Lucas closed his eyes, focusing not on the old woman’s skin beneath his palm but the wall she was trying to throw up to protect…something. “What is it? What are you not telling us?”
“Nothing,” she snapped, blinking rapidly, her lips parting as she began to suck in rattling breaths. “What do you want from me? No matter what I say, you’re going to kill me anyway. Just do it. I don’t care anymore. I’m not answering any more of your stupid questions.”
“Always the victim, huh, Bev?” Lucas said, huffing out a disgusted laugh. “All Zane wanted was a mother that loved him. You spewed your hate and vitriol all over him, yet somehow he’s one of the sweetest, gentlest people we know. In spite of you.”
“In spite of? I’m the reason he’s like this. Me. He was pathetic. Weak. Always crying, always whining, just like his fath?—”
As soon as the words escaped, she clamped her lips shut, turning her head to look out over the shadows of the empty garden. The silence after hung thick.
“My dad wasn’t whiny,” Zane said faintly. “My dad was barely ever home. He was a ghost in our house, doing everything he could to avoid my mom…and us.”
Lucas’s breath hitched, stumbling slightly away from Bev as the pieces began to fall into place. Could it really be that simple? “Is that it?” he asked, almost to the universe, before turning on Bev. “Is that why you’ve spent his whole life tormenting him?”
“What?” Jericho asked. “Did you pick up something?”
“Not psychically, no. It’s more a theory than anything. But it’ll be easy enough to confirm. It just means searching her cesspool of a brain.”
“Meaning?” Atticus asked.
“Meaning Bev couldn’t take her anger and rage out on the person she wanted to punish, so she used Zane as a surrogate for that person. Isn’t that right, Bev?”
“Is this like a Daddy issues thing?” Jericho asked.
Lucas shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t think so.” He squatted down in front of her, forcing her to look him in the eye. Her pupils blew wide, a flash of panic before the fury returned. “You got caught having an affair, didn’t you?”
“Wh-What?” Bev stammered. “You’re just making that up.”
“Like I said, it was a theory. But you just confirmed it. Let me guess. Your husband didn’t know, thought it was his, and when you said you wanted an abortion, he did something to manipulate you into keeping the baby?”
Bev pressed her lips together, chest heaving, her rage burning a hole through Lucas’s skin. Her breath hitched on a sob she refused to give sound to, the first real fracture in her control.
August spun the knife around on his index finger. “Clock’s ticking, Beverly.”
When she hesitated, Jericho said, “You’re gonna die either way. Be a decent person for once in your life. Unburden yourself.”
The wordunburdenlanded like a dare. For a moment, she looked almost small, just a woman sitting in a garden thatsmelled like blood and roses, realizing there was no one left to lie to.
It was clear she was fighting some inner war, like the admission itself was a monstrous thing that she’d rather sacrifice her fingers than voice. Her fingernails clawed at the rope, knuckles whitening, as if the cords could strangle the confession back in.
When August stepped closer, she snarled, then, with a ragged inhale, spat, “Fine. Fine.” Her voice dropped into something smaller, brittle. “I was having an affair.”
Zane choked on a breath in Lucas’s ear. For a beat it felt like the entire garden held its breath. Crickets stopped; even the floodlight’s hum seemed to dull.
“With who?” Zane managed. “Who was he?”
Before any of them could press, Bev went on. “When I found out I was pregnant, I was going to quietly have an abortion and move on with my life, but Irv found the test in the trash and confronted me.” She shook her head as if dislodging memory. Her jaw clenched until the tendons stood out. “I tried to say it was his, but we both knew it wasn’t. We hadn’t touched each other since Gage was born. He told me if I had an abortion he’d leave and take Gage with him.”
The sentence landed like a blunt instrument.
“Why would he want you to keep a baby that wasn’t his?” Jericho asked, voice flat.
“He was punishing me for sleeping with…someone else.” Bev spat the words like they tasted sour.
Lucas’s gaze narrowed. “Who was it?”
“Why is that important?” she snapped, snapping back into the old feint, deflection.
“Because Zane deserves to know who his real father is,” Atticus said, sharp. “What if that man wanted to be part of his life? What if there are siblings out there?”
