“It was. I wish Misty could have seen how many people were there and how many miss her.” My voice is strangled. I rub the bottom of my throat. “It sounded like you wanted to talk to me about something.”
“Yes,” she replies, but she briefly peers out at the beach. “What did you get told about me leaving?”
I find that an odd question.
“You returned to be with your family.” My eyebrows furrow. “Why, was there something else?”
Tears fall down her face. “Please forgive me when I tell you this.”
I freeze. Everything quietens, and I focus on Iris. Every one of my senses heightens. I don’t answer her... I can’t. Heavy silence descends on us until she speaks again.
“Early on, when it was me, Audrey, and Helen in the kitchen, we were talking about where Misty could have gone, and we were throwing out suggestions on what could have happened. I told them I thought Misty was pregnant.”
My world spins and I gasp for air. Knox shuffles over, his arms coming around me, holding me. “I... How?” I pause. “She was still a virgin. She would have told me...”
The sympathy in her eyes tells me otherwise. I shift and look into Knox’s eyes. His sad gaze makes me shake my head at him. “She would have told me. We didn’t keep secrets from each other.”
He flinches, making me think I was wrong. An unsettling feeling takes hold of me. I pull out of Knox’s embrace and shuffle away from him. “You knew?” I whisper with hurt in my voice. “You never told me.”
His frown deepens. He puts his hand on mine, but I pull mine away.
“I told Misty and Kane to tell you they were, but they didn’t get around to and then she went missing. Kane told me they were using protection, so I thought nothing of it.” His eyes narrow at Iris. “You don’t know she was pregnant, and you have no proof, so why bring it up?”
There’s a bite in his tone, but theybothwere hiding secrets from me.
Iris lets out a long sigh. “She was vomiting every day. She had cravings. I knew she was having sex because I caught them. It all aligned, and it made sense to me. You say he wore protection, but nothing is one hundred percent effective.”
Her words saturate my mind, though they feel like barbed wire twisting, making incisions into my heart.
“There was no reason for her to leave. She would have known everyone would have supported her.”
She raises a hand. “Let me finish. Helen’s eyes looked the way yours do. Denial that Misty would be having sex. Audrey was quiet for the first time in her life. I thought it was strange, but the next day, she approached me with her bodyguard at my home.”
Iris’s eyes dart between us and she visibly swallows. She takes a torturous moment, as if trying to keep herself together to continue. “Audrey had papers in her hand and asked if she could come in, so I let them. We went into the dining room, where we sat down, and she told me that my employment was terminated immediately. Your family needed time and space to be together as a family during the difficult time.”
I tilt my head. “My parents told you to leave?” I needed her.They wouldn’t... would they?
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but it was Audrey who helped me get the position. She has cleaners as well, so she had her lawyer draw up a similar contract to theirs for the Pratts that stated my terms and conditions. In that was a nondisclosure clause that Audrey reminded me about. She said to keep my opinions about Misty to myself and that they were not to be discussed with anyone or they would sue me. She was cold and clinical. I had never seen her act that way before, and it scared me. I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone. I wanted to stay, but she was firm on letting me go.”
“Did she explain why?” I’m quick to ask.
“She mentioned she didn’t want Kane brought into the case and she didn’t want her family’s name tarnished because I had made up a rumor that wasn’t true. She offered me a bonus for being a good and loyal employee but only on the condition I sign an updated nondisclosure agreement. I realized maybe she also thought Misty was pregnant and that she was paying me off so I wouldn’t say anything, but another part of me had known Audrey for so long. I had trouble reconciling that it was a possibility.”
I suck in a sharp breath that fills my lungs.No... no... no...I dare a peek at Knox. His face is pale, his eyes wide, his expression pained.
So many questions bubble up inside of me. “You took what she said as fact and didn’t even see us or come say goodbye?”
“The conditions were clear. I wasn’t allowed to contact any member of your family or hers. I needed the bonus payment. It was life changing. I could not pass up the opportunity to pay off my house, so I asked no more questions. I signed the documents. After months and years of reflecting, I had my suspicions she knew more than she was letting on. It was too coincidental that a day after I suggested Misty was pregnant by her son, she was at my house with an offer of a bonus in return for my silence.”
“Who else did you say it to? Did Kane know?”
“No one, and I never spoke to him about it. If he knew, he didn’t hear it from me.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?” I’m dumbfounded Iris had her suspicions but did nothing.
She shakes her head and gives Knox a pointed look. “His family is powerful, and I was scared. Her bodyguard was intimidating enough while in my house, and if I had gone to the police with only my suspicions, they would have laughed at me. Audrey’s family has and always will have a direct influence on the police. I didn’t know what Audrey was capable of, and I wasn’t going to find out.”
Her words are cutting me. It’s all too much. My head pounds. I need to get away from her... from him... from everyone.
