At that point I wished so badly that I could run back upstairs and unhear what I’d heard. June was West’s daughter, my half sister, Ezra’s half sister? I wanted to climb back into bed and be none the wiser.

My mother started her loop of denial once again, but my father ended it with a fist coming down hard on whatever table he was closest to. It scared her quiet, along with everything else. Even the hum of the ceiling fan in the living room seemed to lessen.

His next proclamation was simple and to the point: “You are a whore, April Bennett. You probably always were, and I was just too stupid to see it.” My mother gasped at his harsh words and I hugged my knees tighter to my body, as though becoming smaller could make me hear less. “I’m leaving you,” he continued. “I’m taking May with me, and you won’t see either of us ever again. You and June can run off with your maintenance man and live happily ever after, for all I care. And don’t think you’ll be getting a penny from me. Not a penny.”

Flashes of light appeared in front of my eyes, and I felt like I was going to throw up. My mother started sobbing, and tears began to silently fall from my eyes.

“You can’t do that,” she said. “You can’t take May away from her mother and sister. You can’t.”

“I can and I will, April. I’m a powerful man. I can make a lot of things happen. I’m not going to leave my only daughter with a whore for a mother. I’m going to go wake her up, and then we’re leaving. You and June have twenty-four hours to get off this island, but after that, if you’re still here, I’ll have you arrested.”

The flashes of light turned to a pulsing red orb that set my entire body on fire. I had only one thought in that moment, and it was that I would not be separated from my sister. Without a plan or any forethought, only pure rage and fear, I lunged free of my hiding space and ran at him. Throwing my entire weight at his body so that he stumbled backward, fell against the fireplace, and died. Setting in motion a string of events that would change people’s lives forever.

JUNE

I wake up slowly. After the discovery that West was my father, I told Ezra I needed some time alone and locked myself in his bedroom. The entire landscape of my life had changed in a split second, and I needed time to process it.