Page 5 of Sins or Secrets
I think after his fall from grace and his shocking subsequent actions, they probably wouldn’t be all that surprised.
The only person who managed to get out of the shit storm Dad stirred was Mom.Word has it that she’s in the good care of her doctor, who’s actually her plastic surgeon and lover.At Dad’s funeral, she played the grieving wife who’d been wronged.
She didn’t even spare me a glance.That was because she knew I could see straight through the bullshit she was trying to cast off on everyone.Even if Mom didn't know specifics, she would have had clear enough ideas about what dad got up to.Yet, she acted like she was none the wiser.Like she'd been just as much of a victim as the man Dad killed out of spite.
“Riley, sign the damn papers,” I demand, feeling disgusted by the mere memory of my father.My asshole husband standing in front of me is just as evil as Dad.I want to be rid of all of them.“Sign it, or I swear to God I’m going straight to the police.If people find out you’re as guilty as my father was, they will crush you and run you into the ground.You can kiss your job goodbye, kiss everything you hoped for goodbye.No one will ever allow you near a courtroom again, let alone anywhere near the DA’s office.”
I stare him down, never faltering so he can see just how serious I am.I’m sure he knows, though.
I’ve begged for a divorce many times, this is the first time that I’ve had something concrete to work with.A spark of light that came out of their secret plots of darkness.
I have leverage. Something that will force him to set me free.
He balls his hands into fists and slams them down on the table between us, making the divorce papers jump.
My heart jumps too, but I keep calm, refusing to allow him to see he still scares me.
I’m only able to stand before him with this strength I’m exuding because he knows I can destroy him.He doesn’t know what I have, because no one who did business with Dad knew what he was secretly doing,but I’ve given enough information to Riley for him to know with surety that I know he’s as guilty as my father.
Guilt of that nature means prison.
“This isn’t over,” he growls.
“I think it is.”
“Don’t push me.”
“I should say the same to you.What are you going to do? Kill me?” He won’t.He can’t. He can destroy me too, but I have nothing left to lose.There’s nothing left to take from me besides my life.If it came to that, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The situation we have here is this:
The risk of me destroying him is greater than what would happen to him if he kills me.On the very basic level, he knows if he kills me before he finds out what dirt I have on him, he’ll always be looking over his shoulder.Always watching for destruction to bite him in the ass.
“Be grateful I still love you.”
“You don’t know the first thing about love.”
“I do my darling wife.”
“Don’t make me throw up.” I don’t know what version of love exists in his universe, but it’s not the same in mine.In mine, a husband who loves his wife wouldn’t cheat on her every second he got, and she wouldn’t feel like an animal in a cage.He would also never raise his hand to her.
What did I expect though, for a man who was never my choice?My father all but sold me to him in an arranged marriage that would strengthen our families' wealth.
By the time we said I do, nothing mattered anymore.
Your heart can’t break if it’s already broken.But the gaping hole left behind from the shattered mess can still hurt like a bitch.
This version of me is what you get when you cage something that’s meant to be free.I was the wild bird, the free spirit.The lover of everything adventurous.
“Quinn--”
“Let me go, Riley, or I will destroy you,” I cry slamming my fist down on the desk.
Riley tugs on the inside of his bottom lip and as he reaches for the pen my heart seizes in my chest.
Suspense eats away at me when he places the tip to the paper.I’ve already signed. I did from the moment the lawyers handed the document to me.I’ve waited for this moment forever, and I could cry tears of joy as I watch him sign next to his name.
This is it.
