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Antisocial personality disorder. That was what Dr. Pelletier had diagnosed for Wendy.
I’d since looked it up. People with the disorder show long-term patterns of disregarding the law, violating the rights of others, and manipulating and exploiting others.
Dr. Pelletier was right on the mark with Wendy.
This was the woman who’d held a gun on my best friend and had later orchestrated his murder. The woman who’d arranged the rape and murder of Daphne’s friend Patty Watson. The woman who’d made two threats against my newborn son. All of this while she’d been locked up in a mental facility.
“But,” Wendy continued, “your sense of humor won’t get you out of this one.”
I didn’t reply. She couldn’t have anything on me. I’d been so careful in my dealings since my father had disappeared from my life once again.
“Nothing to say?” she asked.
“What do you want me to say? You’re threatening me. I don’t respond to threats, Wendy. You should know that by now.”
“Always the same Brad Steel.” She sucked in a breath. “Fuck. This is why I can’t ever get enough of you. Your overwhelming arrogance turns me on.”
“Arrogance, huh? I’m simply confident, Wendy.”
“Oh, no, Brad. You go way beyond confidence. You always have. You just don’t see it. It’s not your fault, of course. You grew up the only son and heir to a million-dollar ranch and other investments. And your physical attributes… Well, they speak for themselves. You grew up with the ultimate silver spoon in your mouth.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about my upbringing.”
True words. My father had been hard on me from the beginning. It wasn’t something I advertised.
“Maybe, but it doesn’t take a genius to read between the lines.”
Interesting choice of words. Wendy was a genius. Her IQ was around 165.
“I’m going to put my child back to bed, Wendy. Then you and I will go to my office. Is that clear?”
“What will your dear wife think if she wakes up and finds you gone?”
“She won’t think anything of it.”
More true words. I was gone more than I was home. If Daphne woke up, she’d go right back to sleep. There was a time when she would have risen and looked for me.
That time was in the past.
Way in the past.
I’d wanted so much more for us…
I watched Wendy as I laid Talon back in his crib gently. He stretched a little but didn’t open his eyes. When I was satisfied he wouldn’t cry out, I spoke.
“My office. Now.”
She followed me. She always followed me when I got stern. I didn’t labor under any delusion that I still held power over her, though.
No, she had to be handled with kid gloves.
This woman was capable of anything.
I closed my office door and locked it from the inside. Then I sat behind my desk and gestured for Wendy to sit in one of my leather chairs.
“Nice digs, Brad.”
“Talk,” I said simply. “You broke into my home, held a knife to my son, all presumably to get my attention. You have it, so talk.”
“Your attention isn’t all I came for.”
“I’m not fucking you, Wendy.”
“Maybe not tonight. But you will.”
“I’ve been more than patient. You promised me, when you were released from Piney Oaks, that you were going to make a good life for yourself. That you were healed.”
“I was never ill, Brad.”
“Your doctors say otherwise.”
“Pfft. What do doctors know? Only I know what goes on inside my head, and I’ve never been mentally ill. Only desperately in love.”
I resisted an eye roll. Not a good time to piss her off. One scream could wake my household, and if Daphne found Wendy here…
I sighed. Daphne was doing so well. Her therapy was helping, and she hadn’t dissociated. She loved her children with the fierce devotion of a lioness.
She loved me that fiercely as well, despite everything.
I should have known I couldn’t escape the inevitable.
Should have.
But apparently didn’t.
I’d allowed myself to take a breath. To think that maybe my life could move forward with my wife and children. That we could be happy.
Dumbass.
“Start talking,” I said. “And don’t leave out a single dirty detail.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Daphne
“I’ve been thinking,” I said to Evie. “Would you be okay if we took Bryce to Disneyland with us?”
Bryce and Joe stopped eating.
“Wow, Mom, could I?” Bryce asked.
“That’d be great,” Joe agreed.
“I suppose it must be a good idea if it got the two of you to stop eating for a second.” Evie laughed.
“Please think it over,” I said.
She nodded. “I don’t know how Tom would feel.”
“If you’re worried about the cost, we’d pay for everything. We already have a three-bedroom condo reserved, so we’ll have plenty of room.”
“I should check with Tom.”
“Please do. It would actually be a godsend. We’d have an even number for rides, so I wouldn’t have to go on any of them.”
A godsend indeed. With the nausea already beginning, getting on roller coasters with my children sounded awful. I couldn’t consider canceling the trip. They were all looking forward to it so much, especially Talon and Ryan. Joe was beginning to think he was too old for such things, but once he got there, I knew he’d love it.
