“You really need to sign these papers.” Juliet opened a large leather attaché case on the table. “Hugo Laraya was kind enough to draw them up for us. You’ll be signing over the company and the various properties you own.”

“Why would I do that?” my father demanded, eyes bulging. “You can all go to hell.”

I looked out the window. One of the NYPD vehicles had ferried Harris away, but the other was still there.

“You can sign now, before Interpol arrives,” I said. “Or you can wait until all your stolen property has been seized by the government. This isn’t even about the money laundering. Yet.”

“What are you doing? You’re pulling apart everything I ever built.”

Juliet tossed the papers at him. I handed him a pen.

I am full of hidden horrors. My mother’s voice ran through my head. I could forgive her—if anything, I empathized with her torment—but I could never forgive him. The horrors belonged to him. As he finally realized his empire was collapsing, his eyes filled with tears. It was the only time I ever saw my father cry.

CHAPTER 53 DEIRDRE

CHAPTER 53

DEIRDRE

Two weeks after Theo got out of the hospital, Reagan’s mother decided to host a family dinner. For as long as I’d known Mrs. Chen, her response to any situation, happy or sad, was to cook. “It’s her primary way of expressing affection,” Reagan told me. “She might criticize what you’re wearing, what you’re doing, and every choice you make, but if she makes roast duck, that means she loves you.”

Mrs. Chen went all out, cooking for two days straight and shooing me out of the kitchen when I dropped by to help.

“Start one little kitchen fire and no one trusts you anymore,” I grumbled.

“If it was only one, it would be okay,” she answered. “You’re too good at breaking things.”

Dinner was set for six o’clock on Friday, which was as early as Reagan could get home from work. Teddy and Gloria got there early. “It smells SO GOOD,” he said when he skipped into the house, endearing himself forever to Mrs. Chen. She let him into the kitchen, putting him to work as her official taster.

“He’s been excited about this for days,” Gloria told Mrs. Chen.