Page 24 of What the Wife Knew

Wyatt was pacing, not looking at me. I glanced at Richmond. His body shifted and jerked as if he was having a seizure, but his gaze locked with mine in a look of terror. Of fury.

“Don’t,” he choked out.

Yes, do it.Let him die. End it right here.

My fingers brushed over the one thing that should end Richmond’s torment and save him. But there was another choice. A much darker one. Temptation pulled at me.

Three words thundered in my brain:He deserves it.

Chapter Seventeen

Her

Married, Day Fifty-Four

Richmond’s coughing ratcheted up and his body curled into a tight ball. The combination broke the spell.

“Got it.” I grabbed the needed pen and kneeled next to Richmond.

His face was red and blotchy. Those objectively handsome features hidden under a mask of writhing pain and clenched teeth. “My leg.”

One shot into his thigh and the rocking and flailing immediately eased. The harsh panting subsided a minute later as he rolled onto his back and gulped in air.

“You were going to let me die.” Richmond’s condemnation came out as a whisper.

“What did he say?” Wyatt asked.

There was enough paranoia flying around the kitchen without adding more. “Is the ambulance on the way?”

“Yes.” The fear still hadn’t left Wyatt’s eyes. “Is he breathing?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed the half-eaten sandwich off the counter. “I don’t get it. It’s turkey.”

Wyatt kept talking with the person on the phone. “He still looks gray.”

I sniffed the sandwich but only smelled the turkey. “Maybe it went bad.”

Richmond tried to lift his head then let it fall back against the floor. “You poisoned me.”

Wyatt stepped closer. “What?”

“You need to get the gate.” Richmond let out a long exhale, this one not as labored. “Let the ambulance crew in.”

Wyatt obeyed, leaving me stuck with Richmond. Seething had replaced coughing.

I slipped the sandwich back on the counter, not wanting to touch it. Just in case. “It was probably some sort of cross-contamination thing. You should talk to the guy at the deli counter.”

“You did this.” Richmond didn’t whisper this time. He pushed up on his elbows. “You put shellfish in there.”

An interesting idea, but no. “How would I do that?”

A siren wailed in the distance and grew louder with each second. When Richmond Dougherty needed help everyone rushed to his side in record time.

“You hesitated.” His voice dripped with disdain. “You debated letting me die. I saw you.”

He finally understood the intensity of my hate. He knew now that Icould. He didn’t realize how easy it would be. The only thing that saved him was Wyatt being there. I couldn’t let the kid watch his dad die and be tormented forever by not being able to save him.

That was a weakness. One I hoped to bury. “If that truly was a reaction to shellfish, you should be asking how the contaminant got in your sandwich. Who else have you screwed, metaphorically or otherwise?”

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