Page 92 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

People in the diner are starting to stare, which clearly annoys him, because he stands up and comes over to me. He starts to reach like he’s going to put a hand behind my back to guide me to the booth, but I jerk away.

“What did you do, Jake?” I accuse again.

“Lower your voice,” he hisses under his breath. “I’m not the adulterer here, so maybe you should watch your tone. Especially if you want your loverout of jail anytime soon. Sit.Down.” The last word is spoken through his teeth, smiling for the appearance of everyone else in the diner.

He’s actually terrifying, isn’t he?

I never saw it because I was so determined to cling to the story of him in my head.I’m married to a good man, I told myself in my head. Set in his ways, sure. Stubborn, but not bad.

Because it was the story I needed to believe.

Not the truth that stood there right in front of me.

I clutch my bag to my chest and sit down in the booth. I’m thankful for the solid table separating him from me.

“What did you do?” All I can do is just keep asking the same question. Because I need the answer.

He scoffs. “Your husband gets assaulted, and all you can do is accuseme?” He shakes his head and his nostrils flare. “That madman you let between your legs threw me through a window. That’s what happened.”

He pulls up the arms of his long-sleeved shirt only to reveal they’re covered with bandages.

That’s when I notice the large bandage across his forehead as he pushes back the hood of his sweater.

As if he was waiting for this exact grand reveal.

Oh God.

“How did it happen?” I ask. “Why were the two of you even together?”

“That’s what makes it worse,” Jake says emphatically, with the whining twinge at the edge of his voice he always gets when recounting a wrongdoing done to him, whether at the office or on the golf course.

“It was at hisson’shouse. I’d gone by to talk to Priscilla about August’s erratic behavior, and he came over, lost his temper, and threw me through the living room window!” Jake’s eyes are wide, his head shaking with disbelief. “Can you believe it? At his ownson’shouse.”

“August would never—” I try to interject, but Jake is already talking over me.

“Well he did. And then he fled from the police. Which is going to make thisverysticky when it comes to charges. And his upcoming custody hearings. You understand. Priscilla can’t have such a reckless, endangering presence around her child.”

That’s when all the breath leaves my body in one fell swoop—like when you hit a slip-n-slide, full-bodied leap, and there’s no water running. Justwhoomp. All the breath knocked out of you and you’re left like a gaping fish.

Jake is going to punish August for dating me by taking hissonaway from him.

“What can I get for you folks tonight?” asks a cheerful waitress who pops up beside us.

But I can only stare gape-jawed at Jake, the full implications of what he’s done still hitting me in waves.

Oh my God. He’s an actual full-on monster. And he’s turning me into a monster via complicity, unless I go along with whatever he’ll ask of me next.

Because while I’ve only known August for a little under six weeks, I know there’s nothing more important to him on this earth than his little boy.

“We’re still deciding,” Jake says, turning his most charming smile on the waitress.

And then he looks back at me after she walks away. “It kills me to have to step in like this. But he’sdangerous, Lennon. He needs help if he’s ever going to be a real father to that little boy. It takes work to break generational curses. And you don’t want him ending up like our father, do you?”

He asks it with such earnestness. In his church voice. The one that feels so full of care and concern.

He’s been a wolf in sheep’s clothing all along.

Their father died by suicide. Did he just threaten tokillAugust, if I don’t…?