Page 76 of Marrying My Ex's Boss

Dad looked around the room as if searching for me with his eyes. I knew from the look on his face that he knew, and my smirk was all the confirmation he needed. I did raise my glass to him just in case he’d missed it.

He tried coming towards me and was met by Carl, who pushed him back across the room, kicking and screaming. I didn’t bat a lash, but he could have no idea of the effort it was taking not to drag him to the top of this building and throw him off the roof.

The place was in total chaos as his friends and colleagues looked at him with scorn, which is exactly why I did it this way. I wanted all those people who had believed that my mother had gone crazy after he left her and taken her own life to know the truth directly from the horse’s mouth.

Whatever had driven Karen mad had left no room for turning back. She’d spilled it all, which should’ve been enough to put her away for a very long time, but she’d taken care of it herself.

There was nothing in that music, I’s listened to it before to see why it was so important that I play it tonight. But I know a little bit about how subliminal messages work, and I’m pretty sure I’d just seen a severe case of it in action.

Some people were starting to leave once the paramedics and firemen showed up, along with a whole battalion of cops. Since everyone had seen her take her own life, it should be pretty cut and dry, and I wasn’t in the least bit worried about them finding out where she’d been before showing up here.

Melanie was scream-crying while looking at her dead mother on the floor. Then her eyes landed on me and my wife, and she escaped the cops, who got a bit distracted by the suicide that took place right in front of their eyes as soon as they walked in.

“You bitch, what did you do?” I’ll never understand why she thought my wife had anything to do with this, but maybe she knew she couldn’t take me, so she chose who she saw as the weaker link. I moved to stand in front of Justine as Melanie grew closer, talons bared and a crazy look in her eyes not unlike her mother’s.

Justine hip-checked me at the same time as her hand came up and connected with Melanie’s face. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. How fucked is it that she’d slapped the shit out of her in this same space about two years ago?

I think I might’ve been high from the weed I’d smoked in the car on the way here, or maybe I was having a mental break or some shit because things had taken a turn I had not expected. Did the kid know she was going to do that to herself? What exactly had she programmed into that music?

Melanie landed on her ass with a broken nose and yelled out threats that she had no way of carrying out while the cops were dragging her off; she’d been embarrassed in front of her colleagues for the second time in as many years.

I wasn’t thinking about the new revelation, not here, not now. Because if I did, there’s no way my team could take me down before I did some damage. Since Justine and the kids, I’ve been teaching myself how to control my blackouts, which isn’t easy.

It's not a thing that happens often, but when it does, its impact can be far-reaching. It’s not something I want around my wife and kids, and their presence seems to have tamed that beast for now. But this, finding out that I had a sister who didn’t make it, is something I’m going to need to spend a lot of dealing with.

“Let me see your hand slugger. Did you hurt yourself?” I kissed her knuckles and pulled her into my side as the rest of the room continued in an uproar.

“Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Devereaux! Did you do this?” Ah shit, Grandma went for the whole name; at least she didn’t sound too pissed. Well, if you’re going to name me after a Roman emperor, allow me to act like one. At least I’ve lived up to my namesake. I’m very stoic.

“Yes, ma’am, I did. Not the suicide part. I just wanted her to expose herself for what she did to Mom; I had no idea she’d gone crazy.” Lies!

“I don’t…, what are we supposed to do about this? And you, did you know about this?” She turned to Gramps, who, for some reason, was chewing on a cigar.

His son stomped his way across the room after they carted his dead wife from the room. “Did you have to do this? Did you have to destroy me in front of everyone?”

“Why are you such a disappointment?” Gramps got in between the two of us while I put Justine behind me out of harm’s way.

“Why do you always stick up for him? I am your son.”

“Because my grandson's moral fortitude is like my father’s, a man I admired and looked up to until the day he died. While you have brought your mother and I nothing but shame and heartache.”

“Let’s not do this here.”

“No, Teresa, enough is enough. He’s sixty years old, and you’re still mollycoddling him. No more. This was a long time coming, and it’s justly deserved.”

“I know, but people are watching.”

“Yes, the same people who believed that our daughter-in-law had taken her own life. Isn’t it fitting that they should be here now? To see the end of this travesty that our son created?”

“So, you never meant for us to reconcile.”

“I told you the day I laid my mother to rest that you were as dead to me as she was. Unless you can raise her and bring her back to me, that won’t ever change.”

“So, that’s why you didn’t even let me meet the children or your wife. I thought you had changed.”

“I have; otherwise, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. I’ll never forgive you. Did you know that Mom was pregnant? Of course, you did. How does it feel to have lived with the woman who killed your unborn child all these years?”

I had to walk away, or I’d have ended up in cuffs. By the time I made it out to the car that was waiting, I had a smile on my face. That kid is worth every penny she’s talked me out of.

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