Page 58 of All Your Pucking Secrets

Soraya twists her hands together. “He was in a difficult place.”

I scoff. “I’m pretty sure I was in a worse place.”

She nods, her eyes flitting around like a wary bird as she considers her next words carefully. “I can’t imagine what you were going through. It’s most girls’ worst nightmare, and for you to be so alone… It must have been awful.”

“It was,” I confirm.

She stops twisting her hands and wraps one of them around the small espresso cup instead. “There’s nothing that can justify my brother’s behavior, but I swear he did believe you.” She pauses. “Did you ever ask where your mom got the money to hire such a good attorney?”

Whatever I’d thought she might say, it wasn’t that. I frown, wondering what she’s getting at, but as I think about it, I realize it’s a good question. I was too overwhelmed at the time to wonder how Mom managed to hire a top criminal law attorney to act as her advisor during the trial.

“Are you implying the money came from your family?” I ask, refusing to beat around the bush.

Another thought occurs to me, and my frown deepens. I got lucky with the prosecutor, too. The district attorney personally handled my case, and he’d been a staunch source of support from day one.

I hadn’t questioned it at the time, but he had plenty of underlings who could have done the job. After all, I was the daughter of a working-class single mother. Nobody special.

“Or did they pull strings?”

Mr. Kinsey loves doing that, but why would he help me?

Soraya shrugs and tosses back the espresso. “No comment.”

I pick up my pen because I need something to occupy my hands or else I might grab her and demand answers. Does she have any idea how frustrating it is for her to drop sly little questions like that and then not follow them up with something tangible?

“What are you doing here?” I ask because the longer we spend together, the more this feels like a set-up. Once again, Tyler and his family are trying to pull strings, but I’m not some puppet for them to manipulate.

Soraya places the espresso cup back on the table and pushes it away from herself. “I go to school at Newbury. I’m studying sociology, but I’m pre-law. I intend to specialize in domestic violence cases.”

A hint of darkness passes through her eyes, reminding me that no matter how wealthy and privileged the Kinseys are, all isn’t well in their world. Or at least, it wasn’t in the past. It wasn’t uncommon for me to find bruises on Tyler, and he explained most of them away as hockey injuries, but I never forgot what I saw in his driveway that day.

“That’s an admirable goal,” I reply, treading just as cautiously as she has been with me. “I’m surprised your father allowed you to attend a second-rate college like this one. Surely, he wanted you to go to Harvard or Yale.”

And, surely, he’d insist on a different area of specialization. One that wouldn’t make anyone wonder why she’d chosen it.

Soraya laughs, and for the first time since she sat down, her face lights up. “Dad is dead.”

“Dead?” I stare at her, uncomprehending. Mr. Kinsey couldn’t be much older than fifty. Surely, I must have misheard.

But she nods. “Completely and totally. He had a heart attack six months ago.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t like Mr. Kinsey, but he was still her father.

“Don’t be,” she replies. “The world is a better place without him.”

My eyebrows fly up. “You don’t miss him?”

She purses her lips. “I miss the father I could have had, but not who he actually was.” She cocks her head, appraising me. “I’m not sure if you know this, but he was abusive.”

“I suspected as much,” I admit.

“He controlled all of us,” she goes on. “Our choices. Who our friends were. Who we dated. What classes we took. And on and on and on. Even if he’d never raised a hand to us, he’d still have been a horrible man.”

I glance away to hide my surprise at her sharing all of this so candidly.

“He didn’t even have the decency to die without hurting us.” Her tone is full of venom. “Tyler was with him when it happened. He couldn’t save him, and it messed with his head.”

I shut down the voice in my mind urging me to find Tyler and hug him. This happened months ago, and even if it had been more recent, he isn’t mine to comfort. He never really was.

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