It’s a beautiful place, but once the entire town hears about what Alex and his family did, beautiful will no longer be the word anyone will use to describe it. The house of horrors would probably be more fitting. For many years, it hid the darkest secrets.
I lean my head back and grit my teeth. Trying to harness my anger doesn’t work. It zaps through me like an electric current, forcing my fingers to curl into fists.
Sweat and tears drip down my face as I punch my thighs, but my physical pain still doesn’t come close to matching the aches that plague my insides.
The carpet has been snatched from under my feet. I’m floating in mid-air with no way of stopping myself from crashing. I’m not prepared for a hard landing, but it’s inevitable.
Teeth still gritted, I start the car again.
My next stop is the Dallery Cemetery, the place where Lacey Simmon’s body is buried.
The first time I came to her grave was the day my father was sentenced to life in prison.
The emotions I had felt that day in the courtroom erupt inside me. Fear, sadness, and anger had suffocated me when he turned to look at me with a smile that was meant to assure me that everything would be all right.
My face heats up when I remember my mother dropping to her knees. Back then I thought she was devastated. It was all an act. When she had sat next to me awaiting the verdict, she knew what was coming.
Everything was rigged. Alex and his family manipulated the system to make sure my father would be found guilty.
I exit the car. The cool air pushes its way through the fabric of my mother’s thin coat and makes me want to get back inside, but I won’t. There’s something I need to say.
Even after all these years, I still remember where her grave is situated. I know the direction and the number of steps it takes to get to it.
Before I left Dallery, I came to her grave often, mostly at night. I didn’t want to be seen.
I drop to my knees in front of the marble headstone and stare at it in the dark.
“I was right,” I whisper. “My father didn’t hurt you. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for what my husband did. He hurt many other girls.” I bite into my lower lip and taste the salt of my tears. “But it’s over now. The time has come for him to pay for his crimes.”
Now that I know the truth of what happened back then, I wish my heart could rest in the knowledge that my father was an innocent man, a good man who made the wrong decision. But some wishes never come true. My mother’s crimes will ensure that peace will remain out of my reach.
I stay in the cemetery for a while. I don’t know where to go from here, what to do with the information my mother has given me.
I’m obligated to turn her in, but how could I? She’s my mother and she wanted to protect me.
I pull myself off the ground and pull in a breath. I should get back to the house.
Leaves and twigs are crushed under my feet as I make my way back to the car.
I won’t be visiting Lacey again. I now have the answers I used to come searching for.
The mystery of her death is solved. The outcome is not what I expected, but this chapter is officially closed.
By the time I arrive at the house, I’m exhausted and emotionally numb.
The few steps from the car to the front door feel like years.
The door is swung open before I have a chance to unlock it. I was hoping my mother would be sleeping, but she’s wide awake as she stands in front of me, her eyes red.
“Jia Li,” she breathes and tries to hug me. I step back.
I need time to come to terms with the fact that the woman who gave birth to me is capable of taking a life. She may have paid someone else to do the work, but she still has blood on her hands.
She sighs and closes the door.
“Where did you go?” she asks after I shrug off the coat. “I was worried.”
“I’m no longer a child, Mom. You don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
