Page 211 of The Encore’s Crown

“Ma.”

“I want to call James.”

Rithy goes rigid, the spoonful of applesauce suspended halfway between the cup and Ma’s mouth.

“We’ll call him later,” I say.

“You always say later.”

“You need to eat first.”

“No food until I speak him.”

The spoon in Rithy’s hand hits the tray.

I look at him. His face has already changed. I see the whole thing going wrong before it happens, stretched out in front of me so slowly I should be able to stop it. But there’s nothing I can do short of hauling his ass out of the room, and even then, I won’t be fast enough to catch the words already coming out of his mouth.

“He’s fucking dead, Ma.”

The room empties of sound.

Ma stares at him. Her chin trembles before her whole face gives way.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Rithy,” I warn.

“No. No, no.” Her hand fumbles weakly against the blanket as though she can push the words away.

“He shot himself because he thought he killed you.”

The monitor beside her begins to climb.

“Rith. Stop.”

“He didn’t want to face whatever punishment was coming for what he did to you. Do you understand that?”

“No.” Ma’s breath comes faster. “No. You lie.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Rithy, goddamn it, stop.”

“No.” He turns on me, his face wet and furious. “I’m fucking sick of this. He terrorized us for years.” His voice rises with every word. “I’m sick of pretending none of it happened. I’m sick of acting like we were some happy family and he was just difficult. He was a fucking psycho. He was a piece of shit.”

Ma starts sobbing harder. Natalia moves to the bed immediately, taking her hand and putting an arm carefully around her shoulders. Rithy looks straight at Ma.

“And I’m glad,” he says. “Do you hear me? I’m glad he’s dead.”

“Rithy!”

I step between them and plant a hand against his chest.

He jerks away from me. “You’re defending him now?”

“No, I’m trying to stop Ma from having a fucking heart attack.”

I throw one hand toward the monitors. Her pulse is racing, the numbers flashing high while each breath catches painfully in her throat. The door opens hard. Marisol rushes inside, takes one look at the screen, and moves directly to Ma.