Page 91 of What the Wife Knew

Some secrets begged to get out and this was one of them.Rather than rushing in, I waded in nice and slow. “But I know. I know exactly who and what Richmond was.”

Kathryn stared at me but, for once, stayed silent.

“Listen to what I’m saying.” Could she even hear me in this state? “That’s why he married me, Kathryn. Because I knew the truth about him and what he did. All of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Wyatt’s voice matched the crackling tension filling the room.

The minute you see your parents as separate from you, as real and flawed human beings, the world changes and you can’t go back. The realization didn’t even register as a bump to me. My mom skipped right over theloving parentstage, so there was nothing for me to miss or adjust to. Wyatt had a different upbringing. If the truth spilled out—every horrible detail—he might stumble and never get up again.

Kathryn shook her head. “She’s trying to trick you. She’s the one who tried to kill your—”

“I told you.” Wyatt’s voice cut through the end of her sentence. “Addison didn’t poison Dad or wreck his car.”

A strong and clear denial. He was telling the truth. He acted like he’d been locked down and near bursting with the need to spill all he knew about the incidents. That could only mean one thing and once he spoke the words he couldn’t take them back.

I inched closer to the paperweight. “Wyatt, don’t say anything else.”

“But Mom is wrong about you. Dad was wrong, too.”

His trying to comfort me was both unexpected and sweet but he needed to engage in self-preservation. In his mother’s state anything could happen. Saving both of us from her rage might not be possible.

My hand covered the paperweight. The ugly thing had some heft.

“Listen to me.” My chest ached. My head hurt. My mom could be dead and all I could think about was reassuring Wyatt. “It’s over and it should stay that way.”

Kathryn talked as if she hadn’t heard the conversation going on around her. “Her diner story is a lie. She must have snuck back here and killed him. She had access to his food and his car.”

I sucked at being a savior and Wyatt refused to save himself. All I could do was stand there and watch the ground crumble beneath his feet.

Kathryn shook her head. “She has to answer for—”

“It was me.” Wyatt took a deep breath and blew it out again. “I poisoned Dad.”

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Her

Present Day

This was a nightmare. A family nightmare. Technically not my family because I’d done everything to stay separate from this group, but I got sucked in. Clawing my way out proved impossible. I couldn’t calm things down or stop the inevitable crash. Reckoning day finally had arrived. Richmond had dodged it and let it slam right into Wyatt.

The mood in the room kept changing. Fury morphed into confusion. I wasn’t sure where we’d landed, so I palmed the paperweight, waiting for the right moment to go on the offensive.

“You’re lying. You have to be.” Kathryn gasped. Not one of those fake ones she used when she commented on my outfit or my slippers. This sound came from her soul, as if it had been ripped out of her. “I don’t believe you.”

“Dad came up with the plan.”

Of course he did. Typical Richmond asshole behavior. Crowning a new accomplice in a new generation. This time, instead of his brother, Cooper, Wyatt played the role of assistant. More Dougherty roadkill.

I didn’t think I could hate my dead husband more. I was wrong.

As the secrets seeped out, I couldn’t save Wyatt or make thisbetter. He’d made a choice. At his father’s twisted request, yes, but Wyatt wasn’t a child anymore. He needed to own his shit without anyone coming behind him to clean up the mess.

“Dad said Addison lied to him and that’s why they got married. I thought she was the one who...” Wyatt shot me a quick glance. “He made it seem like he had no choice.”

“That’s right. She blackmailed him.”

Kathryn’s comment shattered any last pretense about her being estranged from Richmond. Even with the divorce acrimony and her insistence on fueling thepoor Kathrynsympathy around town, their lives remained entangled. She knew exactly what was happening in my house and about Richmond’s plans to cause chaos.

---