Page 76 of Open Secrets
She presses her palms into her eyes, but the tears still slip through. “I thought maybe the pictures would help. That something would click. But nothing. Not even the kids. His own grandkids.”
She slams her hand against the dashboard. The sound is loud, but I don’t flinch.
“He used to know me better than anyone,” she chokes. “He raised me. And now—now I’m just some young lady in the courtyard.”
I grip the steering wheel, useless in my hands. My instinct is to fix, to patch, to fight. But this isn’t something I can win. This is one of those things you can only endure.
Her breathing comes in short, ragged bursts. I want to reach for her, but my hand hovers halfway, suspended. I don’t know if she’ll let me.
“Maria…” My voice comes out low, careful. “I know it hurts. But that—what you saw out there—that wasn’t your dad giving up on you. That was his mind betraying him. He didn’t choose it.”
She turns, eyes blazing through tears, and I brace for the hit.
“He still chose to cut me off,” she says, shaking her head. Her voice is sharp, but under it is something smaller—something raw. “I don’t know what Dr. Nina expected would happen, but it couldn’t have been this.”
I don’t argue. What would be the point? Instead, I start the car. The engine hums low, steady. I pull out of the lot and head toward town, not the highway.
Maria frowns, wiping at her cheeks. “Where are we going?”
I keep my eyes on the road. “I’m taking my wife to lunch.”
She lets out a laugh that isn’t really a laugh, just air leaving her lungs too fast. “Lunch? After that?”
I glance at her. “Yeah. After that. Because you need food in your stomach before you fall apart. And because I don’t know what else to do right now, except take care of you.”
Her mouth presses tight, like she wants to argue. But her shoulders drop the smallest bit.
“Fine,” she mutters, turning her face back to the window. “But it better not be somewhere with plastic silverware.”
I smile, a small, shaky thing, and turn the wheel toward Main Street.
Suddenly, with a burst of energy I don’t expect, Maria pulls out her phone, her lips curling into a smile that’s half mischief, half fury.
I glance at her, brow furrowed. “What are you doing?”
She’s already typing, thumbs flying across the screen. “Well, I can’t do anything about my dad’s health,” she says briskly. “And I can’t go back in time and break into the facility to make him forgive me.”
Her eyes lift to mine, sharp and bright in a way I haven’t seen all day. “So…” She taps her phone once more and leans back in the seat. “I’m gonna get a hobby.”
I blink. “A hobby.”
“Mm-hm.” Her smile spreads, dangerous now. “How to take a blackmailing bitch down.”
My jaw tightens. “Maria—”
“Don’t Maria me,” she cuts in, her voice fierce. “She came toourhouse, Lyle. Our house. Threatening you, threatening our life. She thinks she can scare us into paying her off? Oh no. If Dr. Nina wants me to channel my energy into something, then fine—this is it.”
I stare at her, half proud, half terrified.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maria — Present
Googlinghow to take a blackmailing bitch downdidn’t exactly yield the results I was hoping for—unless you count about twenty porn sites that I now have to clear from my search history.
“Hm,” I mutter, scrolling. Okay, new plan. I decide to open ChatGPT. Debra is always going on and on about how shehatesthe site because, apparently, it has a habit of telling patients with minor issues like a cavity that they probably had cancer. Whatever.
I open it, making sure I’m logged out. Why would I log in? “Alright,” I whisper to myself as I type.How to take a woman who is blackmailing my husband by lying and saying the kid is his down.Yes. Much better. I hit send.
