Page 51 of The Doctor's Twins

“Fuck,” I sighed and rested my head in my hands. “I’m so confused.”

“What is it, Peyton? I have a feeling you’re not telling me the whole story.”

Alyssa’s question brought me to a scary crossroads. Did I dare to tell her the whole story about Mateo? It frightened me. There would be no going back once the truth was out there.

“Please, Pey. Talk to me.”

“Okay. You’re right. I haven’t told you everything. If I do, you have to swear to me, Alyssa, and I mean swear to me, that you won’t do anything stupid. You need to keep this to yourself. I’ll implode if anything happens to you.”

“Bloody hell, Peyton. What is it?”

“Promise me.”

“Fine, I promise.”

“I didn’t leave Mateo just because he was abusive. It’s far scarier than that. I left him because he’s a murderer.”

“What!”

Alyssa’s face grew pale.

“What are you talking about?”

“Turns out I’m not the first Mrs. Garcia, either.”

Alyssa stood up and headed for the kitchen.

“Hold on. I have a feeling we’re going to need something stronger than wine for this,” she said and came back with a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.

“Okay,” she said once she’d poured each of us a shot, “go ahead.”

“I’m Mateo’s third wife.”

“Third! What happened to the other two? I can’t believe he didn’t tell you about them.”

“There’s a good reason for that. He didn’t tell me because they’re both dead.”

“Fuck me,” Alyssa whispered.

“Technically, they’re missing. But I know they’re dead.”

“How? Did he tell you?”

“Not exactly. I discovered their dismembered bodies in freezers in the basement of our home when Mateo threw me down the flight of stairs.”

Alyssa didn’t say a word. She was so pale I thought she’d faint any moment. Then, her eyes welled up with tears before she came over to where I sat and threw her arms around me. She held me while she cried.

“I’m so sorry, Pey. I can’t imagine how afraid you must have been. I can’t believe I came so close to losing you,” she cried as she clung to me.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life, Lyss,” I said with a shaky voice. “I thought for sure I was going to die. Mateo had every intention of murdering me. You should have seen the look in his eyes just before he pushed me down those stairs.”

“But, why? Why did he kill his wives? Why would a man do that?”

“Because we all dared to fall pregnant.”

“Are you joking?”

“I wish I was. I’m serious. Mateo hates children.”

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