izaak and violet argument

"Esperanza, come on, let's go!" Izaak barked as I leaned against the broom handle, staring into space.  I was dripping with sweat, stomach growling from lack of carbs today, and just ready to rest.

"Give me a fucking break already!" I growled back, about to explode.

"This is part of the routine, you agreed to abide by it this weekend."

"Why is your routine so fucking strenuous and boring??  We've already run up and down the stairs a billion times to do the fucking laundry, and now you have me cleaning everything up to military standards?  I'm not your fucking slave."

Izaak stopped what he was doing to stand up straight and look at me, hands on his hips.  "You're acting like I'm torturing you."

"This is torture!  Your life is the worst.  Why do you need to have everything so regimented and orderly?  How fucking ridiculous and boring."

For once he didn't remark on my colorful language, instead shaking his head at me.  "This is not that difficult."

"You don't know what's difficult for me.  You don't know what I'm going through right now."

He raised his eyebrows, but didn't ask.  I wished I could tell him everything.

But his silence just riled me up more.  Through gritted teeth I said, "Do you know fucking anything about anybody?"

"I know you're about to earn another spanking if you don't get back to work."

"Whatever, go ahead.  I don't care," I snapped, pushing the broomstick away so it landed on the floor with a loud THUD.

saturday morning

"Esperanza, Peterson, rise and shine!" Izaak's voice boomed as we were suddenly blinded by him opening the curtains.  

Clo groaned, but I felt her roll out of bed almost immediately, while I grumbled "five more minutes" and put the pillow over my face to hide from daylight.

Without a warning, I felt the blankets fly off me, and then the sting of the wooden spoon popping down on my pajama-clad bottom.  "No more minutes," Izaak said in a strict tone.  "You have three seconds to get up and moving."  I rolled my eyes from under the pillow, thankful he couldn't see and fuss at me for that.

"Bro, just chill, I'll get up in a minute..."

"Two seconds..." he warned.  And then when I laid still, heart clamoring against my ribcage, he said, "One second..."  I couldn't help but smirk, suspecting what would come next.  I idly wondered how many times he'd spank me this weekend as I felt my pajama shorts and panties being tugged down to mid-thigh, and then heard the CRACK of the wooden spoon peppering against my backside on top of all the marks I already had from the last two days.  It didn't take long for me to shriek and reach back.

"Okaaaayyyyy, fine!" I said, shoving the pillow off of me and giving Izaak a scowl.  He stopped the spanking, looking pleased with himself for getting me up at a record time of morning.  

"You have 5 minutes to get ready, or you'll get a proper spanking."

molly's response

"Okay, so maybe you did find Chloe in her high school yearbook, but that doesn't mean that she's the person you're looking for."

"Why would she lie to us about her last name?"

"Maybe it's a typo."

"Gabe wouldn't have hired her without the proper paperwork... why would she have a social security card with a different last name?  The government doesn't make typos like that and any normal person would've sent it back to get the proper spelling..."

Molly sighed.  "I dunno, it doesn't feel like enough evidence."  She yawned, feeding a piece of bacon to Crackers as she chewed her mouthful of food.

"So you think I need to get more evidence before bringing this to Gabe and Winters?"

"What do you think would happen if you don't?"

"Well Winters is a dick.  He'd probably just go with it, make up some of his own evidence or do something to fuck her over.  He's just waiting to throw someone else under the bus so his company doesn't go under.   He's desperate.  He would love for me to tell him that his blackmail video isn't legit because she wasn't actually underage."

Molly nodded, seemingly deep in thought.  "Do you really think Chloe would stick around after finding out you're working for Winters?  And wouldn't they have seen each other at some point?  Wouldn't Winters have pointed her out?"

violet's anger

Seeing the resemblance between the two women sent a jolt of anger through my system, and I slammed the laptop shut, ready to throw it at the wall.  I stood, pacing for a moment.  "What the fuck, bro," I said aloud to no one.  "After all we've been through together and now it feels like I don't even know you."  I paced faster, feeling a fire in my chest, a tension in my shoulders, ready to punch someone.  Am I going crazy?  "I trusted you.  I opened up to you!  Told you my darkest fucking secrets.  Because I thought you were part of the family.  But you're fucking not!"  My hands balled into fists, trying to take over.  I knew I needed to talk to someone... needed Toby or Molly to calm me down, or Izaak to play sports against, or Gabe to cane me again.  But it was the middle of the night, even Molly was sleeping.  "You're a fucking con and don't deserve to be part of our family.  Jokes on me for fucking trusting you."  My vision was getting blurry and I needed to do something, quick.  My hands landed on the tv remote and I launched it against the wall, causing it to shatter with a loud crash.  I heard the faint yelling of my downstairs neighbor saying, "go to sleep!"

Finally I was able to take a deep breath and plop back down on the recliner, muttering a "sorry" to the neighbor that probably couldn't hear me anymore.  Not that it mattered, all he wanted was for me to sit the fuck down.  

violet putting together the pieces

I was stunned into silence for the rest of the meeting, thoughts spinning out of control as all of the pieces connected together.  As soon as everyone left, I bolted to my room, snatching up my laptop to make sure I wasn't going crazy.  I opened the folder where I'd saved all the information about Chloe Peterson.  First, I pulled up the yearbook photo.