Chapter Seven Her

Chapter Seven Her

Present Day

The back door off the kitchen slammed open. Elias blew in half out of breath. He wore a suit but no tie. His hands went up

in the air as if he were refereeing some sort of sporting event. “I’m here. Stop. I’m here.”

Apparently no one used the front door or knew how to ring a doorbell in this ridiculously overpriced town. But that entrance.

Wow. I glanced at Wyatt, who had not stopped glaring at me. “In case you missed it, Elias is here.”

“You...” Wyatt stammered and stopped. His usual recently-been-yachting tanned skin turned blotchy as his mouth stretched

into a thin line. “Are you pregnant?”

“What?” All that bluster and that was his question? “How did you jump to that conclusion?”

“The timeline. Dad dumping Mom. All that crap about them being separated for months just so he could get a faster divorce.

The rushed agreement that made Mom furious. The fights over this house. The quickie secret marriage to you.” Wyatt counted

out all of my perceived sins on his fingers. “Why do all of that and turn his life upside down unless it was for a baby?”

The question was a lot, so I ignored him and focused on Elias. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I live two streets away and was working from home today.”

“In a suit?” And a fancy watch that looked more expensive than some cars. Not the cars in Rye but cars in other towns. “Your

hourly rate is too high.”

Elias sighed. “Is this relevant?”

“I guess not.” Back to the annoying man-child standing in my kitchen. “Wyatt, here, has been practicing his trespassing skills.”

But Wyatt refused to let go of the worry in his head. “Answer my question.”

I drew my hand up and down in front of me and over the nonexistent baby bump. “If I were pregnant, you’d know.”

If I were pregnant it would be both horrifying and a miracle since I never had sex with Richmond. The idea of him touching

me was so repugnant I almost heaved.

“Not if you faked a pregnancy to trick him.” Wyatt started nodding as if he’d come to some sort of higher understanding. “That’s

it, right? You pretended to be pregnant to force him into marrying you. He was like that. A good man... or he was before

he met you.”

My heart rate kicked up until the pressure thumped in my ears. “Your father was not...” Elias’s throat-clearing stopped

me from tumbling over the verbal edge. A few deep breaths and I tried again. “Okay, look. Not pregnant. Never pretended to

be pregnant.”

Wyatt’s jaw still clenched. “He would have cared enough about a kid to agree to get stuck with you.”

Wrong. Richmond only cared about himself. Telling Wyatt that harsh truth might be a service that saved him years of anguish, guilt, and therapy. He’d only experience freedom once he realized he was a victim in his family’s story. Parenthood wasn’t a magic pill that turned empty people into loving beings. Viciousness seeped out. Scheming became a habit. Acts that minimized and disregarded hit like a slap until the sorry reality that biology didn’t guarantee unconditional love settled in.

I lived that truth, but Wyatt wasn’t ready to heed my advice. His deep wounds hadn’t had time to scab over. A willingness

to learn waited in a distant future... if at all.

“Why are you here?” Elias asked.

Wyatt’s anger still burned and it came out in his harsh voice. “This is my father’s house. I have every right to be here.”

“That’s actually not correct.” Elias flipped into serious lawyer mode. “You never lived here, your name isn’t on the deed,

and you did not inherit the property. This house belongs to your stepmother.”

Wyatt made a face. “Don’t call her that.”

Hard agree. “Yeah, don’t.”

We all stood in silence for a few seconds. Wyatt was about to launch into what was likely another round of unhelpful whining,

so I took over. “Did you forget something the last time you were here?”

The question seemed to snap Wyatt out of his fury. He blinked as his expression morphed from surprise to carefully blank.

“What are you talking about?”

Wyatt had a tell. A brief moment when his gaze darted up and to the left right before he lied. Good to know. “Let’s talk about all the times you let yourself in the house when I wasn’t here. When you came to snoop around or, maybe, meet with your dad. Did that happen, Wyatt?”

“I’m leaving and taking these.” Wyatt grabbed the nearest box and dragged it off the counter. “Dad was right. You’re nothing

but a disgusting—”

“No,” Elias warned.

“Yeah, watch it.” Looked like all of the Dougherty men liked to throw nasty words around. “I can still call the police and

have you hauled out of here.”

“He’s out of line but let’s cut him a break,” Elias said. “He’s a kid.”

Wyatt didn’t need more coddling. Mommy and Daddy had shielded him from enough harsh reality already. “I’m only seven years

older than he is.”

“I’m going to figure out what you did to Dad.” Wyatt nodded, as if he was buying into his own argument. “He married you for

a specific reason and I’ll bet he died for the same reason.”

“Wyatt, that’s enough,” Elias said.

Wyatt kept right on talking and issuing empty threats. “You’re not going to get away with this. I’m going to stop you.”

“Go back to college and let the grown-ups handle your father’s estate.” Condescending, yes, but Wyatt deserved a verbal smackdown.

An actual smackdown wouldn’t hurt either.

Wyatt shook his head. “You should watch your back.”

Without another word, he marched out of the room. He left a box behind and didn’t bother to look inside the one he took. He

probably knew what the contents were. If he’d been visiting covertly as I suspected, he wouldn’t need an inventory to figure

out what to take.

I waited for the back door to slam shut with his exit. A quick check of the security app showed him stomping across the lawn. “Kathryn and Richmond did well with him. He’s a charmer.”

Elias leaned against the counter, much more relaxed now. “In his defense, you were provoking him.”

“You should know I’m not a fan of the whole devil’s advocate thing. I’m also impervious to guilt. Find another tactic.”

“Noted.” Elias glanced at the remaining box. “As a general rule, getting rid of your dead husband’s personal items only a

few weeks after his potential murder makes it seem like you’re happy he’s gone. The police will be looking for moves like

this.”

Elias wasn’t wrong. Despite my need to purge it was too soon to pack up and unload Richmond’s things even though that was

the end goal. Sell everything, cash out, move on. Out of New York. Far away from the stench of the Dougherty name and as soon

as possible.

But all of that missed the point. “Wyatt broke into my house.”

“Are you really afraid of Wyatt? Do you want him arrested? Because his father gave him a key, which makes things cloudy.”

Cloudy. Richmond. That conniving asshole. Of course he roped his son into the mess by providing an open door to my private

space. The man had no boundaries... well, he did now because he was in a box. “No to both questions.”

“But?”

Elias read the situation right. My mind kept whirling, racing through the possibilities and problems waiting in the future.

“Wyatt got nervous and defensive when I asked him questions. That wasn’t just about being caught sneaking in. It felt like

he was looking for something or maybe looking to plant evidence.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Too late. “All of this tells me one thing. Wyatt has something to hide.”

Elias let out a long sigh. “Sounds like he thinks the same thing about you.”

“The difference is I’m going to figure out his secret. He’s not touching mine.”