Chapter Sixty-Six Her

Chapter Sixty-Six Her

Present Day

Elias arrived at the house two days later with Portia and Wyatt in tow even though their mom forbade them from seeing me.

Only Kathryn would have the nerve to issue a command while under guard and handcuffed to a hospital bed and think anyone cared

about her opinion.

The kids made their request through Elias instead of directly to me. I wasn’t sure why they chose that route or why they wanted

to see me but how could I say no? I’d set a bomb off in the middle of their routine lives. The ripples continued to blanket

and destroy the world around them. They would forever be compared to their parents and judged by their actions. Portia and

Wyatt were the children of ruthless killers.

The whole situation was unfair. Kids should be able to break free of their parents’ reputations. Time would have to pass before

it became clear if Wyatt and Portia had the strength to try and if the world would let them.

I buzzed them in at the gate and they soon walked into the kitchen. The specialty cleaners had come and once again eliminated

the signs of the battles fought on the house’s expensive hardwood floors.

Portia walked in without hesitating. Wyatt lingered in the doorway with Elias, looking ready to bolt if things turned upside down. I couldn’t blame him. The ghosts of their parents’ destructive decisions lingered. Any positive memory he might have of the place got swamped by the flood of terrible ones.

Elias broke the silence. “You were right. Portia pressed all the buttons on the security pad out front and hit it with a stone.

That and the open pedestrian gate triggered the silent alarm.”

Elias sounded a bit like a proud papa when bragging about Portia’s ingenuity. The man should think about having children.

His instincts were rock solid, and the kids would get used to his tendency to spout legalese. Eventually.

I didn’t know any decent men. Except for him.

“You also went to the Rothmans to get help.” I knew because Elias told me. Portia was the type of genuine hero her father

had claimed to be. She could have lapsed into teen moodiness when I kicked her out, but she got the message and acted. I owed

her and would honor that debt as soon as I figured out how. “Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened without your

quick thinking.”

Portia stood by the kitchen island for a few seconds without saying anything then she launched her body across the room and

thumped against my chest. She wrapped her arms around me in a suffocating bear hug. The sudden show of affection threw me

off-balance. My instinct was to freeze but I didn’t want to send the wrong message. It took a frown from Elias for me to get

the hint and hug Portia back.

The uncharacteristic display of emotion ended as quickly as it started. Two seconds tops. When she pulled away her cheeks were bright red. She might be embarrassed but I was stunned. I also didn’t want to ruin the moment or make her feel awkward, so I focused on Wyatt.

“Are you okay?”

A sling held his bandaged arm. Kathryn’s stab had done some damage. He would need physical therapy once the pain subsided

and the worst of the injury healed. The emotional scars would take longer to heal. If they ever did.

“Not really.” Wyatt shrugged. “But that’s not why we’re here.”

“Okay.” I braced for verbal impact.

“I planted the notes.” He visibly swallowed. “The one in your mailbox was easy. There’s a blind spot with the security camera

along the wall on the left side. I snuck in there.”

Oh, shit. This kid.

I needed one more confirmation. “And the one on the wall in my bedroom?”

“You hadn’t disabled my security code yet, so it was pretty easy for me to get in. I didn’t think about it then but the alarm

company probably has a record of my code being used.” His rough tone spoke to how difficult it was for him to admit all of

this. “Mom told me we needed to force you out. She planted a listening device to collect intel but then something happened

to it.”

Also Portia. The girl was a superstar.

“She hasn’t admitted it, of course, but Kathryn hid the bat to frame you. She had it last and Wyatt didn’t know about it,”

Elias said.

“But the notes... Mom kept begging me to do something and telling me that Dad would want me...” Wyatt paled. “Never

mind. It doesn’t matter.”

His honesty did. “I appreciate your telling me the truth.”

Richmond and Kathryn had used their son’s loyalty and love against him. They’d weaponized him and baited him with lies. They caused damage and saddled him with mistrust that might take some expert therapist decades to unravel. I didn’t want to add to that.

“Was the break-in you, too?” I asked.

“That was Thomas,” Elias said. “After you visited Richmond’s office, Thomas was convinced there was evidence that might implicate

him at the house. He came looking for it, but the alarm stopped him.”

“I was up in your bedroom writing on the wall. I watched him walk across the side yard and snuck out of the house before he

could see me.” Wyatt shrugged. “I thought he was meeting you. Figured you two were planning something. Then the alarm went

off and I ran.”

Nothing I could say would matter, so I didn’t try.

“When Thomas found out he wasn’t on the hook for murder he started confessing to everything else,” Elias explained. “He’s

looking for a deal on the assault charges concerning what he did to you and wants to duck the hospital fraud issues. I doubt

he’ll be successful on either of those.”

For a second I forgot I’d battled enemies on more than one front over the last few weeks. Many people in, and adjacent to,

the Dougherty family had wanted me gone. They all failed.

Wyatt’s stark expression didn’t vanish. “I’m sorry. I should have—”

“You’re forgiven.” It was that simple. I didn’t blame Wyatt. I blamed the people who created him and manipulated him. “I understand

how hard it can be to say no to a reckless parent who is determined to burn the world down.”

My reckless parent, Mom, came home tomorrow. Unfortunately, home meant to my crime scene of a house because she didn’t have one of her own.

Wyatt looked confused now. “How can you forgive and forget something so shitty?”

Because his shitty acts didn’t touch my mom’s. At least he could apologize and when he did it was genuine. “Practice. And

the forgiveness is real. We’ll put everything behind us.”

“There are a lot of arrangements to be worked out, but they’re comfortable with the Rothmans for now. I know you have questions

about them, but the Rothmans are good people. I think you’ll find more people in this town are than are not.” Elias used his

usual careful wording to avoid saying harsh things in front of the kids.

By arrangements he meant all the questions surrounding the charges against Kathryn and if she would get bail. She was recovering but she’d

be running through money and spending time saving her own ass soon enough.

Good luck with that.

“You two are welcome here. You both have my cell number. You can call or come over at any time.” I wanted to give them new

security codes for the alarm system, ones just for them, but I needed a bit more time to work up to that. Trust didn’t come

easy for me.

“We should go.” Wyatt looked at his sister and nodded toward the back door.

Making empty promises wasn’t my thing but I felt compelled to try. “You’re going to be okay. It will take time, but...”

Wyatt frowned. “Maybe.”

They left to walk across the street to their temporary home. Elias stayed behind. He helped himself to coffee. Seemed fair since he basically lived here now.

“I never thanked you for running into the house when you did. You protected me and I appreciate it.” I didn’t understand why

he did it, but I owed him.

“It’s all part of the legal representation package.”

“Really?”

He laughed. “Of course not.”

“Look at you being funny.” But he kept staring at me. Not in a weird way. More like studying me. All those things that were

said during the blowout with Kathryn came rushing back. The admissions. The questions. I didn’t know how much he’d heard or

how much Portia had recorded while standing in that hallway, or if Kathryn’s statements had planted a seed, but I could clarify

one thing. “Kathryn was wrong. Richmond wasn’t my father.”

Elias slowly set his coffee mug down. “I know.”

That was easier than I expected.

“He was your uncle.”