Page 69 of Harmless Secrets

Millicent’s humor faded. “Yes, your father said the same thing.”

Just hearing that, knowing that her father had faced off with Millicent…and she still killed him, left a hollow feeling at the bottom of her stomach. She could only think of one question.

“Why?”

“Why what?” she asked in that sickly sweet tone again.

“Why did you have to sell secrets?”

“I guess you never suspected before now, did you?”

Alicia shook her head.

“My father didn’t just die. He did the same thing as I did. He had to. Circumstances left him with no choice in the matter.”

Ali had guessed someone had held the job before Millicent. “He was the first Xan.”

“Correct. See, your father had all that money, but well, mine had none. We suffered while your father and mother lived a lavish lifestyle.”

They hadn’t really had an extravagant life. The house had been willed to her mother and her father had lived off what he earned. They had always traveled but it had been for the job.

“They both had a trust…the same amount. Your father started out with as much money as mine.”

Millicent shrugged. “Yes, well, father liked to live life to the fullest, as did my mother. We did have a lot of fun. Fun that always seemed to take so much money.”

Glimpses of Millicent’s parents with expensive cars, clothes…anything they could seem to get their hands on. Even as a child, she had been able to see the difference between the brothers.

Alicia shifted her weight on her feet and Millicent held her gun up. “Don’t forget, I don’t have a problem killing blood relatives.”

She had guessed, but now she knew. “So that answers that.”

Millicent leaned forward. Evil painted an ugly smile on her face. “Yes, I killed him, but I had no choice. He found me out and then he went on to tell me he would help me. Like your father would make sure I didn’t go to prison.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Of course her father would have done that. He would have seen that as his responsibility to help Millicent. And because of that, he was now dead.

“You were our family. You could have come to us for help. You didn’t have to sell secrets.”

A sound of disgust fell from her lips. “Yes, of course. Poor, little orphan Millicent being saved by the benevolent uncle and her perfect fucking cousin. That would be just brilliant.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

Millicent tossed some of her stringy, greasy hair back. “Yes. It was. When I came to live with you, you never accepted me.”

She searched through her memories, but could not come up with what her cousin was talking about. They had shared everything from clothes to secrets.

“We accepted you. We loved you.”

“I know you pretended to, but there was always something missing. As if I wasn’t truly one of the family. I always felt left out.”

“And so you took him away from me?” she asked. Unable to hide the pain I her voice, it quivered.

“I’m sorry but are you missing the point—he was going to turn me over to be interrogated. He kept saying he would take care of me, make sure that I could be saved the jail time. I just had to turn secrets over to the British.”

“He would have done it, and he had the power and contacts.”

“I didn’t want that. Don’t you understand? I am sick to death of your father and you. So fucking bloody righteous, you two. Never did a thing out of line.”

“You could have talked to me about it. I would have helped you.”

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