Lita tears past August and blocks Ren’s exit.  “You’re going nowhere.  Not tonight.  Not ever.”  She shakes her head as her silver earrings catch the soft light of the Tiffany lamp on August’s desk.  “I knew you were a loser, Loren.  I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“Enough!” August actually raises his voice this time.  “Lita, you’ve crossed the line.”

Lita throws him a withering look.  “Oh, be quiet, old man. You might strain a vocal chord pretending you care.”

Ren clenches her fists.   If Lita wants a fight she can have one.  “Get the hell out of my way you poisonous cunt.”

Her mother seems merely amused.  “Trashy little words from a trashy little girl.  My god, I always figured you for a pathetic fool but assumed you would know enough not to slut it around with the gutter rat your crazy aunt kept for a pet.”

Ren closes her eyes, wishes to be somewhere else, anywhere else. “What is it that bothers you, Lita?  That I’m with someone you consider inappropriate?  Or that I’ve found something you’ve never had?”

“Oh,” Lita says softly as her smile returns.  “I guess it’s time you heard.  Loren my dear, sweet, supremely idiotic child, I’ve had everything you’ve had.  Only I had it first.”

That’s what Brigitte meant.  It’s not true.  It’s not even in the same hemisphere as the truth.

“If you think I’ll believe that you’re more vile and crazy than I ever gave you credit for.”

Ren recoils when Lita suddenly reaches out to brush a few fallen strands of dark hair from her forehead.  She doesn’t retreat soon enough to avoid being lightly scratched with her mother’s fingernails.

“You fucking little moron,” Lita sighs.  “You actually believe he cares. No Ren, he’s the sort of trash who’s only looking for the next hole to satisfy himself.”

Ren glances at her father, silently begging him to put a stop to this nightmare.  She doesn’t believe it.  Not even for a blink of an eye does she believe Oscar would have a thing to do with Lita.  August believes it though.  Either he believes it or he can’t be bothered with a contradiction.   He breathes heavily and sinks down into a chair.

Lita laughs.  “Oh, don’t look at your father as if he’ll object.  Oscar’s not the first one I’ve had fun with and he won’t be the last.  I suppose you’re old enough to hear that your father and I have had an arrangement since Brigitte was born.  I’m free to do as I please.  And in this case, like so many others, that’s exactly what I did.”

Ren runs the back of her hand beneath her nose.  It has stopped bleeding.  “Sorry. It turns out you’ve wasted a round of theatrics, Mom.  I know exactly what you are.  You don’t know how to do anything but lie and inflict pain.  But I won’t be your problem anymore.  And neither will Oscar.”

Lita is amused.  “Is that because you believe you two will just ride off into the fabled sunset like the dreadful films once set here?  No.” She shakes her head with a private smile.  “That won’t be happening, Ren.”

“Empty threats,” Ren whispers.  That’s all you are.  You can’t stop us.”

Lita clucks her tongue.  “Well now, that’s not exactly true.  Do I really have to remind you that you are a minor?”

“Fine, I’ll get emancipated. I have less than eight months until my eighteenth birthday.”

“Yes, a lot can happen in eight months.  Scandal and disgrace.  And of course a trial.”

“A trial?”  Ren is startled.  “What crime has been committed for god’s sake?”

“Do you really think we would allow Mina’s stray to camp out here without performing a few background checks?  Among the more interesting nuggets of information we uncovered is the fact that Oscar is over eighteen and of course, as I just pointed out, you are not.”

“Oh god, Lita, you think anyone will care?  No one in their right mind would bother with a case like that.”

“They will if I make sure of it.  And just imagine all the lovely publicity that will surround you for the rest of your life.  I’m aware of how much you adore the spotlight, dear daughter.  Loren Savage will go from being Failed Actress to The Girl Who Fucked Her Cousin.”

“This is insane.  You are insane.  You think no one will realize there’s no biological connection between us?  And by the way, I know that Mina never actually adopted him so that means his last name is not even legally Savage.”

Lita sighs.  “It saddens me that you’ve learned absolutely nothing.  Truth is merely incidental.  The story is whatever will sell.  Always.  The world will see you as cousins because I will make sure of it.  And as far as legal trouble goes, if one charge doesn’t stick we can just try again with another.  For instance, I believe we will discover that there are some valuable things missing around here.   Do not underestimate my resources, girl. What do you think his chances will be by the time I’m finished with him?”

Ren won’t believe that.  Even though she’s seen the evidence her entire life she doesn’t want to be part of a world where Lita is right.  She holds her head up.  “No.  You’re just so pathetically twisted that you don’t understand that the truth actually matters to people.”

“Well, by the time you get all that sorted out you won’t be able to set foot outside the door without a camera in your face and your lover will be passing time somewhere in the Arizona penal system.  You called me a liar, Ren, and sometimes that’s true.  But believe me when I tell you that I will not sleep until that boy is gone, one way or another.”

Ren stares at her mother, true horror settling in.  Lita believes in a scorched earth policy.  She will set the world on fire to get her way.

“What do you want from me?” Ren whispers.  “You just want me to be as miserable as you are?”

Lita’s lips quiver and anyone else might believe she’s trying not to cry.  Ren knows otherwise.  Her mother is stifling a smile, barely holding in laughter.

Ren turns beseechingly to her weary father.  “Daddy.  Do something.”

But August Savage’s tired eyes ask her to understand that he simply doesn’t have it in him to stop his wife this time.  He doesn’t even want to try.  He just wants to remain buried here in the peaceful desert and let all the noise disappear.   “I’m sorry, honey.  He’s a grown man and he’s not even a member of the family.  There’s nothing I can do for him.”

Ren backs away toward the door.  She opens it and flees the room.  The two people who are responsible for her life are repulsive.  She needs to get free of them.  She needs to find Oscar.  But she needs a few minutes first.  Just a few minutes to think.

Her bedroom is hardly a refuge, especially with Brigitte and Ava in there, heads together, watching some inane reality television show on a tablet.

“Oh my god,” Bree exclaims.  “What a fucking tool if he did it.  You think that’s what happened?”

“Of course it’s what happened,” Ava says with confidence, swinging her long, artificially blonde hair.  “It’s on camera.”  She glances up when Ren enters the room and shuts the door, giving Bree a little poke in the side.

Brigitte props herself up on her elbows and looks curiously at Ren.  “You look like you’re about to hurl.”

“I might,” Ren says, crossing the room and heaving her mattress off the box spring.  She picks up a small velvet pouch and removes the contents.  Six hundred and seventeen dollars.  Not enough.  Not nearly enough.

Ren holds the wilted bills in her hand and drops to the floor.  She needs more time to think and there is no time.  After everything that’s been said, a critical stage has been reached.  Whatever is going to happen is going to happen tonight.  There will be time for doubt and regret later.  That’s something she knows with utter clarity; later on there will be too much time.

Her sisters are watching her, their solemn faces excessively painted with makeup.