land mine accident, Zill produces more eggs than you, but each victim reacts differently. She can't carry more children. I'm not attracted to you because you won't let me touch you. Well, I'm attracted to Zill's adult stepdaughter." He spoke more. "Why did we use that serum?" He flung plates of food onto the floor.

"You're an awful person, and you waste food." Karen's eyes opened wide, and she grinned. "Zill wasn't there when the accident happened. She's fine."

"What?" Chase asked.

Zill shoved him. "Of course, I'm able to have more kids. The doctor informed me I could have another child well into my sixties. I was humoring you because our fertility problems aren't mine, but yours."

"I can have kids," he said.

"Trent gave us his genetic contribution, and I'm pregnant."

"You kept medical information from me!" Chase shook. "I didn't ask for your affair baby. Why did you use Grew-Ella if I can't have kids?"

Zill kissed her husband's cheek. "Baby, you wouldn't have agreed to help if you knew Sean-Mack and I planned to kill her."

"I can't believe you did this to your sister on purpose! You're a monster." Paul clamped his mouth down.

Zill attempted to grab the broken porcelain from Grew-Ella but cut her fingers. "She wasn't supposed to survive that mock beauty contest, and I'm only here to finish the job. If she marries Vex, it all goes away. He can't stand her, but he'll torture her because he can't find Delia Orchid."

"No, it isn't true," Chase said.

Zill clutched her hand. "Sis, you have everything you shouldn't, acceptable status. I'm prettier than you. You have money, and creepy men aren't always asking you out. I'm shocked you found a man into pathetic women. Dad should have sold you to the workhouse. Deformed and unacceptable women shouldn't live."

Zill stopped her bleeding with her dress. "I'd love to murder an unacceptable woman who never should have been born. We're both accidents, but at least I'm attractive. Okay, my grandparents raised me and I had a privileged childhood, but the gifts decreased once the freak was born."

"You were an adult." Grew-Ella still clutched the thick shard in her hands. Zill clawed at her sister's hair, but her hand brushed the shard, and she located a hidden knife.

The other women in the room caught her until she gave up.

Chase sat frozen for a moment. "We didn't have the money, and the contract is cheaper. Surrogates would be reimbursed."

"Only if she agreed to sign, and she didn't. And it wouldn't have worked," Madd-Ox said.

"But I didn't know that," Chase said.

Karen grabbed Zill. "Chase told Grew-Ella that you needed beauty lotto tickets to remove your badges."

Chase's eyes iced over. "Sean-Mack planned to give her to us for information. It was a trap. He knew she was there. Besides, Grew-Ella was going there anyway to save her friend, Ruby."

"Zill, I started therapy, but I couldn't tell her anything," Grew-Ella said.

"Liar, the contract didn't drive you to therapy. You're being dramatic."

Grew-Ella placed her homemade weapon to her side. "What if Vex forced you into an engagement contract? No, I'm staying with Quig. He loves me and didn't lie about your ex-husband, Trent."

"He isn't..." Quig paused.

Zill giggled repeatedly but stopped to glare at Karen. "I'm not a believer. Vex added the obnoxious badge to fool the Kindness Rebels. He traded the real badge for information. Karen, you stole our money to rescue workhouse brats."

"I thought the obnoxious badge was your real one." Quig tried to speak again about Trent not being Rodrick's son, but he mouthed it, and Zill didn't hear.

Karen pounded the table, shaking plates of food. "Trent stole your money, and I told you that repeatedly, but you became too arrogant to believe me. I can't lie."

"They're telling the truth, and we shouldn't have trusted him," Chase said.

"Vex killed Lana when he learned she was a Kindness Rebel leader, and Rodrick tried to save her," Quig said.

Yoleta said nothing.

Chase spoke to Grew-Ella. "Those smoothies were formulated to purge your rotten eggs, so they didn't steal room meant for my baby."

"Ha, no, those drugs were meant to cause her pain and make her even uglier." Zill grinned.

Madd-Ox dragged Zill and Chase, trying to force them outside, but the prisoners broke free and ran.

Quig wrapped his working wing around Grew-Ella and kissed her forehead. She dropped the shard.

Avery-Joy stumbled out of the bedroom. "Betsy and I heard everything, and I recorded the full encounter. I have to post it."

Grew-Ella frowned. "They were not allowed to talk about the NDA with anyone else but me, but I'd hate to embarrass Yoleta or have Sean-Mack come after me."

"They didn't know they were being recorded, but I need to protect you. I'll send it, even if it's illegal," Paul said.

"She's still my sister." Grew-Ella trembled.

"If they're smart, they'll go on the run until the warrant ends in two or three years. No debate." Paul grabbed the phone and sent the recording to the media over the internet. He looked down at the phone.

"In this township, only one party needs to know they're being recorded, if the first party is committing an active crime," Avery-Joy said.

"Zill doesn't know it yet, but Sean-Mack was arrested. We're announcing it in a couple of days. This information might help us win supporters. We don't need to start a war with his loyalists, and Vex didn't sign the blood contract," Yoleta said.