Page 52 of Poison Aches

“You had your wife, then mistress, drug my mother so you could make an extra buck behind your master’s back, what’s there to explain?”

“I swear I didn’t know that Madam was pregnant! No one knew!”

“Who’s the father?”

“Sir?”

“Of the second child, who is the father?”

At that, he falls silent. I can tell he doesn’t know.

I turn around and make my way to the hidden exit. I have another meeting that I can’t miss, even if I wanted to.

I don’t have to look to know that Freddy is about to be done for, but as I walk, he suddenly shouts with all his might.

“I know who was the last to see Madam alive!”

Without wanting to, I stop in my tracks.

“If you let me go, I’ll tell you who.”

“You are negotiating your worthless life with me?” I ask calmly. I take steps towards the door.

“They know!” he shouts. “They suspect that there’s something wrong with you and are close to figuring it out.”

“Yes, just as I wanted.” I shrug, which shocks the idiot, but he’s still fighting for his life.

“Sir, I know I’m already dead but if you can just spare me this one time, I swear on my life, I’ll prove my life to you.”

“No doubt that was your sales pitch to my father to be his errand boy,” I say quietly, and he falls silent. “Oh, don’t tell me that hurt your little soft spots inside. Syrus already knows I have you, why hasn’t he come for you?”

Ambition is a cunning little thing sometimes.

With that, I continue on but when I get to the door, he says one more thing.

“The girl!” he shouts. “The girl, she was there that night! She knows!”

The girl?

“We’ve been watching her, and she remembers! All these years, she’s been pretending to have amnesia, but she remembers everything!”

CHAPTER 7

Ivy

Iroll over onto my stomach, as if that will somehow help me concentrate when I’ve been reading the freaking same line over and over again for the past forty-eight minutes.

Lately, my concentration has been shit, and I refuse to think of the reason.

As far as I’m concerned, if it’s out of mind, it’s out of your system, so why dwell on it?

But then, that’s not how guilt works…

FOCUS!

I shake my head and go back to the words on the page, but I can feel my leg twitching.

Why do we lie?

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