AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My god.” I thought I was prepared to hear this. I’m not. “You killed her.”
“No, I didn’t mean for her to die. I swear to god I didn’t want to make you an orphan. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I figured she’d get picked up for impaired driving or maybe make such an ass out of herself it would give Stuart ammunition for the custody case.”
“You killed her!”
He flinches at my shout. “She passed out in the swimming pool at her friend’s house and drowned. I read the toxicology report. She had a lot of Percocet in her system. I’ll never know if she took them on her own or if she drank from the bottle. But she was gone. And you were safe.”
The man has a very odd notion of ‘safe’.
“Did my father know?”
Josh nods. “I was crippled with guilt. I told him what I had done. To my shock, he wasn’t angry. He said what was done was done and that sometimes out of tragedy comes opportunity. As far as anyone else knew, he would be the grieving widower and devoted single father.”
I can’t even speak. I don’t know if Josh would stop me if I tried to run out of the house right now. I just know that I’m afraid and I wish for Micah. I want to bury my face in Micah’s chest and feel his arms around me and make these horrors disappear.
Josh, however, has deluded himself into believing that we’re going to be a happy family now. “Tessie Belle, I love you more than anything in the world. You’re the reason why I’ve always stayed right here, why I remained under Stuart’s thumb and even sacrificed my own relationships. So many times I wanted to tell you the truth. But I was young when you were born. And I truly thought Stuart was a devoted father. All I’ve ever wanted was to protect you and-”
“Did the two of you kill Ethan Lyonne?”
Josh isn’t surprised by the question. “I had nothing against Ethan. He was a friend. But he was also kind of a hothead with an unshakable sense of right and wrong. Stuart was the one with the gambling problem, not Ethan. It’s true that Ethan was hoping to divorce Matilda and take Micah. He was livid when he found out Stuart was bleeding the partnership dry. Ethan promised to expose Stuart. It was a foolish move that cost him his life.”
“You didn’t actually answer my question.”
He leans back in his chair. “No, I guess I didn’t. I swear to you, I tried to talk Stuart out of it. He reminded me that I had a secret of my own. I couldn’t let you lose everything. You were just a little girl. Stuart wasn’t planning to kill Ethan. He was trying to send a message. Your father hired those thugs on his own. Turns out they were a couple of drugged out psychos. I didn’t help at all but I knew what he was planning the weekend Ethan went up north with his son. And I gave Stuart one ironclad condition. No matter what, nobody could lay a finger on Micah. Otherwise all bets were off and I wouldn’t stay quiet.”
He shares this last part like he’s proud of himself.See what a good guy I am, Tess? I wouldn’t let your father kill a six-year-old child.
“Micah watched his father get murdered. Do you have any clue what that did to him?”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. Ethan fought like a tiger and those two animals Stuart hired took it too far.”
“Do you think that helps? Does it change a fucking thing?”
His shoulders twitch when I raise my voice. Odd how he can sit here confessing a list of terrible crimes and still get upset when I yell at him a little.
“I can’t change what happened,” he says. “But look at the two of you now. You and Micah. It’s like you were meant for each other. In the beginning I was worried he’d be too wild and break your heart. But I saw how happy you were with him. You deserve to be happy. I’m sorry for what happened to Micah. I would never have allowed Stuart to pull that off if I’d known. I’m devastated that you were in harm’s way and I’m so grateful that you’re safe. Micah will be all right. And there’s no longer any doubt he’ll stay put. Now he’ll be good to you and the baby.”
Out of tragedy comes opportunity.
A sick life philosophy followed by my father. Myrealfather.
Josh was the first one to search for Micah’s hand. Gage, concerned with Micah’s blood loss and the possibility of shock, had escorted him off the scene, leaving Josh alone. He had a head start of at least a couple of minutes before Conner went running over to help.
“You found Micah’s hand that night, didn’t you?”
Josh is a gifted liar and still he can’t scrub the guilt off his face fast enough. But from his lips, a denial. “Of course not.”
I shoot to my feet and bang my fist on the table. “NO MORE LIES!”
He hangs his head but refuses to confess to this final outrage.
In Josh’s mind, his demented act was justified. There would have been time to reattach Micah’s hand. But Josh wanted to make sure Micah was left with fewer options.
And worst of all, he truly believes he did this for me.
I could kill him. I really could.
“You sick motherfucker.”
