Page 123 of Past Due

My heart ached for my mother, and I reached for hand, grasping her slim fingers and wishing I could take away all the years of pain she had endured.

“We got along really well,” she continued. “Her husband is like Spider. There but not there. Always in and out of jail. Sleeping around with other women. Judging her for doing the same thing. Refusing to allow a divorce. Holding money over her head. Making her sleep with his friends for favors.”

Hearing my mother describe her marriage in that way drove home how little I understood about the relationship she shared with Spider. From the outside, they were both dysfunctional as hell, but I had always been guilty of giving Spider more of a pass. Now, I understood how wrong I had been. Why had I been so hard on her and so forgiving of him?

“He made you have sex with his friends?” I asked, absolutely gutted.

She couldn’t meet my gaze as she confirmed it. “The last time he was in jail. The guys in the club wouldn’t give me my cut unless I slept with them first.”

I thought back to that time in our lives. That was when my mother started gambling and shopping and hoarding. When she stopped keeping house. When we started arguing so much.

Of course! She was trying to surround herself with things, build walls to protect herself. The gambling and the shopping probably made her feel good for a little bit, let her forget about the abuse she was suffering to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

“Is that why you stabbed him on Christmas?”

“Yes. We were fighting about money, and he said something so awful to me. I snapped.”

“I wish I had known what was happening, Mom. I would have found a way to help. I could have made some money babysitting or something.”

“You were a child, and your only job was going to school and getting good grades. What was going on in my life wasn’t meant for a little girl to worry about,” she insisted.

Her desire to protect me from ugly realities had come at such a high cost, and I wasn’t sure how I would ever pay her back.

“Adrienne and I bonded over that kind of stuff. We shared a lot of photos. She thought you were so beautiful,” my mother said with a smile. “Not that that’s anything unusual. Everyone has always thought you were the prettiest thing they ever saw.” She squeezed my hand, her smile loving and maternal. “Adrienne wanted kids, but her husband wouldn’t allow it. I think it warped her, made her bitter and a little crazy.”

“Crazy how?”

“She was obsessed with getting revenge on him,” my mother explained. “She wanted her husband to hurt the way she did. I thought it was all empty talk. A lot of us had fantasies about making our men feel the way we did.”

“But?”

“She started talking about crypto and wallets and Serbians and I don’t know.” My mother pulled her hand away and clutched her head. “I didn’t understand half of it. It was all nonsense tech jargon. I figured she was just making up a wild story to make herself feel better. Some fake vengeance plot that would stay a fantasy! I never thought she would actually do it!”

“Well, she did,” Besian commented from his position by one of the windows. He had his back to us as he monitored the situation outside. “And she dragged you and Marley into it.”

“Marley?” My mom repeated in shock. “How?”

“The photos you shared with her? Of you and Marley?” Besian said, moving to another small window to check the area behind to the left of the trailer. “Someone looking for Adrienne had those photos. They were following Marley around in Albania.”

“Are you serious?” Mom’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh my God! Marley! I never meant for that to happen!”

“I know you didn’t,” I assured her. “It’s okay. I’m fine. Just—tell us the rest of it.”

“I went to Lake Charles to gamble and had a good time but...”

“But?” I prompted.

“I lost it all,” she confessed. “All the money you gave me and more. I borrowed a lot of money from a loan shark near the casino.”

“And that’s why you wiped out my bank accounts?” I guessed, feeling frustration well inside me.

“Yes,” she admitted softly. “I didn’t know what else to do. These guys weren’t like him.” She pointed at Besian. “If I had borrowed money from him, he would have worked with me, but these people were serious and mean. But I’ll pay you back! I will, Marley!”

“Mom, I don’t care about the money. Really,” I emphasized. “Right now, that’s the least of my worries. Tell me the rest of it. Tell me how Adrienne ended up dead on my kitchen floor.”

My mother dropped her gaze with shame. “I shot her.”

I swallowed down the truth I had been expecting. “Why?”

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