I whipped my head around and stared at Cain as he stood in the doorway with a phone on showing a video. He stepped forward as the scene played out, and even though I didn’t want to see this, I couldn’t look away.

“I still don’t like having sex in her room, Mrs. L. I get what you said about this being a ‘fuck you’ to her, but it feels weird like she’s watching us.”

“Turn that off right now,” my mother ordered from the bed. I looked between her and the video. She was scared.

“No, I think I’ll let this play out. What else did you say, Mother?”

“Don’t be silly, Peter. No one is watching, and besides, my daughter is a selfish train wreck that would be going nowhere without me. She was lucky to have you and couldn’t even manage to hang on to the one good thing in her life.”

Cain hit pause, and I covered my mouth.

“There is a lot more, but you get the idea,” he said, and my mother tried to look around me to see who was talking.

“What is this? Did you hire a P.I.?”

“You would think that,” I said.

That question made me laugh. Peter began to moan and blink, and the look on his face was one that I wanted to photograph and frame.

He tried to speak through the ball gag in his mouth, and I caught the word ‘sorry’ in his jumbled mumble. I held up my hand, stopping him.

“Save it. I’m not interested in hearing what you have to say.”

“So, you’ve been caught in your lie,” I said to my mother. “What else should I know?” I directed the question over my shoulder to Cain.

“Ask her about your father,” he said, and my eyebrows shot up.

Turning back to my mother, I cocked my head as she licked her lips. “What about my father?”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about. I told you before I don’t know who he is. Your father and I were going through a tough time, and I made a mistake. Why are you stirring up these old wounds? Are you purposely trying to upset my daughter and drive a wedge between us?”

“Don’t get pissy with him. He’s the only one in this room that has been honest with me from the day we met.” Walking forward, I leaned over my mother and grabbed her chin as Cain had once done to me. “What should I know about my father?”

“I told you. Nothing,” she said and tried to yank her head away, but I held it firm.

“She’s lying,” Cain said. He was my calm, my steady as the turmoil of emotion began to brew.

“Shut up,” my mother snarled at Cain. Not a smart move, but she didn’t know that yet.