Page 84 of One Little Lie
“Who was?” Loki asks, his bouncing knee giving away his deceivingly calm tone.
“Daddy was. Clinton, I mean.”
Rylan tenses beside me, and she may not have been the only one, but I can’t be sure because my ears are ringing as my heart races uncomfortably fast. No one in the room says a thing, so my mother continues.
“It all started years ago with Macomb,” she explains. “He came to Daddy with a business proposition that didn’t sit right with him. Daddy had heard rumblings of his underhanded dealings, so he did a little digging before he turned him down. He found out he was putting employees at risk, and he refused to have our name tied to that. We later found out that Macomb was already indebted to someone who only wanted Daddy’s business for a cover as payment. Macomb became desperate, and it arose all kinds of suspicions. The next thing we knew, we had SIA on our doorstep. Preston was just a baby at the time, but the more we heard, the more we knew we couldn’t say no to helping them catch these people. But we never had any idea it would turn into what it did.”
Holy shit. Before we were even born, my father was working to take down the Blacks, a Boston area mob family.
Her misty eyes land on Loki. “That’s how we met you. Saving your mother was his first assignment, but there was a leak on the inside. Clinton was so angry that he couldn’t get her out from under Black’s web quickly enough. He hired an elite force and removed her on his own. That’s when we met Ryan and then your stepdad. Shortly after you and your mom relocated to Waverley-Cay, he started Envision.”
My mother takes a deep breath and places her hands in her lap as if she didn’t just drop a bomb on us all.
“You let us play with their children,” Preston accuses. “Easton dated one of them.”
“For a long time after Daddy started Envision, Macomb steered clear of Black. His girls were innocents. They didn’t deserve to be punished. And, it allowed Daddy to keep tabs on them. That’s why they always played at our house where I could watch them.”
It’s like I’m seeing my mother for the first time.
“What happened?” Colt turns to Ash.
“I didn’t have all the information. I only heard part of their conversation, but it was enough for me to confront Dad before I yelled at him about Halton. He had just grounded me for hacking, and he was doing things that were far more illegal. Or so I thought.”
Ash drops his head into his hands, making it more difficult to hear him, and I find myself moving closer.
“I’d never seen him so angry.” When Ash lifts his head, his eyes are unfocused, and his fist clenches above his heart. He’s lost in a memory. “He grabbed his chest. It’s like he knew what was happening. He was rushing around the room. Then he handed me a key, a password, and a disk drive, and told me to get it to Ryan. I-I didn’t know what was happening. He was trying to write you a note, Halton. You see? It isn’t your fault Dad died. It’s mine.”
My mouth is so dry my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Rylan wiggles her fingers in my grasp, and I realize I’m probably hurting her with the death grip I have on her hand.
“You’ve been working with Envision ever since.” Loki’s voice cuts through the silence. “That’s why there was never any pushback from SIA when you started helping me.”
Ashton nods his head, and I don’t know what to do with any of this information. I wasn’t the last to see my father. Ash has been pulling strings since he was a teenager. It’s all too much. Too much information. Too intense. Too many lies. And it’s suddenly too much for me to handle. Jumping to my feet, I hear Rylan whisper beside me, but my vision is tunneling with the first signs of panic. Rushing past her, I ignore the shouts coming from my brothers.
I need to get out of here. I-I … holy fuck.I don’t know what I need other than to not be here right now.
“You see? It isn’t your fault Dad died. It’s mine.”
Ashton’s confession, however misguided, plays on a loop in my head. My fists flex and tighten as I jog down the stairs. I have no location in mind. I just know my body needs to move.
It’s not Ash’s fault, I know that. However, if it’s true, why have I been blaming myself all this time?
I enter the unfinished game room but see nothing in my anxiety haze. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I turn and barrel through the double doors that lead to the basement, only to backtrack as my breathing becomes erratic.
The swinging door to GG’s industrial kitchen flies open with a deafening snap that startles me. I’m not surprised I ended up here, but I’m unable to streamline my thoughts even as I pull ingredients from the pantry. My hands shake, and the full body tremors take over as I attempt to measure the flour.
Dad knew I loved Rylan, and he was okay with it? That can’t be true. I saw his face. I know he was about to tell me I wasn’t good enough.Wasn’t he?Did my father seriously start Envision to take down Loki’s biological father? Ashton. Holy fuck.Ash, you were just a kid. What the fuck have you been doing?
My fist slams into the stainless-steel counter, and my mixing bowl goes flying, sending flour and baking soda all over the room. My knuckles throb against the cold surface, and I sink to the floor. I want to scream as I rest my forehead on the hard steel. My fingers tingle, searching anywhere to find an outlet for these emotions I don’t know what to do with.
“Hatty?” My name is a breathy whisper on Rylan’s lips before she rushes around the counter and sinks to the floor with me. “Talk to me. What can I do? What do you need?”
It’s a struggle to focus, but when I do, her eyes tell the story of her soul. She’s the air that I breathe, the warmth I feel.
“Ry,” my voice cracks, and I cough to clear it. “I forgot I had you.”
She nods as tears fall down her face. “It’s kinda new. I’m not surprised.” She tries to smile, but her face reflects my pain.
When I hurt, she hurts. How could I have ever pushed her away? Her delicate fingers cradle my face, and I sink into her touch.
