Page 141 of The Secrets She Keeps

"I killed four men outside already. You think this rich bastard matters to me?" Trey raised the gun like he was going to shoot Barratt now. Timothy just stared at his oldest son. A rush of real disgust filled him.

Thiswas the son he was so proud of? Who he had lost everything for?

The little realtor gasped and shook. Pulled closer to her mother. Timothy could barely look at her. She reminded him so much of his middle daughter. Samia. She wasn't any bigger, he didn't think. He stepped in front of his own son, between himand the helpless man on the floor now. "I did not raise you to be a killer. Or to hit women and hurt them, terrorize them."

"You hit my auntie Heather, Daddy. Remember that?" Trey said with such sarcasm Timothy almost smacked him. "We both did. I learned by example. I enjoyed it too. I just wish I’d had the time to get a bit of what Steve had before she got away. I have wanted to fuck Heather for decades. Put that bitch in her place once and for all, thenpop.End it all. Right between those dark eyes of hers.Bang, bang, no more Auntie Heather. Then she would see who was in charge.”

"Do not talk about Heather like that. I truly regret hitting Heather, Trey. She is Angela’s sister, damn it. She...I lost myself for a moment when I remembered." He looked at the older woman. She was holding her daughter close. Protectively. The daughter had one hand over her stomach. Just as protectively. He'd heard she was pregnant. "I am a better man than that. I am sorry, Powell, for my part in what happened to you last week. With you, and with my sister-in-law. Heather and I—well, we never have really gotten along. She was such a precocious girl. Trouble. Always causing trouble.”

"She was achild.You tried to kill her that day," the daughter said, fury in her tone. "I know all about it. She was what, fifteen then? How old wereyou?"

She was right. He knew that. He had always known that. "When I lost my wife, I became someone I do not always recognize. Angelina—Heather’s sister Angela—was my heart. She always will be."

The young woman's eyes turned toward her own father. He had probably fought. Barratt had fought—for his wife and daughter. Just like Timothy would have. Timothy would have killed for Angela and the girls, in a heartbeat. For her sisters and nieces too.

Except Heather.

That shamed him. It honestly did. Shehadbeen a child then. Just a few years younger than Trey. He had owed her better than that.

"She always angered me. Heather. Sometimes, I am not even sure why. The way she had of justlookingat someone, from such a very young age. Like she would see straight to a man’s soul. To the secrets he kept inside. She wasn’t like the others. She just wasn’t. There was always something so powerful, sodifferent,about that one.”

Timothy knew he wasn’t making much sense. But there was no other way to describe the way that girl had always been. He wanted them to understand.

"Well, she'll be here soon. Yeah, she’s coming over to visit. I’m going to use her to get me the fuck out of here. Then kill that bitch, once and for all. Figure a nice hostage like her—what can it hurt? You can ask her what’s so fucking different about Queen Heather. I have always hated her and her bitch twin. Marcia was always beyond hot, though. Right, Daddy? I know you have always thought so too. Marcia looked so much like Precious Angela,” Trey said. “Heather does now, though, doesn’t she, Daddy? Did you notice that?”

He was behind the couch. He wrapped his hand in the younger Barratt woman's hair and yanked her head back far too roughly. He kissed her briefly.Her mother screamed.

He cursed and yanked back. Pulled back to hit the younger woman. "Bitch bit me!"

"Trey! Don’t you dare hit her!" Timothy wasn't going to sit and watch his son hurt a pregnant woman. He just wasn't. "This is getting out of hand."

Two of Trey's associates came into the room. Toby and Pete, he thought their names were. "Pay up, Grundenman. Hi, Daddy Grundenman. Ours and Kurt and Ashton’s too. We're almostfinished next door. Then we are out of here for a while. Pleasure doing business with you."

"Keep in touch, boys. We'll be...restructuring the company soon. I’ve always preferred a mountain view personally," Trey said. As if the fool had missed the fact that the cops knew they were involved now. Trey handed over a wad of cash and a string of jewelry. "Pawn Mrs. Barratt's jewelry in another state in a few months. Got me? And enjoy the bonus.”

One of the men looked at Powell Barratt and smirked. "I think you're the one who is going to be having a bonus tonight, Three. Erickson’s bleeding out in the driveway, and you have his whore right here.Enjoy yourself,man. You’ve earned it."

“I plan to. All night long.”

He sickened Timothy. Completely sickened him.Thiswas what he’d risked everything for?

101

Brianna lefther sister just as Nelson was wrapping his arms around Bethany and hugging her close.

Brianna had questions.

Steve was in a coma. Nothing would come out of turning him in to the police for what he had done to her sister except make her sister’s private pain public.

ButTreywas still out there. He could have helped Bethany and he hadn't. He wasn't going to be Brianna's brother any longer. He just wasn't. He was as much a monster as Steve Wilson.

Maybe even worse because he had seen evil happening and done nothing to stop it.

She had definite questions.

And something bad was happening. She just knew it.

Those men with Trey—they hadn’t belonged in Hughes Heights. She should have realized it before.

---