Page 43 of Truth & Lies

ChapterEighteen

Ikick my shoes off, throw my purse to the ground, and run down the sidewalk as fast as I can, not stopping until I reach Gavin and Mom’s long driveway. I keep moving until I’m at the front door, barely giving myself a chance to catch my breath. But when I see Barrett tied to a chair in the living room, there’s nothing that can stop me from turning the handle and stepping inside the house.

“You took your time, darling stepdaughter. I was starting to think you didn’t care about Boy Wonder here,” Gavin says, poking Barrett’s slack head with the muzzle of a handgun. Barrett doesn’t even flinch, his limp arms slack against the chair and his wrists bound to the wood. His legs are splayed wide and his feet are pointing outward at an unnatural angle from each other. I have to swallow back the bile rising in my throat at the thought of what Gavin has done to him.

“Let him go,” I cry.

Gavin’s eyes are full of rage, his hair skewed and pointing all over the place like he’s been running his hands through it. What has me on edge even more is the loose grip he has on the gun. I look around the room, noting that there’s no sign of a struggle and it looks just as pristine as the last time I was here with Mom.

“You think you know it all, don’t you? You think your preciousFBIagent here told you everything?” His maniacal laugh chills me to the core. “You know nothing!”

I try to take a deep, calming breath, deciding to approach this whole scene differently and try to put Gavin at ease. Let him think he's controlling this until help arrives. Slowly moving his way, I lift my hands in the air so that I can make him see I'm not a threat. "I just want to take a seat. Is that okay?"

His answer comes by way of a swift jerk of the gun toward the day bed in the corner window of the room. With a small nod, I walk over and sit down, making sure to keep one of my hands visible while the other stays gripped to my phone.

"Why are you doing this to me, Gavin? I've done nothing to you."

“It was never about you, Alyssa. You’re just collateral damage. Everything was going according to plan, and you put ideas in your mother’s head and made her question our marriage. In one phone call, you planted doubts that weren’t there so sheenduredour honeymoon and left as soon as we returned needingspace.” His agitation increases the more he speaks and I know I have to placate him so that I can give Barrett and myself more time.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to be there for the wedding,” I lie.

“Suuureyou did, you spoiled brat,” he spits out. “Just how your father raised you to be.” My entire body jerks at his vicious tone.

“You knew my father?”

Gavin walks over to the front window of the house, looking up and down the street. When his body goes dead still, I stop breathing, fear freezing me in place.Has he seen the cops outside? Did he hear sirens? Is he going to shoot us both right here and now?

He turns back to face me. “Your father stole the business from me. He stoleeverythingfrom me.”

“What?” I whisper incredulously, not even trying to mask the disbelief in my voice.

“I see you don’t believe me,” he says, a wolfish smile slowly growing on his face as he looks straight ahead. “And look, just in time. Special Agent Lucas has decided to join the party. Did you have a good sleep,Barrett?”

“Huh?” Barrett’s voice is slurred as he regains consciousness and my heart clenches at the sound. Without thinking, I rush to him, wiping away the hair that’s stuck to his forehead before frantically checking him over and looking for any visible injuries.

“You okay?” I ask quietly, cupping his jaw in my hands. His eyes widen before he struggles against his bonds. “Don’t,” I murmur against his lips, leaning in for a kiss to steal us some privacy, the tension easing in my chest when understanding and agreement register in his gaze.

“Get away from him. I don’t trust him not to try anything,” Gavin shouts.

“Okay,” I rush out, locking eyes with Barrett and mouthing ‘I love you’ before holding my hands in the air.

“Keep him talking” Barrett mouths back. I nod and turn to face Gavin.

“So you knew my Dad?”

“We were in college together. I had a business idea, just something small to earn us some money while we studied. That’s when we started the community newsletter and ran it out of my dorm room. When it started to take off, your father cut me out of all of it.Thenhe had the balls to ask yourmotherout on a date, knowing I had my eye on her.”

“You knew Mom too?” I ask stupidly, my brain slowly catching up.

“I just said that, didn’t I?” he spits out. “She didn’t know me, though. Or if she did, she didn’t remember me when I introduced myself at a function last year.”

Then everything clicks into place. “You targeted her, didn’t you? What was the wedding then? A ruse?”

Gavin shakes his head. "I've wanted Rosalie for a long time, Alyssa. She just happens to also be the means to an end this time. When she became my wife, her assets became mine. Meaning I could finally take my company back."

“All of this is for Jacobs Publishing?” I continue, my focus locked on keeping his attention on me and not Barrett or whatever Marlee might be organizing outside the house.

I’m not sure how much time has passed since I broke through the cordon, but surely Marlee and the S.W.A.T. team should’ve arrived by now. All I can do now is hope they’re getting ready to make a move.

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