Page 45 of Drowning in Lies

"Why did you start with the drugs, and why did you drug Lila with your sleeping pills?"

"Why the fuck do you care, man? This isn't an episode of goddamned Dr. Phil!"David lashed out at him.

"I care why you did it because Lila needs to know. She deserves to know why you destroyed her life."

"Fine! Istarted using coke here and there to get through finals my senior year, and then the first couple of years when I was trying to get my graduate degree. I was working and taking classes and it was just too fucking much. The coke helped me. Then I started using pills, because the coke wasn't enough."

"OK, so then Lila got control of her trust fund, and you turned into a prissy bitch because she wouldn't let you blow it all. Youand your piece of shit brother worked up this mortgage scheme, drugging Lila to get her compliance at first, and then continued doing it...just for shits and giggles? You just decided to try to literally drive her crazy?"

"No, I just wanted her to think she had done all of those things herself, with the mortgages and the deeds and the money going missing,"David explained earnestly, as if his explanation made it all better. He didn't want to drive me crazy, he just wanted to be able to steal every dime without me realizing he'd done it.

"You didn't think maybe you'd gone too far, after she had her miscarriage? It didn't occur to you how horrible you had been to her? What if that sleeping pillis whatcaused her to lose the baby? Lila almost died that night. Doesn't that make you feel bad at all?"Liam hammered away at him, throwing him question after question, his voice rising as it changed from soothing calm to seething anger.

"She didn't die, so just calm the fuck down! I don't want kids and she knows it. That's one of the reasons I kept dating her at first. Other chicks were trying to get pregnant to trap a guy. Lila couldn't, or at least she wasn't supposed to be able to. Then she was all depressed and shit. She has no idea how much a kid would have ruined our lives."

I stared at the phone, shocked by this statement more than any other I'd heard him say.

"You are one lousy motherfucking excuse for a man, and Lila's going to be so much better off without you."

David looked at him as though he couldn't figure something out. After a moment he asked,"What's it to you? Why the fuck do you care so much about Lila?"

The camera phone jostled as Liam apparently took it out of his pocket. He turned it to face him, then looked directly into the camera."What do you think, Princess? Should I tell him about us?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, man?"

Liam smiled and winked into the camera before flipping the phone around toward David again."I care about Lila because we've been sleeping together ever since she found out about you and Vanessa."

I gasped and whipped my head around to look at Liam, who was staring back at me unapologetically. "Why did you say that?" I asked in surprise.

"Because I knew it would bother him, even more than the idea of Vanessa sleeping with Scott. I made that part up too, by the way. I have no clue if those two are fucking, although it wouldn't surprise me."

"So you lied to him about us having an affair, just to piss him off?"

Liam looked me straight in the eye and replied, "No, I did it to hurt him the way he hurt you, even if only a little. And it worked, Princess. Rewind that a little, and you'll see tears in his eyes."

I did, and Liam was right. David's eyes were welled up with tears as he shook his head in denial."No, Lila would never cheat on me.She's a good person. She wouldn't cheat."

"She didn't figure it was cheating, since you broke your vows first. I have to tell you, David. Your wife is fantastic in bed. You were a lucky man. It's too bad you didn't realize it."

David swiped a finger under his eye, andthenover his other cheek. "Just shut the fuck up, asshole."

"Have you forgotten about my gun? You are hardly in a position to give me orders or insult me. Now, I have just one more question for you. Did you ever wonder how Lila's family came to have such immense wealth?"

David looked puzzled. "It was from her Dad's business, why?"

"It wasn't only from her Dad. Her mother came from an even wealthier family. Tell me, David, have you ever heard of Patrick Flanagan, or the Flanagan Family out of Chicago?"

David nodded. "The mobsters?Yeah, what about them?"

Liam chuckled."Well, our beautiful Lila is Patrick's niece. Your sweet wife is a Mob Princess, and let me assure you, her Uncle Pat does not like you in the least. In fact, you have him and his son Conor to thank for my being here.They suggested it, and Lila finally agreed."

David's mouth fell open, and his body went rigid with shock. "What???"

"I believe you heard me. She's a Flanagan. Now, as much as I've enjoyed out little chat, I have things to do today. I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye now, David."

I reached out a suddenly shaking finger to press the button to pause the recording, not sure I would be able to watch the actual moment David was killed.

"Lila?" Liam asked quietly. "Are you OK?"

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