Page 126 of Wicked Sins

I can only hope.

“You lied?” Joah asks. His eyes dart to me.

Why would he lie?

“I didn’t lie,” Wayne says. “I gave them the time I thought was right.”

“You thought—?” Joah cuts off with a laugh. “What the fu—” He stops talking, face reddening as if it’s taking a physical toll for him not to swear in front of his father. “What does that even mean?”

We’re back at the mansion sooner than I thought possible. Wayne remains silent as we wait for the wrought iron gates to open for us, but he doesn’t drive through immediately. Instead, he puts the car into park, drapes his hands over the steering wheel, and lets out a long sigh.

Joah sits back with a frown on his face, crossing his arms over his chest as he waits.

I’m staring so hard at Wayne’s reflection in the mirror that I’m surprised he doesn’t have a hole in his head.

“I don’t know when Emma drowned,” Wayne says quietly.

His eyes go to Joah, and then touch on mine. My body stiffens, and I look away.

Joah stays quiet.

“Diana and I had a fight. She said she was leaving. Just before that, Emma—” Wayne cuts off with a strangled sound. “Let’s get inside. This isn’t—”

“Emma what, Dad?” Joah’s voice is steel.

“She wanted to go swimming!” Wayne’s voice booms through the interior. I jerk, my hands squeezing each other in surprise. Even Joah stiffens as if he hadn’t expected that vehement outburst from his father. “She wanted to swim, and I was too busy. Too tired. Toowhatever.” Wayne’s voice drops a little. “So when Diana and I started yelling, she obviously thought she could sneak out, and we wouldn’t notice.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t?” There’s acid dripping from Joah’s tongue.

“No, son, I didn’t notice.” Wayne twists in his seat. “I didn’t notice when your sister got into the pool. I didn’t notice her splashing around. I didn’t notice when she started drowning.” Those cold, black eyes dart to me. “I only noticed afterward.”

“After what?” Joah demands. He leans forward, hands on his knees.

“After I was done fucking Diana.” Wayne sneers at Joah, and then turns that horrific expression to me. “Your mother always loved a good fuck after a fight.”

Blood sings in my ears and turns my cheeks crimson. My entire body thumps with shame, fear, nausea.

Joah slumps back, and his hand falls limply to the seat beside him. “She’s alive? You didn’t…?”

A burst of stale laughter peels from Wayne as he tosses back his head. “I have no idea,” he says, back to somber a second later. He glares at Joah, then me. “She left, like I said she did. I don’t know where she went. I didn’t even know if she has a fucking sister or not—she didn’t say.”

My head is caught in a Ferris wheel that keeps going up and up and up. Gravity sucks at me, and the sensation makes me want to curl up into a ball and die.

How could she leave me behind with a monster like Mr.—

Don’t you worry, she’s fast asleep

“Get out of my car,” Wayne growls. He straightens in his seat and presses a control on the console. There’s a soft ‘snick’ as our doors unlock. “Pack your shit. You’re going back to Ohio while I sort this shit out. Both of you.”

“I’m not going back there,” Joah says.

“You don’t have a choice, son.”

Joah bristles, but before he can say anything, Wayne sends a leer my way. “Better hurry, else you won’t have enough time to fuck each other.”

And that’s when my jaw decides to unlock. That’s when I can finally get words past my rusted-shut throat.

“We haven’t done that,” I say.

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