Page 100 of Deadly Misfortunes

“Ha, you just wanted to show me that I couldn’t dictate what you were going to do that night⁠—”

“Well, that too, by bribing me.”

He laughed. “Okay, well, Raymond helped to make that happen.”

“I love him.” She chuckled.

“Yeah, he will do anything you ask of him.” Then Gregory let out his breath. “Okay, so you think that Brendan’s girlfriend dated me and that was the last straw, even though he had broken up with her.”

“It is the right timing when whoever it is started coming after you. And if he already has all these feelings of neglect by his parents because of you ‘stealing his parents,’ that you are so successful, and then dated his girlfriend, that was it. Plus, he went back to her. At least for a while.”

“The strangler vision?”

“Maybe.”

“But I wasn’t given my wealth or all that I’ve accumulated. If Brendan had been raised by my parents, he would have been on his own like I was, sinking or swimming.”

“Right. But how would he know that?”

“True.”

“Plus, you did have a great life growing up, right?” Sascha was sure Gregory got whatever he wanted.

“I did, for the most part. My parents had a lot of limitations, but it was a good life.”

“And your parents loved you, showed you affection, didn’t act like you didn’t belong to them.”

“Yeah, and I think that’s really the key if Brendan feels that way about his own parents—like he wasn’t loved and didn’t belong.”

She pulled her hair back. “Brendan has a different identity.”

“Yeah. Do you have any clue as to what his name is now?”

She thought about it and then shook her head. “Maybe Kat, Lucy, or Aunt Meg can. If it affects me, I can’t see what’s going on.”

“What about the nightmare or vision you had at South Padre Island where he came after you?”

“Right.” She thought about the vision and realized when she had raised her hands to stop the strangler, she was wearing a ring, but it was plain gold and didn’t have a solitary diamond. It was on her little finger. And she was wearing long, red-painted nails with pink hearts. Sascha never painted her nails red. It didn’t go well with her red hair. “It wasn’t me.”

“What?”

“The dream. Or vision, if that’s what it was. It was about a woman with red nails and decorated with pink hearts.”

“Hell.”

“What?”

“That’s what Brendan’s girlfriend, the one I dated once, wore. Red nails with light pink hearts. She was wearing a hot pink dress, and I’m not normally that fashion-conscious, but her nails just clashed with the pink dress.”

“What about me? About what I wear?”

“You’re always put together in a way that makes me want to dance with you, cuddle with you, enjoy the vision of you.”

That’s why she loved him.

“And I love you.”

He read her mind.