“Something like that. I was more focused on other stuff, like the family reunion. Anyway, I came to live with them, they had to take care of me because I’m their daughter, and they were pissed. When they’re pissed, they do stupid, stupid things, and I got those stupid things on camera.”

“You subjected yourself to abuse to get blackmail material? Please tell me nobody else knew about this and condoned it.”

“Nobody else knew about this and condoned it. Mostly they just think my parents are scared. They did their thing and told my parents to be good or else, but they don’t know about the video footage I got. I originally planned to get two week’s worth, but I didn’t have the guts. I ended up making it five days of footage of them, and I’ve gotten more since.”

Victoria leaned checked that the parents were still at the table, then spoke in a low voice, “You know police aren’t really able to prosecute much, right?”

“They’d prosecute some of this stuff.”

Victoria drew in a deep breath.

Kenzie cut in. “I know what you’re going to say! Really truly, it’s not that bad. I showed them the recordings and I told them they could go to jail or they could live with me and follow my very fair, very sane rules. They can quit at any time. If I die and it looks suspicious, the recordings get released and their lives are over.”

“Kenzie,” Victoria said, and now she sounded horrified. “You can’t do that.”

“But isn’t rehabilitation the main thing we’re trying to do? Isn’t that the whole freaking point? This is better than prison, because it’s targeted. They’re like a dog that was spoiled rotten and doesn’t know how to be loyal or good, and a dog that was kicked and beaten a lot, that’s learning to be nice to people again. They love each other too, and I think that matters.”

“Kenzie—”

“They’re mostly there! They are. They just hate my guts. They hope I’m going to die. They’re way more rehabilitated than they would be if they were anywhere else, and if the badness in them seeps out aimed at me every once in while, and they try to give me a mild case of lead poisoning, I’m okay with that.”

“No,” Victoria said. “No, no, and fucking—fuck no.”

“It’s what we do! We put ourselves on the line and we fix the bad guys!”

“No,” Victoria said. “The moment you get a concussion, you’re going to be vulnerable to them trying something. Or whatever. It’s—there’s no way this is healthy for you. Living like this, watching over your shoulder, you’re going to utterly destroy yourself.”

Kenzie swallowed, and then she said, “I’m doing okay so far.”