Page 88 of I Knew You
Iturned off my true crime podcast and rearranged my wet hair on top of my head. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I played with the thin ring on my left finger and fell into thought.
I’d not had one moment to myself since coming home from the hospital on Saturday night. Bram had been right beside me every moment. He’d even taken off work more to watch over me, despite my protests. He’d finally taken a couple of hours to go into town to do MCA business.
I was grateful for his help. Yet the facts always brought me back to reality. We were married, but not in a relationship. We were friends again, and something more, but the past still lingered and probably always would. He’d made no definitive claim of keeping me, and I’d not clearly indicated that I wanted him to. I couldn’t forget that I needed a job and that I had to get back to my life in Charlotte. I needed to begin concentrating onmyself and my next steps. I couldn’t use Bram as a deterrent from worrying about the future.
Just say you want him.
I pushed away the thought.
When Lakey and I settled into the couch, I turned on reruns ofProject Runway.It wasn’t long until I heard a vehicle coming down the gravel lane toward the house. Excitement erupted inside of me as I realized my husband was home. I sat up and looked out the picture window, and my face fell. An unfamiliar, sleek black car with bright chrome wheels was speeding down the gravel road. I gingerly got off the couch and moved over just enough to peek around the window sash to see who it was. The Jeep was in the garage, and Bram’s truck was gone, so I could pretend no one was home.
I watched as a man exited the car in a navy three-piece suit and brown leather shoes, his expensive watch glinting in the afternoon sun. He was tall and broad, and his gray hair was slicked back effortlessly. He appeared to be looking for something in the car, and I gasped as he straightened and turned towards the house. I’d know him anywhere.
He was Vince Winchester—Bram’s father.
Vince walked under the weeping willows and up to the front porch. He wore an apathetic expression, but I wasn’t fooled. Vince had always been a snake. Only my grandmother had been able to reach him. She’d seen through his masks, called him out, and kept him straight while he was CEO of the factory. He respected her for her bluntness and kept her close for her loyalty, until he’d stabbed her and the entire town in the back.
I watched as this terrible man I hadn’t seen in years strode onto the porch and knocked forcefully on the front door of his estranged son’s home. Lakey growled and barked, bound and determined to protect me from whoever was trying to invade. I had stared at Mr. Winchester for too long from the window andcouldn’t run away without him noticing me. I tried to soothe Lakey as best I could without making too much movement or sound.
The crunch of gravel from another vehicle caught my ear. I didn’t have to look to know it was Bram this time. Vince stopped slamming his palm against the door. I didn’t dare glance out the window again, not until I heard Vince’s footsteps moving away from the porch.
“What are you doing here?” Bram’s booming, deep voice reverberated through the yard. He had jumped out of his truck without closing its door and strode right into his father’s path.
“Hello to you, too. Is that any way to greet your father? You haven’t talked to me in months.” Vince’s hands went out to his sides as he sauntered toward his son. “Besides, it’s not you I’m here to see. It’s your newwife.”
Chills ran down my spine. I watched with rapt attention, Lakey growled quietly beside me. I held on to her neck, comforting us both.
Bram scoffed. “Like I would let you anywhere near her.” He stared directly at his father.
“Imagine my surprise when Judge Rhodes called me up while I was out of town and told me he’d married my only son to that East girl. The same one I warned you to stay away from years ago.”
Vince had warned Bram not to come around me?
“Shut up while you’re ahead,” Bram warned. “She’s not here anyway, so you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of.”
“You’re mad atme?” I could hear the smile in Vince’s voice, and it made me shiver.
“I have no feelings about you at all. I want you off my property.”
“You married to cash out your trust fund. Did you think I wouldn’t put it together?”
“I try to never think of you.” Bram’s voice was stern and definitive. “I married Julianna East because I wanted to. And I’ll get my inheritance as a perk. According to the lawyer this morning, it’s due to be transferred into my account by next week. End of story.”
Vince’s hands hit low on his hips, his comfortable stance a farce to what was happening before me. “What do you think you’re doing, Son? Big man like you could have any woman he wants, and you shack up with your more successful friend’s sister?”
Bram’s voice was firm. “She’s not just Whit’s sister, she’s my wife now.” The words made something warm flow in my veins. “And don’t call me ‘son’ again,” he spat. “You lost that privilege a long time ago. Get off my property and do not come back.”
Vince waved his hand in dismissal. “You can’t get rid of me, and you know it.”
“Oh yes, I forgot,” Bram scoffed. “You’ve got every law enforcement office in Virginia in your back pocket.”
Vince took a step forward. “I do. And that privilege got you out of a heap of trouble when it mattered. Or have you forgotten?”
My mind scrambled to make meaning of what he was saying, but it came up empty.
Bram’s eyes narrowed. “All you did was prove to me how low you’d go to fuck me over.”
Vince chuckled. “They would have had your ass in jail for a DUI, and you’d have lost that little scholarship I secured for you. You almost got yourself in so much shit over that twit?—”
