The apartment door creaked as Melanie slipped inside. Her clothes clung damp to her body,hair tangled,cheeks streaked with dried tears. The clock on the wall read past midnight.
Her father rose from the chair by the window,his face tightening the moment he saw her. "Where have you been?"
Melanie froze,her throat burned. "I…I was helping at the fundraiser."
"You look like hell," he snapped, crossing the room. He gripped her shoulders,his eyes scanning her face,her torn blouse and his voice softened. "What happened?"
Her tears broke free and she shook her head, whispering, "Don't make me say it papa."
His hands clenched her shoulders and then released her. He turned away,ranking a hand through his hair,he knew instantly. "Which ones?"
Her silence was enough for an answer.
His voice came rough. "River…Ezra." He slammed his fist against the wall,the sound making her mother flinch from the couch. "I told you to stay away from them. I told you!"
"I didn't go to them," Melanie cried. "They followed me. They…" her chest heaved. "They hurt me."
Her mother's weak voice cut in. "Stop…please stop." She held a hand against her chest,her fingers trembling."
Her father's jaw worked as he looked between them. "You can't tell anyone," he said sharply. "Do you understand? If you speak,they'll come for you,for us. You keep your head down and pretend nothing happened."
Melanie's eyes widened. "P-Pretend? After what they did? You expect me to live like..like nothing…"
"Do you want to die?" His voice cracked with desperation bleeding through the anger. "Because that's what will happen if you try to fight them. They'll bury us without leaving a trace."
She staggered back,pressing against the wall. "So that's it. I just stay quiet."
"Until I figure a way out." He grabbed his coat. "I'll fix this, I'll keep you safe."
Her mother coughed weakly from the couch. "Don't go tonight… Please."
"I don't have a choice." He bent down and kissed her forehead,then looked at Melanie with a fierceness that hurt more than being comforted. "You don't leave this house until I say so. Do you hear me?"
Her voice was small. "Yes papa."
The door shut hard behind him.
Three days later,a knock sounded at the front door. A man in a Falcon suit stood in the doorway with a blank face and a thin envelope.
"There was an accident at the warehouse," he said. "Your father fell from a stairwell. Arrangements have been made."
Melanie stared at him,her body numb,the words refusing to make sense to her.
Her mother let out a sound…half sob,half choke before collapsing against the wall. By the time the ambulance came,her face was slack on one side,her voice reduced to broken syllables.
Melanie sat beside her in the hospital waiting room,her hands shaking,her heart hollow. The word replayed in her head.
An accident. Arrangements have been made.
But she knew better.
The hospital room was dim,machines humming softly. Melanie sat by her mother's bed, holding a hand that no longer gripped hers back.
"Mom…mama please," she whispered,teared sliding down her cheeks unchecked. "Say something…anything."
Her mother's mouth twitched,her words slurred. "H-home."
Melanie pressed her forehead against her mother's fingers. "I'll take you home. I'll take care of you. Just don't leave me too."
Her mother's eyes were glassy with tears but no words came out.
Weeks passed in the apartment. Melanie fed her mother spoon by spoon,changed her clothes,lifted her into the recliner by the window. Bills piled on the counter,the silence in the house grew heavier,broken only by coughs, the sound of the TV and Melanie's whispered reassurances.
One night her mother's breathing changed,becoming shallow and rattling. Melanie dropped to her knees beside her.
"Don't do this," she pleaded in tears. "Not you too. Please,I can't…"
The silence that followed was final.
Melanie buried her face in her mother's lap and sobbed until her throat gave out.
Two weeks later,in a pharmacy bathroom, Melanie sat on the cold tile,her knees drawn to her chest. The white stick trembled in her hands,the second line burned red against the pale plastic.
"No," she whispered,her voice shaking. "No,no,no."
She pressed both hands over her mouth,stifling a sob that clawed its way out of her chest. Her eyes squeezed shut,her tears hot and relentless against her cheeks.
"How..How am I supposed to do this alone?" She cried softly into her palms. "What if they find out? What if you look like them?
Her reflection in the cracked mirror looked older than her twenty years,her hair was wild,her cheeks streaked with tears,her eyes bloodshot red from lack of sleep and crying. A girl's body carrying a woman's burden.
"Please God…I'm begging you please." She whispered in the quiet bathroom.
The months crawled by fast,she worked odd jobs under different names. Loose clothes hiding the swell of her belly. She ate little so the money would stretch out for all her needs. Every kick from inside her body was both hope and terror.
At night, she lay awake whispering. "I'll keep you safe. I'll hide you from them. They'll never know you exist."
She didn't know if she was trying to comfort the child or herself.
Nine months later, Kimberly's cry shattered the silence of a dim hospital room. Melanie lay drenched in sweat, her body trembling,her face wet with tears.
The nurse placed the baby on her chest. A beautiful little human with tiny fists and tiny breaths.
Melanie looked down and froze. Greyish ocean-blue eyes blinked up at her,impossibly familiar. The shape of the nose,the shadow of that predatory gaze…it was all Falcon.
Her sob broke from her chest,raw and jagged. She kissed the damp little forehead again and again. "You're not them. You'll never be them…you're mine."
Kimberley's fist closed around her finger,fragile yet strong all at once.
Melanie cradled her, rocking gently. "They took my father, they broke my mother. They destroyed me..but you.." she pressed her lips to the baby's cheek. "You're my reason,my fire,my revenge."
She held Kimberly tighter, whispering fiercely through her tears "I'll bring their empire down piece by piece. And when I'm done,the men who hurt me will be dead. That's my promise to you."
The baby stirred,making a soft sound against her chest.
Melanie's tears slid down her cheeks, soaking the blanket wrapped around them both. For the first time since that night in the loading bay,her voice did not shake when she spoke.
"You're all I have,Kim. And I'll fight the world to make sure you're free of them."