He tossed his head, looking to the ceiling like he was beseeching a deity for help. “Okay, fine. You want a direct answer? The answer is no. Your mother did not dig up dirt on me, because there was no dirt to find. I haven’t done anything illegal. I’ve never even double-parked.”
“Did—”
“No,” he sliced. “My turn. Did this woman really say that? She told you I broke the law, your mother found out when shehiredpeople to dig into my life, and then apparently kept all of this from you—if you’re really standing here asking me about it.”
“All of the above,” I dropped. “Except she looked into all three of you. She came back and told Mrs. Choi that the investigators hit the jackpot, but she wouldn’t give her a name.”
He cracked a brow. “Then why are you assuming it’s me?”
“Because Omma said it wasthe one you’d expect,” I told him. “My mother was many things, and a racist was one of them.”
Rhodes snorted—not looking the least bit surprised. “Yeah, she was.” Rhodes returned the same bluntness. “You always denied it or made excuses for her when I brought it up. Why are you seeing the light now?”
“Because I wasn’t any better than her back then. Didn’t you see me hit rock bottom and then punch through the floor to hell when I threw coffee on that waitress? I sucked,” I said. “Honestly, why did you even marry me, weirdo?”
A startled laugh burst out of him, cracking the stern exterior. “Because I loved you, weirdo. And because...” He sighed. “I was making excuses for you too. Turns out I’m a hypocrite. There, Sue. You got me to admit it.”
I gave him a long, serious look. “That’s not the confession I’m looking for, Rhodes. Could my mother have been speaking about Micah or Alex—possibly. I doubt it, but it’s possible, and I don’t have any proof saying otherwise. But what can be proven is that you left the ballroom and went upstairs—”
“Whoa, wait—”
“—around the time she was killed. Around the time my racist, prying, digging-up-dirt-to-destroy-you-in-the-divorce mother—”
“Sue, stop,” he cried, throwing his hands up. “Are you serious right now? Are you really asking me what I think you’re asking me right now? How did we get from your mother hiring someone to dig up skeletons last year, to me killing her last week? That’s insane! Why would I even bother? She was already dying.”
“Maybe what she knew was still a threat to you—”
He flung away. “No.”
“Maybe you had to silence her for good—”
“No!”
“—and you easily could’ve stashed a second pair of clothes and—"
“NO!” he roared, veins bulging in his face and neck.
I lurched back, eyes blowing wide—but not because he yelled at me. I stared at his right hand, the air trapped in my lungs.
Rhodes flicked down, looking where I was looking, and saw his hand on the cutting board—wrapped around the knife’s hilt.
He threw it away like it burned. “Sue, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he beseeched me. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but you’ve got it so wrong, it’s ridiculous. I did leave the party around nine thirty, but it wasn’t to kill your mother.” Just the way he said it made me feel a little ridiculous. “I went up, and kept going up, to the third floor. To my office.”
It took me a minute for my heart rate to slow. “Your office?”
“My office. I told you that I’d be using the party as a chance to hook some new clients,” he said. “Well, your man is good at what he does because one of them wanted to sign with me right then. He said if I’d had the kind of money to drape my wife in diamonds and throw parties like that,he wanted in.
“I wasn’t going to give him a chance to change his mind, or sober up, so I ran upstairs to get a client contract. I was back down and watching you bounce around the dance floor like ten minutes later.”
I hesitated. “R-really?”
“Really,” he said gently, taking a step. Then another. “Baby, come on. You know me. That mugger came at us with a knife that night coming out of the subway, and all I did was punch him once in the face and disarm him. I didn’t take the knife and stab him thirty-four times.” Rhodes stepped closer, erasing the distance. “I could never kill anyone. Especially not my wife’s mother.
“I love you.” Rhodes gathered me in his arms, melting me with his warmth and steady, smooth baritone. “Even more than I did before. You’re finally the woman and mother I married, so why would I ruin what we have now that we finally have something worth fighting for?”
I buried my face in his chest, shaking. HisI love youwasn’t for me, and yet... it was. “I love you too.” I tipped my chin, lips parting just in time for his to crash on mine.
Fireworks exploded in my mind, their sparks lighting the fuses that burned and sizzled through my body—setting every nerve ending on fire. I gasped under the waves of crashing, rising heat, and Rhodes plunged inside—his tongue tangling with mine and wrangling it into submission.
