Page 94 of A Secret to Die For

“Brother, it’s going to take more than flowers or chocolates to dig yourself out of this hole. Or shoes. Why didn’t you just talk to her?”

“Because…uh.”

“Because you knew she’d say no to your dumb idea?”

Ouch. I swallowed what remained in the glass and poured myself another three fingers. Who cared about ice? I chugged that too and lay back on the couch with an arm over my face because the lights were hurting my eyes.

“Maybe,” I mumbled. “But what was I meant to do? She said Seth Harless murdered her parents and tried to suffocate her. You know Seth? Graham’s security guy? Don’t you think that sounds crazy? I certainly did at the time, although now I’m not so sure. Would you honestly have believed her?”

Silence followed, and I hoped to hell that Gracie had painkillers in her bathroom cabinet. That was one advantage of staying with Johannes. He came with a whole selection of drugs—some of them were even legal—and if he didn’t have it, he could get it.

“Yes, I absolutely would have believed her.”

Something in Gracie’s tone sent a chill through me. No, not a chill. It felt as if somebody had poured liquid nitrogen into my spinal column. I tried to sit up, but it took me two attempts because the room kept spinning.

“Why? You’ve never even met her.”

“But I’ve met Harless.”

The way Gracie bit her lip reminded me of Saralisa, and her eyes…fuck, her eyes.

“What did he do to you, Gracie? What did he do?”

“It wasn’t him; it was Mandell.” Her voice was hollow. Despite how close we used to be, despite the years we’d spent growing up together, I’d never heard her speak that way before. “Harless is just there to clean up afterward.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Put it this way—if Satan ever needed to adopt a human form, Mandell would make the perfect vessel. I know. Trust me, I know. He preys on women, and he thinks he’s untouchable. Maybe he is? He’s an expert in turning fear to his advantage. Garrett, if you put an innocent woman into his crosshairs, then I’m not sure I can forgive you either.”

Cold dread mixed with alcohol, and the effect was nauseating.

“What. Did. He. Do?”

“I’m in the same position as Saralisa. Talk and regret it. I’d love to meet her someday, seeing as we’re members of a reasonably exclusive club. We’ve both been fucked over by Graham Mandell, although in my case, it was more literal than figurative.”

It took a while for the meaning of her words to penetrate my addled brain, but when they did, I grabbed the bowl full of glass baubles on the coffee table and puked most of the Scotch into it. That son of a bitch. I’d kill him.

“He…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the word. “He raped you.”

“If you ask him, he’ll say it was consensual. That I came onto him, threw myself at him, and he’d had a few drinks so what was he meant to do? He regrets it, of course. It was a moment of weakness. Really, he’s a fine, upstanding citizen while I’m the good-time girl, always falling out of some club or another. The slut with a penchant for older men. The dirty bitch who called him Daddy and begged him to fuck me. Who would have believed my story, Garrett? Nobody, that’s who.”

And that same man had sat across the dinner table once a month for the last ten years, laughing and joking with my father as they complimented Letti’s cooking and sampled bottles from the wine cellar.

That motherfucker.

“How long ago?” I asked, but I had a nasty feeling I already knew.

“I was twenty-one. Why do you think I can’t look at my daughter, Garrett? Why do you think I moved to another state?”

Gracie dissolved into tears, and I wrapped her up in my arms. Just held her. Held her for long enough that the red-hot anger in my gut solidified into a cold resolve. Mandell was going down if I had to strangle him with my bare hands. Harless too. If I had to do time, I didn’t care. Someone needed to get justice for Saralisa and Gracie, and if the legal system wouldn’t—couldn’t—act, then I would.

“We can bring a civil case. The burden of proof is lower, and if Mandell is Marlie’s father, then we have evidence he can’t refute.”

“Do you think he hasn’t considered that? Whatever you’re thinking, he’s already a hundred steps ahead.” Gracie sagged back onto the couch. “I confronted him after I found out I was pregnant. Well, first I tried to get a termination, but there were so many people outside the clinic, yelling and screaming. And then I saw the cameras and I couldn’t… I couldn’t walk in there, not through the crowd. Not when I knew I’d be recognised. So I confided in Letti, and Grandma Margaret overheard, and then I didn’t have a choice anymore.”

“What happened when you confronted him?”

“It went about as well as you might expect. Worse, actually. He promised that if I told anyone about Marlie’s parentage, he’d ruin our family. He had a video. You know, on second thought…” Gracie grabbed the Scotch and took a long swallow straight from the bottle. “He had a video of Dad. Grainy, but it was definitely him, with a younger…with a younger woman. Maybe even younger than me. He was whipping her, Garrett. She was tied to a cross, and he was whipping her. He was hurting her. It’s not only Graham Mandell who likes to damage women; our own father does too. At home, he pretends to be this loving dad and husband, and then he goes out and…it’s just sick.”

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