Page 133 of Hate So Deep

Setting it aside, I eye the last box before tipping the lid. Although I’m relieved to have not found anything incriminating so far, this doesn’t solve the mystery of the pills sitting pretty as you please on the kitchen counter.

It’s a cell phone and after picking it up, I turn it over in my hands before pausing on the glittering name etched into the case on the back.

Aimee…with a fucking heart dotting the I.

But the police said they pinged her phone in Turner Park, right?

So, why would it be here?

I guess it doesn’t matter because it’s the evidence I needed to confirm that my mother, at a minimum, knew about Buck’s plan to frame me for her murder.

Yes, it’s possible that I tussled with Aimee. Even though it’s a long shot, I may have been able to move her body, but there’s no fucking way I took her phone and hid it in this safe.

My mother knew about Aimee’s death, and she hid the information from the police. I’m sure it was to protect her son but when Buck died, it no longer mattered.

She also refused to help me when the focus of the investigation turned in my direction. Why?

Either she really hated me enough to not fucking care or she was covering up something else and that something has to be her participation in it.

Now, I know the truth but how do I accept the fact that my mother was willing to sacrifice me for her precious son?

She must have been completely fucking shocked when Buck ended up comatose in the hospital.

Ha!

This is when tears build in my eyes because that awful woman created this entire mess and then left me to pick up the pieces.

But the sobs ripping from my throat aren’t just for me. I cry for Colt and the nightmares she created for a young man who didn’t deserve to be assaulted and even Buck because what chance did, we have with a woman like that ruling our lives?

When the tears dry up and my stomach begins to burn, I leave that bedroom behind, determined to never step foot in it again.

It’s time to end this once and for all and when I find Dirk in the hall, I collapse into his arms, unable to form words for the emotion rocketing through my system.

“What is it, baby girl?” he asks, and I shake my head.

How could she do this?Why?

“Sh,” he says, rocking me gently.

“She was going to blame me,” I mumble against his chest, and he pauses.

“What?”

“She hated me,” I sob, shoving the phone in his hands.

He eyes the phone before turning it over, much like I did. Although his mouth curls into a frown, he doesn’t comment as he wraps me up in his arms once more.

Snuggling close, I sob into his chest, all the hope I harbored despite the circumstances falling away as despair takes its place.

The bitch was willing to sacrifice me to save her precious son and even after it was too fucking late because Buck was attacked, she still didn’t back off.

Hell, she could’ve left a note before she hanged herself but no, here we are…

I only blink from my daze when Dirk grabs my cheeks and presses a kiss to my nose. Under any other circumstances I would be charmed but all I can mumble is, “What do I do now?”

“You tell the police.”

“What if they don’t believe me? What if…I mean, I could have hidden the phone,” I say, and he shakes his head.

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