“Corrine stayed home from school that day,” I say, my voice low. Controlled.
“You two had a lot of fun, didn’t you? So much fun that you didn’t hear Mom or me come home. Didn’t hear her heels on the floor. You didn’t hear her open your study door.”
He says nothing.
His fingers twitch around the rim of his glass.
“But you heard her gasp,” I continue, pacing slowly now. “You heard the shock in your wife’s voice as she walked in on you. Her husband. Molesting the orphan girl she brought into our home to foster.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he can even form a word.
“And instead of going after her—your wife—you were a selfish bastard. You yelled at Corrine to go to her room, and you ran straight to the security system. Straight to the cameras so you could erase what you did.”
My fists are clenched at my sides, nails biting into my palms.
“But Corrine didn’t go to her room. She waited at the top of the stairs. Hid around the corner. And when Mom came running back—shattered, sobbing—Corrine pushed her.”
My throat tightens. A tear slips free.
“She pushed her.”
I swallow hard, trying to hold the rest in, but the grief surges up anyway, hot and sharp.
My breath hitches.
My vision blurs.
“I thought she was upset with me,” I say quietly.
“I thought I’d done something wrong.”
He shifts in his chair, pain etched into the lines of his face.
“Son…”
I glance at the fire, at the dying embers flickering through smoke.
“She was so obsessed with you… so twisted from what you did to her, that she thought if Mom was gone, you’d finally be hers.”
He looks stricken, pale and trembling. But I don’t let up.
“She was my age,” I hiss. “She was your friend’s daughter. How the fuck could you?”
“She was confused,” he murmurs. “Grant… Corrine was very confused at that time?—”
“No,” I snap. “She wasn’t. She was already a killer before she ever set foot in this house.”
He stares at me, bewildered.
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, you didn’t know?” I laugh, but it’s hollow.
Jagged.
“She killed her parents just to come live here. With you.”
He flinches. The truth cuts.
