Page 74 of What the Wife Knew

“They didn’t own it even though they acted like they did.”

I refused to be derailed by semantics. “One of the rare times you talked about Kathryn was to tell me she never came to the club. She wasn’t a member. Cooper and Richmond brought friends, but not her.”

“That’s what I said.”

Talk about a dodge. “That exchange you just had sounded pretty personal, like the two of you knew each other and not just in passing. You conveniently left that part out of your life story.”

“You’re blowing a few comments out of proportion.”

“You and Kathryn and whatever is between you directly impacts me.” The omission kept me from seeing the entire game at play... just as Mom intended.

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Just stood on the stairs, lording over the first floor as if she were lady of the house. “You dismantle the remainder of Richmond’s reputation. I’ll handle Kathryn.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Him

Twenty-Seven Years Earlier

Twelve hours.

I tugged on my shorts, trying to pull the bottom edge closer to my knees. Every time bare skin touched the cool steel of the gun safe next to me second thoughts and stray memories of better times ran through my head. Mom laughing at breakfast this morning. The yearly vacation at the beach house. The holiday parties at the club where Dad would make us get dressed up and show us all off.

Those were things and replaceable. I would be able to buy whatever I wanted. Gain access. I’d meet women at college and enjoy the sound of their laughter. It would be enough.

The doubts would end tomorrow. I’d mentally walked through the plan so many times. I could speed it up or slow it down. Rewind and start over. Skip the part where the image got blurry and cut to the ending.

Mom and Dad. Dad and Mom.

The relentless lectures about wasting my potential. Their looks of disappointment.No more partying. You need to get your priorities straight. What you do now impacts your future. One badgrade can destroy everything you’ve worked for. We won’t always be here.

You won’t. I decided.

We’ve talked about it, and we need to make some changes.

They could never be happy and enjoy what they had. They put me in this position when they started going to “parenting classes” at that place in the strip mall. It sounded like a fucking cult. An adult playgroup where they earned praise for how miserable they could make their kids. Take the car away. Impose strict rules. Stop giving in. Stop saying yes. Be the boss.

These so-called friends took their money while preaching about the danger of giving kids too much. Mom said the theory was about living a simpler life. Complete bullshit but these new beliefs didn’t show any sign of fading.

They’d run through the money eventually. Sell off all the cool stuff, maybe even the house itself. Let the club memberships lapse. Stop all vacations. No swimming. No tennis. Hell, they’d probably walk away from the business they’d built if their new overlords suggested it.

Where would that leave me? No money. No inheritance. Begging for the things I used to get without trouble. But this wasn’t about me. Eight months of this garbage and still no relief in sight. They weren’tthemanymore. I didn’t know these people. I didn’t care about them. I wouldn’t miss them.

My plan. Months of thinking and trying not to think. This was one of those times where I had to just act. Let my body walk through the scheme in my head. Take the gun and fire. Reload and fire. Run after them. Drag them back. Let them see my face so they would understand that their choices brought this on.

The safe combination was my mother’s birth date. Easy to remember. Dad taught us to shoot, which was ironic. He loved guns, collected them, and would talk about the good life growing up on a farm in Virginia. Now those same guns would be the last things he saw. The guns and my face.

After it was over life could go back to normal. Not at first. There would be questions and interviews. That’s why Cooper couldn’t stay. He’d never be able to keep the secret. His commitment waffled. He wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t hold on to his anger. He had to be reminded in exhausting detail how much life would suck if this went on.

I didn’t need a reminder. I knew what I would lose if I didn’t act.

Tomorrow morning would be the start of the life I deserved.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Her

Present Day

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