A soft wind could blow her over.
I knew she couldn’t hurt us, but I also knew the scars that could run deep in a kid’s mind when they saw their mom not acting normal.
So I lied.
Not for her.
For them.
“Your mom is probably catching what your dad had.” I forced a smile. “Why don’t we go upstairs and watch a movie while she sleeps it off?”
She gave another delirious laugh from her spot on the floor.
Eric put his hand in mine, while I picked up Bella, holding her on one hip. Malcom grabbed Eric’s hand, and all of us walked upstairs to shut out the rest of the world.
I locked the door.
And immediately called Drew, knowing that he would at least be with Trevor and be able to let him know.
He answered on the first ring. “Kinda busy, Penny!”
“I’m at the house,” I blurted. “Trevor’s—his wife is downstairs, high out of her mind,” I whispered into the phone. “I took the kids upstairs and the room’s locked and—” Footsteps pounded outside the door. “—someone’s coming.”
“Open the door, Penny.” Trevor’s voice sounded from the other side.
I scrambled over and unlocked the door.
Trevor bypassed me, making a beeline for his kids. “Are you okay?” He cupped Eric’s face and started examining it like he’d been in a fight. “Eric?”
Eric’s eyes filled with tears. “I was so scared, and I heard Penny. She came back, Dad.” He fell apart in his dad’s arms. “Dad, Penny came back for us.”
“Yes.” Trevor rocked Eric back and forth as Bella and Malcom surrounded them. “She did.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Trevor
I called the police.
I asked them to be discreet.
And I watched them handcuff my ex-wife for possession. Heroin, Oxy, and a few other gems that were stuffed in her purse.
Apparently, her latest flame left her for someone else, and the minute she heard that I was recording in Seaside and had been linked somehow to Penny, she’d taken the first flight out.
To fight for her family.
Or so she said and believed.
But fighting shouldn’t include getting high in front of your kids or traumatizing them.
It didn’t include buying their love with pizza and gifts, empty promises and smiles.
I was sick.
So sick.
Her lies were like a poison. She dug her talons into everything perfect in my life and spread like a darkness I couldn’t stop.
