Bloodline [h.s.]

forty-five.

BRIDGET GALLAGHER

The absolute worst thing someone attending the Payco International fundraiser can do is mistake the event for a gala or a party. Woman squeeze in couture. Men get fitted for tuxedos. Waiters will serve champagne. To the naked eye, it will appear to be nothing more than a party with a tax bracket requirement at entry. However, that couldn't be further from the truth.

The event was a social and professional audit.

To people like my mother, it's an audit of the socialites. The hierarchy had to be adjusted annually. Which marriages lasted the year? Whose children found themselves rehab? Or worse, heaven forbid, public universities...

To Peter and I, tonight was usually a business endeavor. We would network and scope out potential investors, competing to see who landed the better clients. To my father, it was an exhibit of who needed him most, who his resources were. The ones who kissed the ring and rubbed elbows the most showed desperation. He always advised Peter and I to negotiate harder on those ones.

To Aiden and Nick, this event was a hunting trip, and my father was a sixteen-point monarch stag. Twelve points for points for every royal, red deer accomplice taken to his knees in their war path. Tonight was open season, and the guests were unsuspecting prey.

In preparation, Cara, who thrived on nights like these, deemed it necessary to have fresh manicures in the morning. Truthfully, I hated getting my nails done. The concept of a stranger touching my hands and feet for a prolonged period of time had always been less than appealing to me. But, since it was her birthday, I sucked it up and left Aiden's house before the sun touched the sand to meet her at the salon. After surviving forced self-indulgence and sipping on lattes, I made it back home in time to run into my mom in the conservatory.

She was smiling and French braiding Megan's hair. It was the most maternal she had looked in months. Megan's hair would blend seamlessly next Kai's. I hadn't seen her since I held the pill bottle in my hand and looked him in the eyes yesterday.

Everything about him was dominant. His dark hair and brown eyes, phenotypes I now recognised in Megan. His disease that he passed on to both my sisters. The control he had over Aiden.

"Bridget, you said we would watch a movie last night, but you weren't in your room." She said, blinking up at me. She sounded miles away as her little hand poked at my arm. "Bridget? Hello?"

I glanced down at my sister, Kai's daughter, and realised the golden twinkle in her eye was put there by the man I feared most. I looked at her and then back at my mom, and something in me broke.

Maybe logic. Maybe sanity. Maybe both.

I hadn't even noticed I clutched my stomach until Megan tugged on my hand. I should have left the room. The next words to come from my mouth could have been anything. I didn't trust myself.

"Sit down, honey. You look a bit pale." My mom said. I sunk into the couch next to her. Megan climbed into my lap. Her raven black hair, the darkness Kai gave her, nuzzled under my chin. "Bridget?"

The sting of her voice triggered the thought of her and Kai's age difference and I felt even sicker. My stomach churned at the idea of them— no. "Megan, start some homework with Dylan and Connor. I need to talk to Bridget, okay?"

"No, I'm comfortable." She whined with pout, jokingly hiding her face as her defiant giggles vibrated against my collarbone. I couldn't laugh with her. The numbness as I processed what all of this meant kept me stoic.