Page 116 of Secrets, Lies and Love

“Go on.”

“Keith was giving everything away at lightning speed. Sue became pregnant in an act of pure desperation. Who knows, with an heir on the way, maybe the idiot would come to his senses? It didn’t help, so we had to take drastic action. Keith needed to die.”

Even without knowing the details and that there was someone other than Keith’s ex-wife involved in the plot, what he says doesn’t surprise me, as I had already imagined something like that. “And then you killed him.”

“Me? Who do you think I am, Cecily? I never hurt a fly. I just plan.” He sounds almost offended, and that shows me how out of touch with reality he is.

“All good. Pardon me.Shekilled him.”

“That’s right. She pushed him off the balcony. The police believed the word of the poor pregnant woman who was attacked. They investigated half-heartedly. What we didn’t know was that Keith had already donated all his money at that point.”

“Wow, how stupid!”

“Isn’t it?”

“The only thing I don’t understand is how you two ended up in New York.”

“I didn’t live in California anymore, even before Keith died. You know how it is: never put all your eggs in one basket, as Warren Buffett would say. We were still lovers, but I monitored her from a distance, visiting on weekends. I got a job at the Kostanidis bank and was earning well, but not as much as I wanted. My plans for Keith went wrong, and I had an accomplice pregnant woman, the widow of a dead useless person, nothingkept in reserve, and plans that would never come to fruition if I didn’t find a solution.”

“And then you found it?”

“Better than I imagined.”

“Dionysus?”

“At first, he wasn’t the one we targeted. Even for me, intelligent and ambitious, it was aiming too high. I thought about getting one of those rich old men to fall in love with her, to play her as a lover. You know what it’s like, starting all over again, like it happened with Keith.”

“Did you want a new husband for her?”

“Yes. And if he was old, even better. His death would not arouse suspicion. Sue spent almost every day at the bank’s door, walking with a stroller as if she needed help. She was discreet, blending into the crowd so as not to attract the attention of security guards. There’s something to be said about men: we’re all fools. We cannot see a woman in need without the hero instinct kicking in. Fate intervened. It wasn’t a rich old man who showed up to help her—it was Dionysus. Sue had that whole good girl look, sweet, submissive. Fucking fake. I didn’t believe she would be able to deceive him, but somehow, she did. However, she ruined everything by falling in love with the Greek.”

“She fell in love?”

“Yes. She didn’t want to see me anymore. We argued. I threatened to reveal everything. If she thought she was going to do well on her own, she was very much mistaken. I told her I would kill her if she betrayed me. I didn’t need to. The idiot got herself killed all on her own.” He smiles and folds his hands in his lap. “Now it’s your turn.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Don’t lie to me, Cecily. You know you didn’t tell me the whole story.”

“What?”

“The night she had the accident, Sue told me she was going to meet Keith’s best friend, who had contacted her. I only discovered recently that the friend was you.”

Dionysus

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Almost an hour before

“I’ve already located her,”Odin says.

“Where?”

“Cage left Manhattan. It’s about half an hour north.” He opens his phone and shows me the map, but I’m already standing.

“We have to go.”

“Dionysus, we need to act calmly.”

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