Page 94 of City of Liars

“Eighteen years,” my mother said at last, in a small voice I hardly recognized. “For almost two decades, you’ve kept this from me. All this time, I berated Olivia for digging into lies that ought to remain buried. But you were the liar, Russ. And our daughter”—she sniffed, her eyes glossy with tears as she glanced at me—“we demeaned her and threatened to disinherit her for doing the same thing you did. Seeking the truth.”

“I—” my father began, but my mother cut him off, her voice rising with rage.

“You put me in an impossible position, sulking in your study while you tried to figure out how to spin this so you’d come out smelling like a rose. And you know the worst part? I defended you to our daughter. You made me complicit in your lie.”

“Now, wait just one second—” my father tried again, but she didn’t let him finish.

“You’re a hypocrite, Russ. You claimed to be protecting this family, but the only person you were really protecting was yourself. Well, and your brother, but that doesn’t surprise me. When have the two of you not been in on everything together?” Her voice was sharp with scorn. “You’ve spent your life cleaning up his messes. Perhaps it was only time for the shoe to be on the other foot. ”

“I was protecting our family!” my father thundered. “Everything I’ve ever done, every choice I’ve made, has been to safeguard what we’ve built.”

At that, something in me broke. “That’s the difference between us, Dad. To you, family’s an empire you constructed. Something to place a number on or show off. But really? Of all the people standing in this room, the only two related by blood are you and Theo. He’s your family, as much as Mom and I are. Somehow, you seem to have forgotten that.”

My father jerked, startled. His gaze swung to Theo, who winked at him. “Hi, cuz,” he said, and lifted one hand in a sardonic wave.

I elbowed my boyfriend, and he smirked, unapologetic. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

“Olivia is right,” my mother said, a sentence I wasn’t sure had ever left her lips. “The Dresslers are your blood, and you’ve treated them with nothing but disdain. So what is it that family means to you, exactly? What is it that I mean?”

“You’re my wife!” My father slammed his fist down on his desk, making me jump.

“And what is a wife to you, then?” my mother demanded, unfazed. “A status symbol? Something to take to company parties and parade about on your arm? Because it’s certainly not a confidant.” Her voice broke. “Did you think I was so shallow that I’d turn my back on you, if I knew the truth? Or…” Pulling a tissue from a box on the bookshelf, she dabbed at her eyes. “Did it have nothing to do with me at all? As usual, did you only think of yourself?”

“Now, Kate⁠—”

“Don’t you ‘now, Kate’ me! You treat me like I’m foolish, Russell, like the only thing I’m good for is chairing charity balls and cutting the crusts off cucumber sandwiches. But you’re not the only one who can keep a secret.”

Locked in confrontation, the two of them seemed to have forgotten we were here, and for once, I was happy to be ignored. I turned my mother’s words over and over in my mind like a Rubik’s cube, trying to puzzle out what she’d meant, as Theo leaned in close.

“What is she talking about?” he muttered under his breath.

“I have no idea.” But one thing was for sure. She was being honest for once. Being real. And suddenly, I felt like crap.

I’d treated my mother like the enemy, belittling her obsession with appearances and her unwillingness to delve beneath the surface of things. But while I’d been raised by a narcissist, she’d been married to one. All this time, she’d been coping the only way she knew how.

Mom raised her chin. “Ella’s daughter,” she said. “What is her name?”

I’d been wondering the same thing. For my mother, of all people, to beat me to it, to want to dig up the unthinkable…was it possible I’d misjudged her all along?

“All right, Kate,” my father said, voice weighted with resignation. “All right.”

He strode to the closet and entered the combination to his safe. It occurred to me that if Uncle Jamison had been half as careful with his paperwork as my father, perhaps we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But my dad was the older, responsible brother, and Jamison had always been the charming rogue, infamous for his exploits and careless with his money. What messes of his had my father cleaned up? Did Krista know about them, or had that all been hushed up, too?

Secrets on top of secrets. Sooner or later, they all came out.

“Here,” my dad said, pulling a paper from the safe. “Her name is Bonnie⁠—”

“Greene.” My mother finished his sentence, her voice shaking. “I found the paperwork years ago, Russ. I knew you’d gone to Kansas; you said it was for business. I thought—I thought it was another affair.”

“Oh, shit,” Theo said, just as I said, much too loudly, “Another what? Dad…?”

My father paid us no attention. “I promised you it would never happen again, Kate, and I meant it. I made a terrible mistake. It was…it was just the once, I swear.”

Holy crap. No wonder my mother had warned me off Gray. No wonder she’d been so distraught when I didn’t listen. She’d been trying to save me from her own pain.

Who had my dad cheated on her with? When? And why? With a pang, I remembered what I’d said to Tessa that first morning, when Theo and I had figured out who we were to each other: A family built on lies is like a house of cards; it’s only a matter of time until it crumbles.

Well, we were crumbling now.