Page 62 of Wicked Games

We walk along the other tables, nothing really catching our eye until Seth stops in front of a display of watercolors. There’s a large one of some butterflies flitting over a field of wildflowers, and an older gentleman looks at us hopefully. Seth pauses and then says, “Come on.”

“You like it?” I ask, studying the painting that’s already matted and framed. The price tag hanging from the corner says it’s four hundred dollars. It’s not the price that made Seth hesitate.

“Vi would love it,” he admits.

“Then you should buy it.”

“Avery—”

“Did you paint these?” I ask as the man stands and holds out his hand.

“No, my daughter. I make the frames.”

“That’s lovely! You both do amazing work. He’ll take it, but can we leave it with you for a little while? We walked here and it’ll be difficult to carry it around.”

“Sure. I’ll take it down for you. I appreciate it.”

“So do we.”

Seth pulls me aside. “Are you sure?”

I’ve been flippant, trying to ward off a sense of foreboding that’s been haunting me since we found out about Brooke’s disappearance, and I drop the act and brush my fingers over his cheek. “Violet’s a big part of your life and I’m not going to get in the way of that. If you can’t believe I don’t mind, then we might as well break up because eventually she’ll come between us, just in a different way than you and Brooke. She scared you, but I’m okay. I really am.”

He kisses my palm. “Thanks.”

“It’s okay.”

“We’ll come back for it before you have to close up,” Seth says, paying for the painting.

“No worries. Thanks again,” the man says, giving Seth the receipt.

We stroll through the rest of the fair and end up at the food trucks where we order tacos and Coronas. Seth chooses a picnic table away from everyone, and he relaxes, digging into his tacos and casually sipping his beer.

He notices me staring at him. “What?”

“I don’t know. Nothing, I guess. Just thinking about what you were like before Theo. Before your divorce.”

Wiping his fingers on a thin paper napkin, he says, “Probably the same. I didn’t relax much or take time to enjoy anything. I told you all I did was work, and I did. Of course I can say that I regret it now, but what was the cost to learn that lesson? To learn that once I earned my first billion, my first million, I could have stopped working, should have stopped working, retired, and enjoyed my life? I work because I like it, like the satisfaction that comes from creating jobs and helping others, even if that means helping someone else earn their first million. But it shouldn’t have come before my family.”

I smile, liking this side of him, and I wonder if he ever let Brooke see it, or if Violet blinded her and she wouldn’t have even if he would’ve shown her this piece of himself.

“It took Theo’s abduction to make me understand the money isn’t worth it.” Tears fill his eyes and he looks away.

“They didn’t kidnap him because you were at work,” I say softly. “Brooke isn’t missing because you didn’t take a vacation. Who would have done this to you, Seth? Who hates you that much they wanted to tear your family apart?”

He holds his head in his hands and forks his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I don’t know, and that’s the honest truth. Maybe we thought Brooke or Hattie had something to do with it, but if they’re both—” he chokes— “gone, then someone else is behind this.”

“I never thought Brooke would have hurt your son,” I say, and I sound truthful because I believe it and Bill said the same thing earlier today.

“You’re a better person than I am then, because I was really starting to think she planned this to get back at me. No, she wouldn’t have wanted to hurt Theo, but it wasn’t supposed to turn out that way and she wouldn’t have had any control over it.”

“So—” I start, but Seth talks over me.

“I don’t mean to put this on your sister⁠—”

“No, I get it, and Bill and I would never blame you for looking at her. What were you thinking, before Brooke went missing? That she planned this to get back at you for, working, cheating on her, whatever, and she asked Hattie . . . to what? Brooke loved Theo, so she was asking Hattie to make sure they didn’t hurt him? She sat there and watched. They could have done anything to him and she wouldn’t have been able to stop it in time, and you said they kept him for two days. Where was he during that time? Bill said she came home that day, carrying a load of shopping bags. She lied to him and said she was shopping with me. She went home, and they had dinner. I don’t know if she went anywhere during those two days, and if she did, if she checked on him, would it matter now? She can’t say where they kept him. She can’t say who ‘they’ are. Even if she was involved, knowing does little good.”

“You’re right, but if we think Brooke and Hattie were working together, that brings us closer to . . .” He sighs.