Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

she were like them. S he’d have her chance now, because she’d be with them, ostracized from society.
    Silas would explain her absence by saying she was troubleshooting his business problems. That’s what he did whenever Maia and Dione went to the compound. Why not? W ho would Silas send if not his own daughters? Both women were brilliant, knew the business inside out, and favored by the Middle Eastern men with whom Silas did business.
    Maia tuned back in. Selene moved to Silas, ran her fingers through his thick salt and pepper hair, and whispered something in his ear. Then she spoke loud enough for Maia to hear. “ We must send her away , Silas? After what she pulled , what’s to stop her from exposing us?”
    “How could you, Maia?” Silas said, speaking for the first time. “You leave me no choice, especially now with the Racine woman and her police lieutenant in the picture.”
    “Not to go over this again, darling ,” Selene said, caressing his shoulders, “but you should have listened to me. Drugging Diana Racine before she got to the house was stupid. She’ll never come for another reading now. I told you to wait until―”
    “Shut up, Selene. She’ll come. She’s too curious not to.”
    Bristling at Silas’s tone , Selene quickly recaptured her composure. “Yes, but not without the cop. She―”
    “I said, shut up.”
    This time Selene froze , cheeks flushed. A momentary wave of triumph filled Maia when her father showed some balls. It wouldn’t last. Not after Selene unzipped his pants. H er stepmother knew what to do . She eased her body into his, rubbing, undulating.
    “She goaded us in front of my parents and everyone else. They didn’t like that.”
    “Tell her, Maia,” Silas said. “Tell her you won’t say anything.”
    “I won’t say anything.”
    Selene glared at Maia but held her voice steady. “At least speak with some conviction, dear . W hat will you say w hen the cops come to the door and ask about the two men you invited to our home , huh, Maia?”
    She should have said it with more assurance, but she couldn’t. The thought of begging to Selene made her stomach turn over . She’d rather be banished. “What men? It’s their word against mine, isn’t it? Who’ ll believe two street bums over Silas Compton’s daughter?” She purposely didn’t say Silas and Selene Compton’s daughter. She wasn’t Selene’s daughter. Never was.
    “ T his is a question for the group,” Selene said. “She put us in jeopardy. We all should decide what to do.”
    Selene nuzzled her face into the crook of Compton’s neck and ran her hand down his torso and over his crotch . She smiled smugly at Maia and left.
    Silas, his face flushed, seemed flustered, then rallied his self - control. “Why, Maia? You have everything you could possibly want. Why endanger the group like that?”
    “You really don’t know, do you? You’re so blinded by that woman you can’t see what you’ve done. What did Phillip Crane offer you all those years ago beside s his daughter, F ather? Was it money or sexual pleasure that made you drive my mother to suicide and sell your soul and the souls of your children? Tell me , because I have to know .”
    The strike across her face came swiftly and forcefully, knocking Maia into the table and onto the floor. Her stinging cheek brought tears to her eyes.
    “You will never speak to me like that again, do you understand?”
    Compton approached her, offering his hand to help her up. She shrugged him off .
    A pained expression twisted his face , and he stepped back . “I’ve never told you this―you and your sister were just children at the time, toddlers ― but your mother was a disturbed woman, unable to handle the pressures and guilt born along with a retarded child. From the moment we found out Crane wasn’t normal, she blamed herself, thinking she’d done something d uring her pregnancy. She slowly sank into a far-off place, unable to give you and Dione the attention you deserved. ”
    Maia didn’t remember her mother’s slide into depression . She remembered her mother’s touch, her smell, her warmth. Silas was right . S he and Dione were babies, but her memories were strong nevertheless .
    “ I couldn’t reach her ,” Silas said . “ Maybe I should have been more understanding, but compassion doesn’t come easily for me. In fact, until I met Selene I never felt much of anything. Work was my lover, ambition my driving force.”
    Maia