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apartment?’
    ‘Of course.’ Dina smiled. ‘Momma does everything for me.’
    She walked home, thinking about it. Letting the warmth of the sun on her back calm her. New York was great when it was baking hot. It could distract you from pain.
    Johnny had left home now . . . He couldn’t bear to be around Ellen and Dina, to see the cruelty, the tension. Johnny wasn’t built for confrontation – or, really, effort of any kind. He wanted to hug his sister, have a good time. And he avoided acknowledging how he hadn’t protected her, skipping out whenever a bad scene came up, which was more and more often these days.
    Dina never quite believed it – that the mom who raised her would dump her like this. In a few months she’d be eighteen, a legal adult.
    Ellen was finally shot of her.
    And it showed. Her mother could barely contain her jubilation.
    ‘I hope you’ve worked at finding a job,’ she’d said. ‘And can you make sure your things are packed? I need a real guest bedroom.’
    ‘But where will I sleep?’
    ‘Sleep?’ Ellen arched a brow. ‘Dina, adults have their own lives. It’s healthy for you to get on with yours.’
    ‘I don’t know anyone in the city.’
    ‘You know Johnny.’ Her brother had a tiny apartment near his college. Ellen gave him an allowance, part of his college arrangements, so she told Dina. As a working woman, Dina could afford her own rent.
    When she turned the corner into her street, Dina Kane had made up her mind.
    She looked up at the house in which she’d been raised. It was neat, well kept and pretty – exactly the same as it always was. Her mother’s big break meant nothing. She spent all that money on herself, and spent it just to stand still.
    If Dina got a hundred grand, she would do something with it.
    Momma was right. It was time to move on. But Dina would do it on her own terms.
    ‘Hey, Momma.’ Dina walked into the kitchen and set her graduation cap down on the counter. She carefully hung up her cape on the hook on the kitchen door.
    Underneath, she wore a pair of jeans from Gap and a plain white T-shirt. On her, this was an absolutely knock-out look. Her naturally tanned skin popped against the white, and her breasts, medium sized and sweetly shaped, were outlined perfectly. Dina had a narrow waist and was naturally slim. Even in flats, she was absolutely stunning.
    ‘Well, I’m glad that’s over,’ said Ellen, brutally.
    Dina breathed in. The casual cruelty, so normal, so painful, gave her strength to come out with what she had to say.
    ‘So, I’m not eighteen for two months. But I’d like to move out now.’
    A slight flicker of a smile; it hurt Dina like a punch to the gut.
    Why do I still care ?
    I love her. I hate her.
    ‘You found somewhere?’
    ‘I’m going to. I have places to visit today.’
    ‘Places to visit? Aren’t you staying with a friend?’
    Dina shook her head. ‘Rentals. I found them in the Village Voice .’
    Ellen paused. ‘But you don’t have a job. And rentals need a deposit.’
    ‘Yes – two months’ rent, and security. It’s more for me, though, because I don’t have a job yet, you’re right. I plan to move to the city and job hunt from there.’
    Her mother saw where this was going.
    ‘Dina, we’ve spoken about money. You can’t ask me for any.’
    Dina took a deep breath. ‘Not asking you, Momma – telling you. I need fifteen thousand dollars.’
    Ellen laughed. ‘I can’t lend you fifteen grand.’
    ‘It won’t be a loan. It will be a gift. And you’re going to give me fifteen thousand right now.’
    Her mother looked up from the stove, startled. There was a fire in her daughter’s green eyes that she had never seen before.
    ‘Write me the cheque and I will be out of your hair – permanently. Don’t write it, and I will go and see Don Tallarico.’
    Ellen gasped. Adrenaline prickled across her skin like she’d been doused with water. ‘My God. It was you.’
    ‘Yes, it was. And it will be again.