“It started that way, but I wouldn’t agree to it. I wasn’t going to do shit just so she ends up rich. Personally, I think it’d be better if Kristen ended up broke and had to get a job. I think it’d be good for her.”
“If it’s not about money, then what’s this about?”
“The money thing is still there. Kristen still wants to preserve her inheritance, which she will if the plan works.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Steven is cheating. Kristen can’t prove it, but she’s overheard conversations that make it clear he’s seeing someone else. She needs to get actual proof she can take to her mom so she’ll divorce him. With the prenup, Steven will be left with almost none of Daphne’s money.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re involved. This is still about money.”
“There’s more.” He pauses. “Daphne isn’t at the house much. She travels a lot or stays at one of her other homes, leaving Kristen alone with Steven.”
“Yeah? So?”
“A couple months ago, Steven took an interest in Kristen, the kind of interest a stepfather shouldn’t have with his stepdaughter.”
“When you say interest, you mean . . .” I wait for him to fill in the rest.
“At first, that’s all it was. Looking at her a certain way. A few flirty comments. It was making Kristen really uncomfortable, which is why she started hanging out at my house. Spending the night sometimes. Then about a month ago, she was watching TV with Steven and he came and sat by her on the couch. He held her hand, and when she asked what he was doing, he said he was just being a caring father. She knew it was more than that. The next day, she told him she was going away on a trip with her friend, but she was actually staying with me, hiding out.”
“Has anything happened since?”
Jackson nods. “He went in her room during the night. She woke up and he was sitting on her bed, looking at her. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and when she told him to go away, he held her down and kissed her.”
“Oh my God,” I say, thinking how horrified I’d be if that happened to me. It’s like if I woke up and found Brock in my bed, forcing me down and kissing me. It’s so disgusting I can’t even think about it. “That’s horrible. What’d she do?”
“Screamed and told him to leave.”
“Did he?”
“Yeah. And the next day he said he didn’t remember doing it. He blamed it on the sleep meds he was taking.”
“I can’t believe he did that.”
“That’s why I got involved. Actually, it was sooner than that. As soon as she told me he was looking at her that way I knew I had to do something. Something to get her out of there.”
“So what’s the plan? What are you going to do?”
“I’m helping her catch him cheating. I found her an investigator and she hired him but so far, he hasn’t caught Steven in the act. He must’ve done this before because he’s good at covering his tracks. We haven’t even figured out who the woman is.”
“Have you considered the bookstore manager at Twisted Pine?”
“It’s not her. He was with her two years ago. He wouldn’t go back to her. It’d be too obvious.”
“Wait, do people know this? That he dated her?”
“Most people know. Someone found out and it spread. Rumors travel fast at Twisted Pine.”
“Is that why she got the job? Because they used to date?”
“Yeah, but nobody cares. It’s not like there are people lining up to work at a bookstore at a small private school.”
“Going back to Kristen, do you know if Principal Edwards has done anything else? After that night he went in her room?”
“Yeah, he tried again. He snuck in her room two other times.”
“But she got him to leave?”
