Chapter Fifty-Eight Her

Chapter Fifty-Eight Her

Present Day

“You really think Richmond married his own daughter?” I managed not to choke on the horrible words.

“I think he didn’t know who you were when you tricked him into marriage.” Kathryn switched the bat from one hand to the other

but didn’t put it down. “You and your mother are just sick enough, depraved enough, to try to get his money that way.”

Saying anything risked all my mom’s plans and both of our lives, so I just stood there, letting Kathryn spew and hoping she’d

answer some of the questions I’d had for years about Mom’s life in Annapolis.

“You supposedly know all this information about Richmond. You had a vendetta against him, and for what? You had intimate knowledge

about how to weasel into his life. And your mother...” Kathryn’s words came to a crashing halt. It took a good minute before

she spoke again. “I don’t think you have any idea of who she is or what she’s done.”

She wasn’t wrong about that. Mom was a mystery. Before I could come up with a way to poke around in Kathryn’s thinking her

expression changed. She scanned the office and wariness replaced satisfaction.

Yeah, she’d made a mistake. She’d steered us into a confined area.

Watching that online video about turning household items into self-defense weapons had not been a waste of my time. There

were plenty of lamps, desk supplies, and books to throw. The marble paperweight with the medical symbol on it would do just

fine. The goal was to lull Kathryn into dropping her guard while I calculated the best way to aim and fire.

“Richmond wasn’t my father.” I said it with certainty. My mom was twisted but not quite that twisted. She had terrible secrets,

some she’d only recently shared, but not this.

“Of course he wasn’t. Why would you even say that?” Wyatt’s voice boomed through the room as he moved into the doorway.

The whole damn family had shown up today. A visit from Detective Sessions would have been better. I listened for Mom. For

police sirens. For any sort of help. Instead, I got Wyatt.

“What are you doing here?” Kathryn asked.

Wyatt eyed the bat. “Portia called. She’s frantic. Now I see why.”

I abandoned any form of subtlety. “Your sister needs to stay outside.”

“Stop acting like you know anything about my children. You mean nothing to them.” The last of Kathryn’s usual refined veneer

fell away as she lashed out. She didn’t weigh her words. Her sole focus was on wreaking havoc on those who she believed wronged

her.

Unlike my mom, Kathryn never blackmailed Portia and Wyatt into doing the unthinkable. In theory, Kathryn knew better. She had to understand that letting the kids see her like this, so out of control, would burden them in a way that changed how they viewed themselves and the world.

“Let’s go find Portia.” Wyatt put a hand under his mom’s elbow.

Drowning in entitlement and too self-focused to see the destruction she left in her wake, Kathryn didn’t give in. She gasped

as if to say how dare you . “I’m not done here.”

That ugly paperweight. I looked at it then at Kathryn. Aiming for the bat made sense. She could drop it, but I wouldn’t be

sad if I hit any part of her and stopped this madness.

“Mom, please.”

Wyatt’s caring tone appeared to incite her. She twisted her hands on the bat. “You don’t understand what she is. She’ll do

and say anything to get her hands on our family money.”

Wyatt gestured in my direction. “She’s just standing there.”

Still no reinforcements. I silently willed Portia to call the police since the alarm company seemed to be slow to act this

time.

“I would point out you’re all in my house.” I took a step back, bringing me even with the edge of the desk. So close to that

paperweight.

Kathryn ignored me. “What is it about this woman that makes you and your father listen to her and fall in line? You keep running

over here like her pathetic lapdog.”

She didn’t slap him, but Wyatt winced as if she had. “I thanked her for paying for school. That’s it.”

“Why? Do you really not understand what she’s done? How much damage she’s caused? Your father is dead. Our money is in her

hands. She is the villain, not me.” Kathryn stilled. “Or are you sleeping with her, too?”

“Mom!”

“Kathryn, that’s enough.” She’d passed enough five minutes ago but now I’d end it.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s even got Elias jumping to her commands. He used to listen to me, but not now.” Kathryn practically

spit the last part out.

Keeping calm grew harder by the second. “Look, Richmond is not my father. I am not having sex with your son or Elias. End

of conversation. Leave.”

