Page 24 of The Sound of Secrets

Her tawny eyes struggled to place me, and once they did, there was no disguising how angry she was. “Bring your sister home. Bring my baby back to me.”

I sighed as I struggled to keep my tone and gestures placating. I had to let her target her emotions at me. After all, I did move Willow behind her back. It was a sneaky and selfish move, even though it was the right choice to make. “I was wrong. I should’ve told you I wanted to move Willow’s ashes. I’m sorry.” I avoided conflict to prevent this very scenario from happening.

“I hate you, Winnie.” Her words were coated in frost.

I patted my chest and sighed. “I’m Channing. Winnie is still a teenager, remember? She saw you two weeksago. You sang together and made cookies when she visited. You don’t hate her.”

“I hate all of you. I hate everyone who hurts my baby. How dare they take my child away from me? Now she’s alone. How am I supposed to find her? Who’s going to take care of her? You’re all against me. You just want to hurt me and my daughter.” Her voice got shrill and made my ears and heart ache. The entire conversation was reminiscent of the one we had before she was committed and put under permanent care.

“I’m your daughter, too. And Winnie is Willow’s daughter. No one wants to hurt any of us. I moved Willow somewhere I thought she would like better. But I should’ve spoken with you first. You’re her mom. Of course you should have a say.”

“And your father. How is your dad going to see Willow?”

I stiffened and felt the forced smile on my face freeze. “Why do you think Dad wants to see her? He didn’t even come to her funeral.”

“All fathers love their little girls the most. Of course he wants to see her. You ruined everything.”

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides and bit back the retort that was on the tip of my tongue. “Fine. I ruined everything. What’s done is done, Mom. Hurting yourself won’t solve anything. If you don’t calm down, the staff are going to sedate you. If that happens, Winnie won’t be able to visit you, and you won’t be allowed to spend time with Archie. If Win doesn’t trust you around his family, there isn’t anything anyone can do to changehis mind. You’ll have to prove yourself to him and that’s going to take a long, long time.”

The gold glint in her gaze flashed with a moment of understanding. “Did you get married, Channing? Tell me you did not marry into that family that murdered your sister.”

Trying to have a coherent conversation with her was impossible. Normally, I could skip around and follow where she led, but I was exhausted. And sad. I hated seeing her confused and detached from reality like this.

“I married Win, Archie’s older brother. It’s not the whole family who turned out bad, just certain members. The Halliday boys are miraculously amazing.”

“How could you get married without your mother? And your sister. Willow will be heartbroken when she finds out. Don’t you care about us at all?”

The question was particularly painful because I’d been married three times and my family hadn’t been present for any of them. I was always left alone to face the future.

I opened my mouth to apologize once again when she suddenly lunged at me. She screamed my sister’s name and chanted how much she hated me. I caught her hands as they reached for my throat and didn’t argue with the medical staff who rushed in to subdue her. I wanted to plead with them not to sedate her, but Win’s arrival took the opportunity out of my hands. As an outside observer, he could tell there was no talking her down and reasoning with her in such a state.

I stayed in the room and held her hand as the medicine slowly took effect. Once her eyes closed, and herbreathing returned to normal, Win practically dragged me out of the room. I felt like I was going to burst into tears, but before the waterworks started, he shoved his phone into my face and showed me a picture of a pretty blonde woman dressed the same as the medical staff.

“Goldie. This is the woman I fired for letting Winnie slip out from under her. She told the security staff she was transferred here from Rocco’s team. Since they all knew her, they didn’t question it. She’s the one who gave the phone to your mom. Rocco’s tracking her down as we speak.”

I shook my head in shock. “How did my father find the woman you fired?” My mind was spinning, trying to see all the strings that connected everyone.

Win sighed and tucked his phone back into his suit pocket. “The only person who connects Goldie to your dad is Ky Kent. The kid is in this mess deeper than I thought.”

I felt the first tear fall as I told him, “But the only way Ky could know about the empty mausoleum is if Winnie told him. And if she told him, she trusts him more than either of us realized.”

Which meant my secrets had to come to light sooner rather than later. It was like they were screaming at me, refusing to be ignored.

***

I didn’t want to tell Winnie about my past at the brownstone. It felt like reliving my worst moments would sullythe place she finally felt at home. The conversation was too serious and sensitive to have in public. I kept the truth from people I trusted for years. I wasn’t about to let nameless strangers be privy to my inner anguish. I could’ve taken her to one of the Halliday Inc. offices or Alistair’s building. But she was only a fourteen-year-old girl. The corporate setting didn’t feel right either. Eventually, I settled on asking Win to drop us off at his high-rise apartment after collecting Winnie from school. It was familiar enough to offer some comfort, but still bland enough to fit the adult nature of what my niece needed to know.

Win dropped us off with a worried look and bags full of takeout. He did a good job of keeping his cool while the teenager peppered us with questions. There was no disguising that both Win and I were on edge. Telling Winnie that we needed to talk only heightened her curiosity. If I wasn’t reeling from my mother trying to strangle me and the simmering rage at my father’s insidious behavior, I probably would’ve spilled my guts on the car ride to the apartment. I had a touch of PTSD when it came to facing physical violence from a loved one. I thought I’d dealt with my history of domestic violence and had healed the wounds from when I was younger. The wounds were deeper than I thought, if my mother’s uncontrollable actions were enough to bring all that pain back to the surface. I was silently beating myself up over the sloppy way I handled the situation with Willow’s remains. I should’ve replaced her ashes with fake ones from a fireplace. I knew better than to leave an opening my father would exploit.

Especially considering that Win had more money than all of Hollywood combined, and my father would use my smallest mistake to his advantage to get his hands on any fraction of that fortune.

As long as I was married to him, there was no scenario in which my father didn’t try to get his hands on as much of it as possible. Of course his greed would be the one thing strong enough to get him to visit the daughter he hadn’t acknowledged since she died.

If the circumstances were different, it would’ve felt like Winnie and I were having a very expensive slumber party. Win asked if I wanted him to stay. I told him no. I figured both of us didn’t need to relive my tragic past. He left after instructing his private security and the building security not to let a single soul anywhere near the penthouse. He was always paranoid about safety, but after being betrayed by someone close to him, and having former employees infiltrate his security measures, he was even more alert.

Winnie didn’t bother pretending like she didn’t know something was wrong. She pushed the takeout to the side and took a seat at the marble island that separated the kitchen from the large, open dining space. The penthouse was surrounded by windows. When you glanced out of them, it made you feel like you were sitting on top of the world. Like you were a god, floating above the mere mortals below. Every problem and concern you might have felt insignificant when you were up this high and removed from the everyday down below.

“What’s going on, Aunt Channing? You hate this apartment. You refused to stay here when Uncle Win was in the hospital.”

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