I’m too horrified to think about what to do in this situation except wait for him to finish fighting his demons.
Eventually, he drops the mannequin and growls in frustration. He seems to notice me again and approaches me, his hands clasped in front of him, begging.
“Please, Viola, let’s start over. We can forget about all this. I’ll leave the past behind.”
It’s over for me. For the last fifteen years, I worked hard to keep us together, to protect what I thought we had. I thought our love was special and worth fighting for. Now I know that love was built on lies.
“I need to get out of here.” I try to push past him, but he grips my left elbow.
When our eyes meet, he lets me go.
In the depths of his eyes, I can see he loves me, but his love is the twisted kind and I want nothing to do with it.
“I can’t let you go.” He grabs my arm again. “I love you too much.”
“I don’t believe you.” I try to get away, but he tightens his grip. His wet, red eyes look like they’re about to bulge out of his head.
“Don’t do this, Viola. Don’t throw us away.”
“Or what? What will you do if I leave?” I feel a prickle of fear, but I do my best to stifle it. “Will you kill me? Is that what you do to anyone who doesn’t want you?”
“Of course not.” He moves his hands to my shoulders. “You’re the love of my life. You’re good for me. We’re good for each other.” He drops his hands to his sides. “I’ll become a better man for you and our future children. We’ll take my mother’s money and go away together as we planned.”
I step away from him. “Do you know that Jeffrey is dead?”
“He was trouble, baby. Don’t you see? He wanted to break us up.” His eyes have taken on that haunted look again. “He wanted to spoil everything for us.”
I cross the distance between us until I’m close enough to feel his breath on my skin. “He didn’t kill Brittney, did he, Alex?” I think I already know the answer, but something inside of me craves to hear it from his lips.
He steps around me to lie next to the headless mannequin on the bed. He holds it like a little boy holding a stuffed animal.
“I couldn’t let him do it. I couldn’t let him destroy what we have… our marriage.”
How did I not see it? How did I not see that my husband is a monster—someone who would rape, kill, and send innocent people to prison?
No wonder Jeffrey didn’t want me to take Jenna. He must have known what Alex was capable of long before I did.
I lean against the wall because I’m finding it hard to stand now. “Did your mother help you frame Jeffrey so you could get out? Did you get him killed so he wouldn’t talk?” My throat starts to ache when I prepare myself to ask the next question.“It’s what you did to my father, isn’t it? You killed Lacey Simmons and framed him for murder.”
“My son is not guilty of the crimes you’re accusing him of.” Marcy’s voice takes me by surprise.
My heart in my throat, I spin around to find her standing in the middle of the staircase, looking up at us with cold, hard eyes.
I ignore her and continue digging for the truth. “Answer my question, Alex. What happened to Lacey Simmons. Did you kill her? Did my father go to prison for something he didn’t do?”
Alex is curled up even tighter on the bed, holding his mannequin close. “I’m innocent,” he murmurs.“I’m not going to prison.”
Marcy takes a few more steps up the stairs. “Your father killed Lacey Simmons. You know that.” When she reaches the landing, my mouth goes dry.
She’s holding a pistol.
Chapter 34
Iknew Marcy was evil, but I never for a second thought she was capable of murder.
Did she help Alex murder the schoolgirls?
When I think that my husband could have killed someone and framed my dad for it, anguish twists inside me. I’m so wrapped up in it that it beats my fear of the pistol in Marcy’s hand.
