Page 203 of One Big Little Secret

“Dad’s dead,” I tell her, striding past them all into the sunroom. It’s quiet and dark here and I don’t bother flicking on the lights.

She’s redecorated plenty since I lived here, but I still know my way around.

Evelyn sat here with Mom and Salem and Arlo not long ago. Evelyn pretended to care while she hatched an atrocity.

The wind howls against the huge glass windows.

Every part of me feels just as cold as I burst through the French doors, walking to the small shelf near the door leading into the backyard. The world holds its breath, silent even though the light from the sitting room soaks across the potted greenery inside.

They’re plants they must’ve picked up from somewhere recently, lined up in a neat row. Mostly flowers by the look of them, perched inside here for another week or two until it’s warm enough to put them outside.

“Patton.” Dexter calls my name. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but it’s a bad idea.”

“Slow down and think. We looked high and low. We couldn’t find anything related to that plant,” Archer says. They’ve always been on a different wavelength from me, my brothers, and it’s never been such a stark contrast.

I suck in a cooling breath of night air. “I’m going to find that backstabbing bitch.”

“Sure.” Archer’s voice is skeptical. “But we need hard evidence to make sure she’s nailed down.”

Dexter puts a hand on my shoulder that I shake off.

“Cool down before you do something stupid,” he warns.

My jaw is so tight it might snap. I’d welcome the pain.

“Something stupid? You mean like going after Evelyn myself?”

“What, you think you’re a bounty hunter now? The police are—”

“The police are useless in a case that’s international,” I snap. “Look, I’m not about to leave this shit to a police report and some FBI case file that moves like a sloth. She could’ve killed my son.”

Shit.

Archer staggers backward and Dexter freezes.

So many questions hang in the air as I storm away from them.

Salem, I could handle being calm around, but not my brothers. They know me too well.

And fuck, it all went down here in this house.

Evelyn was in thishouseand she tried to poison Arlo. How? There must be something left, some loose end she forgot.

“Son?” Archer asks eventually. “What do you mean, your son?”

“What do you think I mean?” Hiding won’t get me anywhere. The whole charade is fucking pointless. I’m done pretending and I decide to own it. “Arlo’s my son, Arch.”

Dexter stares at me like I’m a stranger.

“Salem’s kid,” he says. “Her son, he’s yours? Are you sure?”

“But you’ve only been with her for…” Archer’s voice fades away as it finally hits him. “Shit. You guys were together before?”

“Barely. We hooked up once years ago.” I shrug. The draft blowing in isn’t enough to calm my temper. “She had Arlo. I never knew until we reconnected at The Cardinal.”

“Holy shit. You, a fuckingdad.” Archer laughs dryly, rubbing his eyes.

“You beat me to it,” Dexter says miserably. “Cheating prick.”

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