Rushing to someone’s defense was not my thing. I didn’t have a martyr complex. I’d sloughed off the need to be liked long

ago but bouts of unexpected empathy for the Dougherty children kept kicking my ass. Having both parents spin out of control

and land in the public spotlight with their faults on vivid display promised a bleak future for the kids.

“She tried to kill your father. Have you forgotten that?” Kathryn fueled up on fury until she sounded manic. “Before she pushed

your father down the stairs she tried to kill him with poison.”

“That’s not true.” Wyatt shot back the denial.

The force of his defense surprised me. Could be he used the firm response to talk his mother off the emotional precipice,

but nothing in our interactions to date suggested that he had that level of emotional maturity.

“Your father said so. He confided in me right before he died.” She gripped the bat with enough force to turn her knuckles

white.

Wyatt’s gazed shifted around the room. “An accident at the deli. Then he had a car problem. No one’s fault.”

Wait... he looked up and to his left as he talked. That was his tell. I learned he had one the first time he let himself into this house after Richmond died.

Wyatt knew details. I wanted to know how but spilling what he knew now would only inflame an already hostile situation. De-escalation

was key. “You should take your mom home and help—”

“Stop treating me like a child who needs to be handled. Richmond did that and I hated it. This time I’m the one handling things.

For once, I decide.”

Richmond. His fault. All of it. For being a piece of crap as a kid and for turning into a ruthless piece of crap adult. For

a man who thought so highly of himself and soaked in every compliment, he sucked at being a father, a husband, and a doctor.

“Right before she killed him, your father warned me about her attacks. I thought he was lying to make me feel bad for him.”

Kathryn moved closer to me with her bat and her unblinking stare. “He miscalculated by marrying her and couldn’t admit it.

No, not the perfect Richmond Dougherty.”

How did you stop someone from tripping and falling over an invisible edge? “Kathryn, don’t do this in front of your son.”

“Richmond was so manipulative. So sick. You don’t even know.” Kathryn’s eyes looked glassy, as if she’d gotten lost in her

own thoughts. “He hid so much.”

Decision time.

She knew I’d discovered something about Richmond. That our marriage wasn’t based on anything resembling love or attraction.

But it didn’t sound as if she knew specifics about my blackmail. It was possible she didn’t even know Richmond’s biggest lie,

but I doubted it.

Some secrets begged to get out and this was one of them. Rather than rushing in, I waded in nice and slow. “But I know. I know exactly who and what Richmond was.”

Kathryn stared at me but, for once, stayed silent.

“Listen to what I’m saying.” Could she even hear me in this state? “That’s why he married me, Kathryn. Because I knew the

truth about him and what he did. All of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Wyatt’s voice matched the crackling tension filling the room.

The minute you see your parents as separate from you, as real and flawed human beings, the world changes and you can’t go

back. The realization didn’t even register as a bump to me. My mom skipped right over the loving parent stage, so there was nothing for me to miss or adjust to. Wyatt had a different upbringing. If the truth spilled out—every

horrible detail—he might stumble and never get up again.

Kathryn shook her head. “She’s trying to trick you. She’s the one who tried to kill your—”

“I told you.” Wyatt’s voice cut through the end of her sentence. “Addison didn’t poison Dad or wreck his car.”

A strong and clear denial. He was telling the truth. He acted like he’d been locked down and near bursting with the need to

spill all he knew about the incidents. That could only mean one thing and once he spoke the words he couldn’t take them back.

I inched closer to the paperweight. “Wyatt, don’t say anything else.”

“But Mom is wrong about you. Dad was wrong, too.”

His trying to comfort me was both unexpected and sweet but he needed to engage in self-preservation. In his mother’s state

anything could happen. Saving both of us from her rage might not be possible.

My hand covered the paperweight. The ugly thing had some heft.

“Listen to me.” My chest ached. My head hurt. My mom could be dead and all I could think about was reassuring Wyatt. “It’s

over and it should stay that way.”

Kathryn talked as if she hadn’t heard the conversation going on around her. “Her diner story is a lie. She must have snuck

back here and killed him. She had access to his food and his car.”

I sucked at being a savior and Wyatt refused to save himself. All I could do was stand there and watch the ground crumble

beneath his feet.

Kathryn shook her head. “She has to answer for—”

“It was me.” Wyatt took a deep breath and blew it out again. “I poisoned Dad.”