Marla put her hand to her face. “I’m broken, Cecile. Nothing will ever make me feel better. And I was a child. What could I have done with my anger toward our father? We were children. But I’ve had a fabulous life—Rome, London, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Sydney. I’ve done the best that I could. After I killed Émile, a strange thing happened to me. I got stronger, but it was like a thirst for blood that I couldn’t quench. In Rome during the 1960s, I killed a man a night for thirty days. Now it’s only one every thirty years.”

As she listened to Marla’s story—Esmé’s story—Lara couldn’t help but pity the poor, motherless child she recalled from the photo. Esmé had been dealt a cruel hand, all Althacazur’s doing. Lara considered this to be one of the saddest stories she’d ever heard and her heart broke for that little girl.

Yet it was hard to reconcile that story with the woman standing before her. Like the many killers who were once victims themselves, at some point Esmé became the torturer. This woman had killed Lara’s fiancé and her father, and despite the pity she felt for her now, Lara knew she would kill everyone here today unless she stopped her.

Just then, Lara saw Marla look beyond her. She turned to see Audrey coming through the gate.

“Mother,” said Lara, alarmed. “How are you here?”

“I had a feeling,” said Audrey.

Marla sighed deeply. “Not you, too. So you’re all now doing his dirty work for him. I warn you all: I’m not going back there.” She leaned against her shovel. “I’ll admit, I’m surprised he managed to wrangle you, of all people, Audrey.”

Audrey’s mouth was drawn tight. “I never wanted any of this.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” said Marla. “Audrey, I’ve offered your daughter the opportunity to turn around and leave. I won’t come back to Kerrigan Falls.”

Audrey snorted. “No one would be foolish enough to believe you.”

“Well then, since you two are still under your little protection spell, I can’t touch either of you. But that doesn’t apply to him.” Marla turned to Ben and moved to swing the shovel at his head. With a flick of her hand, Lara sent the shovel flying. Marla turned to her and smiled. “It seems you do have some skills. He’s outfitted you well.”

Lara’d had no idea that she had skills other than flying. She was drawing on pure emotion.

Marla spun around toward them, wiping sweat with her arm. “Remove the protection spell and I won’t kill him in front of you.”

When neither Audrey nor Lara answered, Marla shrugged. “Okay then, it’s your choice.” She didn’t even move a muscle. Ben doubled over in pain as though his insides were burning.