Page 8 of Mercy Lake

My body began to tremble as my pulse raced faster, the remnants of my previous panic attack threatening to reappear.

Is she hurt? Is she safe? Where is she?

I could only hope that she had reached out to someone for support. Because the sheer thought of Alexis being in pain andalonewas unbearable.

Urgency pressed me to go and find her, if only to make sure she was okay and safe.

I had forfeited my right to be her protection. But I needed confirmation that she was taken care of—especially since I was the one solely responsible for destroying any sense of safety that she felt in me.

I screeched to a halt outside my in-laws’ house, barely putting the car in park before I was banging on the door.

A ten-minute drive had turned into five as I thought of Alexis going to her parents. I was almost glad her sister was in town for an extra buffer. Although, Alicia would want to kick my ass.

Another spear pierced my chest at the thought of hurting her family. They loved me, and I them in return.They must want to kill me.And I’d let them if that made Alexis happy. I’d let them do whatever they wanted.

The house, once pervaded in silence, suddenly sparked to life. If I was in my right mind, that would have processed, however, it was safe to say I definitely wasn’t.

“Alright, alright! Pipe down, would ya? I’m coming,” I heard Phil, my father-in-law, call from behind the door.

The porch light switched on, starkly illuminating my ugly, distraught face. Phil paused when he found me on the threshold. Seeing me overtaken with fright, his own features shifted with concern.

“Owen, what’s wrong? Where’s Alexis?”

Oh, no.In my heightened state, I had miscalculated and come up with the incorrect answer.

She isn’t here.

Phil wore simple pyjama pants without a shirt. I had woken him with my aggressive pounding, and now he was waiting for a reply.

I didn’t provide one, and my mother-in-law, Harriot, came rushing down the stairs, tying a dressing gown tight around her middle. “Owen?”

I spluttered, my voice deserting me in the face of my own guilt, not ready to add more casualties to my reign of terror.

I couldn’t breathe. Didn’t want to fucking breathe.

Harriot pushed forward, enveloping me in her arms. “Calm down, Owen. Tell us what’s happened.” Despite her gentle embrace, her tone was strained, all manner of scenarios racing through her head.

Phil cut in. “Where is Alexis? Is she okay?”

“No,” I whimpered. I’d never felt so pathetic and small.

Before their fear could spiral out of control, I confessed my sins in one torturous exhale. “I cheated on Alexis with Everly, and now, she’s pregnant with my baby.”

Harriot’s arms dropped away, warm contact lost. Tension spiked as my statement settled between us.

Then, without hesitancy, Phil sidestepped his wife and punched me straight in the face. I collapsed to the ground, mymind fuzzy as blood seeped from my nose. I didn’t move. What was the point?

Distantly, I heard Harriot yelling at her husband to go inside. Once the front door was slammed shut, my mother-in-law crouched beside me.

“I’m not going to apologise. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”

I shook my head until the pounding between my ears grew too loud. “I deserve that and more.”

Phil’s solid fist was nothing compared to the disappointment shining in Harriot’s green eyes—the same colour and shade as my wife’s.

An involuntary sob escaped my throat as reality set in.

Tears lined Harriot’s lash line but didn’t quite spill over. “Where is my daughter?”

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