Page 84 of The Sinner's Sanctuary

“Lawther, yeah. The senator’s wife.” He says this with some disdain that I’m not too drunk to pick up on.

But then again, there aren’t a lot of people in this town who are pleased with the senator’s record since he got into office. He really did sell New York a bill of goods about what he’d stand for in Washington. The likelihood of his keeping his seat in three more years is slim, regardless of what comes out about him. In all honestly, he’d be better off changing his party affiliation if he wants to keep serving in congress.

“Well, Avery’s divorcing him. She found out he’s been seeing someone else—that he has a secret apartment and everything where he keeps…” I shut the fuck up. The more people who know about this, the more likely my new worst nightmare will come true.

“Wait,” Christian says, turning in his seat to face me. “Is this about Silas?”

My eyes widen. “You know him?” I ask, sick all over again.

“He’s one of my best friends. He was one of my roommates back when my whole roommate situation fell apart, and you offered me the basement.”

“No,” I whisper.

“So itisabout him?”

I nod.

Christian backs up, like he suddenly needs to put distance between us. “What did you do?”

I wince. “What do you mean what didIdo?”

He waves at my empty glass. “It’s barely afternoon and you’re already drunk. You walked out of your office like you were marching to a firing squad. I’m assuming something’s weighing heavily.”

“Will you let me explain? Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you don’t trust me.”

“Should I?”

“Look, I don’t know Silas. I never heard of him until we were in Rome. Marianne found out that’s who Graham was having an affair with. To understand, you need to understand how my wife can sometimes operate. But yes, youshouldfucking trust me. When have I done something that proved you couldn’t?”

“If you hurt my friend?—”

“I didn’t know he was your friend!” I practically shout.

“Jesus, Gibson, chill. Do I need to get you home?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, reaching for him. My hand lands on his shoulder, and I spread my fingers to take hold of the back of his neck. “Will you please hear me out? I need to talk about this.”

25

CHRISTIAN

Gibson’s eyes are fevered and bright even in the dim bar as he recounts his lunch meeting with the politician Silas ran off to live with when he, Drew, and I could no longer easily afford rent after our fourth roommate moved out the winter before last. The fact that Silas had been seeing anyone came as a shock to me, but that it was the loathsome Republican Graham Lawther had me seriously worried for my friend’s safety and mental health.

This isn’t exactly what I expected would happen, but I never thought anything good would come of him being someone’s guy on the side—especially not someone with a public profile like Lawther’s.

What’s truly shocking about Gibson’s recounting is that this all seems to have been driven by Marianne.

“Do you always do everything she tells you to?” I ask when I sense he’s wrapping things up.

“I—she’s mywife.”

I guess.In name only. “What doyouget out of this deal?”

Gibson looks at me, so confused, like I asked him to explain how the tides work. Like it should be obvious, and yet he has noclue how to put it into words. There’s pain in there somewhere, too, the same pain that’s always behind his eyes whenever Marianne comes up. Like she went missing a long time ago, but he can’t give up the search. “What do you mean what do I get out of it? It’s not like she wants anything else from me.”

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