Page 83 of Begin Again

“When George died on their honeymoon, I didn’t believe it was an accident, I still don’t.” Her fingers tighten around the hem of her sweatshirt. “He was an excellent skier. Grew up on the slopes, and could navigate black diamond trails in his sleep. There’s no way he would’ve just… hit a tree because he was hungover.”

A chill creeps up my spine. I was never alive to meet George, but when I was young I remember people would talk about how skilled he was on the slopes. The way Cassie says it, with such quiet certainty, makes something shift inside me, an awful realization curling at the edges of my mind.

“What are you saying?” Bennett’s voice is tight, and controlled, but I can see the tension in the way he’s holding himself, the way his fingers dig into his arms as he crosses them over his chest.

Cassie meets his gaze. “I think someone made sure he didn’t come back from that trip.”

A shiver runs through me. The thought had never even crossed my mind before Bennett came to town and started piecing things together—George’s death was always treated like a tragic accident. A drunk man making a stupid mistake. But hearing Cassie say it out loud… it makes too much sense.

“I tried to get the police to investigate,” Cassie continues. “Told them it didn’t add up. But Aubrey was a grieving widow—no one wanted to question her. And when I pushed harder? That’s when she turned the town against me.”

The pieces click together.

“She needed to destroy your credibility,” Mo murmurs, her expression dark.

Cassie nods. “She told everyone I had an affair with George. That I’d been obsessed with him, that I was bitter and jealous. She almost got me fired.” She laughs a hollow sound. “And then she vanished. For a year.”

Selene frowns. “Vanished?”

Cassie nods. “Left town. No one saw her, and no one heard from her. She said she was mourning, but when she came back, she was a different person. More… in control. She had the town wrapped around her finger.”

Mo leans forward. “Where was she?”

Cassie shakes her head. “I don’t know. But I do know this—when she came back, she didn’t want anyone bringing up George again. And she sure as hell didn’t want anyone looking too closely at his death.”

Bennett exhales sharply, running a hand down his face. His jaw clenches, and for the first time since we walked in, he looks… lost. “So let me get this straight. My father’s death wasn’t an accident. My mother left town for a year, came back like nothing happened, and then spent the next two decades lying about me.”

“Seems that way,” Orion mutters, watching Bennett carefully.

A heavy silence follows, thick with the weight of everything we’ve just learned. My mind is racing, trying to connect the dots, but all I see is a web of deception, years of lies tangled so tightly that I don’t know if we’ll ever unravel them completely.

Then Mo pushes to her feet, her hands curled into fists. There’s a fire in her eyes, a determination that makes my pulse spike.

“We need to talk to her.”

I blink. “What?”

Mo’s jaw is set. “Aubrey. We need to go to her.”

Orion scoffs, shifting against the wall. “Yeah, because I’m sure she’ll just spill her darkest secrets.”

“We won’t know unless we try,” Selene says, crossing her arms, her gaze flicking between us.

Cassie sighs, shaking her head. “You’re all walking into a hornet’s nest.”

Mo meets her gaze, unflinching. “Maybe. But I think we just found the hive.”

22

Selene

The drive back to Morgan’s house is filled with tense energy. The car is too quiet, but the silence is thick, filled with thoughts too heavy to voice.

We know the truth now.

Aubrey killed George.

She killed Walter.

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