Kira wishes me luck and drops me off at home. Taking a deep breath, I enter the house and once again prepare for the worst.

I find Gram and Grandpa in the kitchen. Dark circles rest beneath their red-rimmed eyes. Gram clutches her tea mug so tightly that I fear it might shatter in her hand. Grandpa runs his fingers through his grayish-blonde hair and flashes a false grin when I join them at the table.

"Good morning," I mumble.

"Good morning, baby girl," Gram replies, resting her hand over mine. "How you feeling?"

"I don't know," I admit. I call to mind my four a.m. conversation with Althea and shake my head, closing my eyes to trap the tears that threaten to fall. "I'm just... confused."

"We know you are, honey," Grandpa says. "Admittedly, we haven't handled this situation very well."

"Tell me the truth." The words come out as a harsh whisper. "Please. If you think you're doing me any favors by lying, you're not."

Gram and Grandpa exchange a look. I fold my hands and wait for them to speak.

After thirty seconds of tense silence, Gram clears her throat and says, "I don't know what Benson told you. Truthfully, I don't want to know, because it would probably piss me off, but there is one thing you need to understand: my son is a liar."

"You lied, too," I remind her. "You told me that Benson walked out on Clementine and me. He was forced out of town."

Grandpa rolls his cerulean eyes. "We lied to protect you. He lies to protect himself."

"A lie is still a lie!" I exclaim.

"Vange, do you want to know what happened or not?" Gram snaps.

"Actually, Mom and Dad, we were hoping we could do that."

I whirl around and find Aunt Gemma and Uncle Bowie leaning against the wall. My aunt is perfectly composed, despite the uncomfortable circumstances. My uncle, however, looks like he's about to hurl.

"Do you want that, sweetheart? Would you rather talk to Gemma and Bowie about this?" Gram asks me.

Nodding my head, I rise to my feet and follow my aunt and uncle outside. I can't help but notice the looks of relief on my grandparents' faces.

I'm beginning to think I was wrong. Maybe they don't not want to be honest with me.

Maybe they just aren't ready.

We get in Gemma's Nissan and drive to Poppy's, the diner I went to with Rem and Kira after meeting up with Benson for the first time. I like this place. When you walk in, you feel like you're coming home.

"I used to work here," Uncle Bowie comments, sliding into a booth. "Zayna, too."

"At the same time?" I inquire.

"Yeah, this is where we fell in love."

"A workplace romance. How scandalous."

Chuckling, he shakes his head. "Don't get any ideas, kiddo."

Aunt Gemma orders a coffee. I'm tempted to get one, too, but I decide against it. I'm jittery enough.

"So," my aunt begins, adding a creamer to the dark liquid, "let's talk about your dad."

"Yes, Golden Boy Benson," my uncle mutters.

"Golden Boy? Why do you call him that?" I ask.

"Because for most of his life, it was believed that he could do no wrong," he answers. "He excelled in school. He had a good job, nice car, fancy condo. He was perfect.

"Except he wasn't. He isn't. He has an inflated sense of entitlement. If he wants something, he has to have it. He really wanted your mom, Vange, so he... he forced himself on her. She was drunk, and he brought her into his bedroom, where he then—"

"Raped her," I murmur, flinching at the word. "I know. He told me."

My uncle's blue eyes turn into saucers. "He did?"

"Well, not exactly. He said that their relationship was consensual, and that you lied about the assault part because you were in love with my mom, too."

"I'm going to kill him," Gemma hisses, her face contorted with rage. "He's a dead man."

"I'm honestly not surprised he lied," Bowie says with a shrug.

"How do you know he hurt my mom?" I question him, still as confused as ever. "Did he tell you? Did you walk in on them?"

Bowie opens his mouth, but nothing except a shaky breath comes out. He rests his elbows on the table and rubs his temple the same way I do when I have a headache.

"When they were kids, they shared a room," Gemma pipes in. "Benson thought Bowie was asleep when he led Raelyn to his bed. Turns out, he was awake, and he overheard the whole thing."

I shake my head, biting down on my bottom lip. "Y-you were there? You saw it happen?"

"He was thirteen. He was a child. At the time, he didn't know what was going on," Gemma defends her brother.

"Trust me, I feel awful about that night," my uncle murmurs. "I hate myself for letting that happen to her."

"So you weren't in love with her?" I clarify.

"I loved her, but like a sister."

"And when she... when she killed herself, was that because of what Benson did?"

He nods his head, a solemn expression on his face. "Yeah, it was."

"She made a video explaining the ordeal," Gemma tells me. "Most people just write a suicide note, but not your mom. She always marched to the beat of her own drum."

"She never said his name, but we put two and two together," Bowie adds.

My heart aches. It feels like the organ is going to break in half. My worst fears are becoming a reality.

My father, the man who gave me life, is a predator. A monster. He hurt my mother so badly that it caused her to take her own life.

And I'm sure having to care for the child of the man who violated her didn't make living any easier.

"Wh-what else did she say in the video?" I stare at my aunt and uncle through teary eyes.

"It doesn't matter," my aunt replies. "She was drunk on tequila and not in her right mind."

"She said that she loved you, and she said that she would die for you," my uncle whispers, wiping away tears of his own.

"She did die." I busy myself with a stack of flavored jelly packets, separating them into groups by color. "It just wasn't for me."

An hour later, Gemma brings me home. Gram and Grandpa ask me if I'm alright about a dozen times. I tell them I am, even though my world just came crumbling down around me. Everything I thought to be true was a lie. Everything's different now.

Honestly, I was happier believing my father was a deadbeat who abandoned me. This new version of reality is too dark and twisted.

Sorry, I know this chapter is on the shorter side, but it was kinda an angsty info-dump, so I didn't wanna overdo it 😅

As always, thank you for reading! Don't forget to tap that little star⭐️⭐️