Page 10 of What the Wife Knew

Wyatt’s words cleared away the haze. Forget the twinge of compassion. Someone had gotten into the house and killed Richmond. Someone took my bat and made me a potential suspect. Thatsomeonecould be Wyatt. “How convenient.”

Wyatt looked around the kitchen before falling back on staring again. “Why marry him at all? You didn’t love him.”

Answering that seemed risky. “He married me, Wyatt. Did he tell you why?”

“He said he had no choice.”

The first, and possibly only, honest thing Richmond had ever said. But that created a new problem. One thing Richmond could be counted on to do was save his own ass. Tattling about our arrangement put my ass on the line.

One more reason to hate the guy, dead or not.

Chapter Seven

Her

Present Day

The back door off the kitchen slammed open. Elias blew in half out of breath. He wore a suit but no tie. His hands went up in the air as if he were refereeing some sort of sporting event. “I’m here. Stop. I’m here.”

Apparently no one used the front door or knew how to ring a doorbell in this ridiculously overpriced town. But that entrance. Wow. I glanced at Wyatt, who had not stopped glaring at me. “In case you missed it, Elias is here.”

“You...” Wyatt stammered and stopped. His usual recently-been-yachting tanned skin turned blotchy as his mouth stretched into a thin line. “Are you pregnant?”

“What?”All that bluster and that was his question? “How did you jump to that conclusion?”

“The timeline. Dad dumping Mom. All that crap about them being separated for months just so he could get a faster divorce. The rushed agreement that made Mom furious. The fights over this house. The quickie secret marriage to you.” Wyatt counted out all of my perceived sins on his fingers. “Why do all of that and turn his life upside down unless it was for a baby?”

The question was a lot, so I ignored him and focused on Elias. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I live two streets away and was working from home today.”

“In a suit?” And a fancy watch that looked more expensive than some cars. Not the cars in Rye but cars in other towns. “Your hourly rate is too high.”

Elias sighed. “Is this relevant?”

“I guess not.” Back to the annoying man-child standing in my kitchen. “Wyatt, here, has been practicing his trespassing skills.”

But Wyatt refused to let go of the worry in his head. “Answer my question.”

I drew my hand up and down in front of me and over the nonexistent baby bump. “If I were pregnant, you’d know.”

If I were pregnant it would be both horrifying and a miracle since I never had sex with Richmond. The idea of him touching me was so repugnant I almost heaved.

“Not if you faked a pregnancy to trick him.” Wyatt started nodding as if he’d come to some sort of higher understanding. “That’s it, right? You pretended to be pregnant to force him into marrying you. He was like that. A good man... or he was before he met you.”

My heart rate kicked up until the pressure thumped in my ears. “Your father was not...” Elias’s throat-clearing stopped me from tumbling over the verbal edge. A few deep breaths and I tried again. “Okay, look. Not pregnant. Never pretended to be pregnant.”

Wyatt’s jaw still clenched. “He would have cared enough about a kid to agree to get stuck with you.”

Wrong. Richmond only cared about himself. Telling Wyatt that harsh truth might be a service that saved him years of anguish, guilt, and therapy. He’d only experience freedom once he realized he was a victim in his family’s story. Parenthood wasn’t a magic pill that turned empty people into loving beings. Viciousness seeped out. Scheming became a habit. Acts that minimized and disregarded hit like a slap until the sorry reality that biology didn’t guarantee unconditional love settled in.

I lived that truth, but Wyatt wasn’t ready to heed my advice. His deep wounds hadn’t had time to scab over. A willingness to learn waited in a distant future... if at all.

“Why are you here?” Elias asked.

Wyatt’s anger still burned and it came out in his harsh voice. “This is my father’s house. I have every right to be here.”

“That’s actually not correct.” Elias flipped into serious lawyer mode. “You never lived here, your name isn’t on the deed, and you did not inherit the property. This house belongs to your stepmother.”

---