Through a haze of panic and confusion, Mom had filled me in on the passageways in Xavier’s house. The library. The primary bedroom. The back of the kitchen. A direct line behind the wallmirrors connecting the guest rooms on the third floor. The tunnel that led from a shed on the far side of the property behind the pond directly to the garage. She told me and I filled in Marni and Hanna as Hanna hatched her plan.
That’s how I got in the big house without alerting the police patrol and why I stood here now, hearing the disgusting words that crashed into the foundations of who I thought Lukas and I had been as a couple. He’d let me think I dragged him into the Tanner family mess when in reality he acted as a driving force behind the downfall.
“What is wrong with you? You forced yourself on Aubrey. A young, mixed-up girl.” I gagged as I said the shocking words.
Aubrey held up her hand. “For the record, I prefer the termcomplicated.”
I didn’t give Aubrey the attention she craved. She was a victim here but I had one target and if he moved, gave me an inch of space, I’d push Hanna to safety and stab him with his own knife. “You assaulted Aubrey in her house?”
“And yours.” Aubrey shrugged. “Sorry.”
“You know me better than that. I would never touch her. She’s a liar.” Lukas sounded so reasonable and clear. He acted like convincing me would be easy, probably because it always had been. “You know who and what she is. Hell, you know that better than most people.”
Aubrey sighed. “Then drop the knife.”
“I’m trying to de-escalate the situation.” He delivered the comment despite how ridiculous it sounded in the moment.
Hanna struggled under Lukas’s hold. She grabbed on to his arm, trying to pull it away from her throat. “By threatening me?”
“I didn’t...” He seemed to ease up on his grip, but he still didn’t let Hanna go. “Look, no one is listening. I need you all to pay attention. To understand what Aubrey is so we can end her dangerous behavior once and for all.”
“You were so stressed back then. The promotion. The political bullshit in the office. Was it all too much? Did I add too much pressure with the talk about kids and a future?” None of those were excuses but I expected him to grab on to one. “Was that why or did you just enjoy doing something so horrible and wrong for a change? Was Aubrey your chance to finally break the rules?” As sick as that sounded.
“Listen, Aubrey has you all riled up with her stories. She’s a killer. We all know that. She took out her parents. She came back into town and went after Jeremy.”
“A fascinating tale.” Aubrey made a humming sound. Made it clear she didn’t take any of this seriously. “Why would I do any of that?”
Lukas looked at me, ignoring Aubrey’s snide question and Hanna fidgeting in front of him. “Aubrey needed to remove Jeremy, the named heir, so she could move in and make a claim as the only living grandchild. We’re talking about an estate worth almost forty million dollars.”
Amazing how he knew the amount. How he followed every step of the Tanner saga so closely, even after our divorce, and remained intimately involved. I used to think his interest grew out of old feelings and a still-thriving need to protect me.
God, Stella. Why did you think it was okay to counsel Aubrey and report to her father and grandfather? How do I live with this? How do we survive what you did?
Now I knew the truth. He’d had a despicable secret to hide. One that should land him in a sturdy jail cell with any hope of political fame sacrificed to a dying fire inside him.
“That’s not how the law works. The terms of the family trust were clear.” Aubrey smiled. A gesture only she would find appropriate under the circumstances. “I’d think you, Mr. Super Lawyer, would know that. My attorney explained estate law to me. I can call him if you want.”
Aubrey’s dismissive attitude chipped away at the last of my control. The stranglehold of tension pounding through the room touched everyone but her. “I came here because of Mom. She was questioned by the police. She’s unraveling... because of you, Lukas. How could you drag her into something so vile?”
“Hon, come on.” That innocent head tilt. The lift of his voice. He’d moved on to charm. He clearly thought he could weasel out of this, using the same old tricks. “Your mom’s struggling and has been for a long time. It’s sad but it’s not new. Xavier’s death likely sped up the process.”
I held up my cell phone. Pressed play on the audio I had of Mom. The admission I hoped would show her diminished capacity and lessen her culpability while it confirmed his.
“I had no idea that woman would be in the café. It’s Hanna’s fault. She’s so much like Aubrey. But we needed the boy. Lukas told me I needed to set another fire. Not as a diversion like last time. We needed the flames to destroy the evidence.”
Aubrey whistled. “Younger me had terrible taste in men.”
Hanna’s nails bit into the arm around her neck. “You tried to kill my son.”
Lukas’s deceptive fingerprints were all over this. I knew thatnow. “You must have been pretty desperate to include Mom in your plan. She said you promised to get Xavier’s estate transferred to her. Once the two of you took care of Aubrey and Jeremy.”
He used Isabel. Isabel used him. They both screwed the rest of us.
He shook his head as if I were overreacting. As if he hadn’t heard the damn recording. “Stella, come on. This is ridiculous.”
Everyone was sick and wrong and confused but him. I’d never noticed the steady thump ofonly I can save youunderlying Lukas’s words and actions.
Now it was all I heard.
