Page 128 of The Widower
“How can you say that? Where’s the Colin I met—the one I fell in love with?” I whispered the last sentence, and he closed his eyes for a few seconds.
“You deserve to know what I am.What I became after losing Maddison. I don’t know what you saw in a broken manlike me, but you deserve the truth about my past and my present.”
Everything and nothing passed through my mind at once.
I thought I knew a good part of Colin’s story when Jefrey handed me that flash drive, but it turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. There was more—some of it shocking.
Colin had said, in plain words, that he tortured his late wife’s lover in prison, and who knows what else he did to the man while he was incarcerated. I’m no supporter of violence, and this had gone way too far—yet he needed to know something.
“I knew some things,” I finally said.
“How so?”
“I did a lot of digging on you, but I couldn’t find anything consistent. I asked a friend who knows more about computers to look for anything relevant to your history, and part of what he found I already knew—except the real reason for your prison visits.”
Colin’s face changed instantly. In that moment he looked like the man I’d seen the first time I took the job, and that light I’d gotten used to in his eyes vanished.I felt a jolt of fear.
“What I heard—this better be a joke. Tell me it’s a joke!”
“No. I wanted to know about you, and I don’t regret it. I care about you.”
Colin stepped forward, and I felt alarmed.
“You shouldn’t have played games with me,” he said slowly as he closed the distance. “Who gave you the right to dig through my past, huh? Worse—how dare you make me look like an idiot when you know most of what concerns me?”
Colin was furious, and I’ll admit I grew more afraid by the second. I’d never seen him like that, and I had no idea what he might do in that moment of rage.
“Colin…”
“Get out of my house! Now!” he shouted, cutting me off and terrifying me.
“If I did what I did, it’s because I care about you! I only looked for information about you—nothing else!”
Tears streamed down my face, and I ran from the room without direction.
COLIN ADAMS
Isabelle ran out crying, and I had no idea what to do. I’d been too harsh, but this time she’d left the door open for something like that to happen.
I sat down on one of the couches, staring at nothing.
I felt useless—didn’t know what to say or how to act. The truth was, I was a wreck. I hadn’t felt this wound up in a long time.
“What happened?” Joshua asked, watching me suspiciously.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk.Not now—not while my head was spinning.
“Nothing.”
“Dad…”
“I don’t want to talk,” I said, louder this time, locking eyes with him.
“I just wanted to ask if—”
“I said I don’t want to talk to anyone, Joshua! How many times do I have to say it?!”I yelled.
He suddenly burst into tears, and in that moment I realized what I really was—a monster. I couldn’t even treat my own family right.
