Page 46 of Wicked Games

I drive back and put everything away, and standing at the island, I write down what I know. Hattie’s testimony that put Titus Jenkins in prison. That someone who had Titus’s gun killed her and Theo. That if my theory is true, someone told Theo’s kidnappers that a tracking device would be inside the ransom bag. That Hattie was at the park that day and watched Theo get kidnapped. There’s a lot that connects Hattie and Theo, but nothing that links them concretely. Why was Hattie messing in the Lockwoods’ business? I don’t know for sure that Hattie and Brooke were friends, and there’s no one I can ask. Bill didn’t keep tabs on her, and Seth was too busy working to know where Brooke spent her time. Hattie and Brooke could have met for lunch every day for the past year and no one would have known . . . or cared.

Seth knocks on the glass door, a frown creasing his forehead and twisting his lips, and I gesture for him to come in. If Bill’s heard that the same gun was used to kill Hattie and Theo, he knows too, and it’s possible someone, maybe Violet, told him about my goodbye post on her website. He’s going to want to know my part in this and I open my mouth to beat him to the punch.

Instead, he wraps his arms around me and kisses me, nudging his tongue against my lips and asking me to let him in. His muscles are rigid with stress like they usually are, tension vibrating off his body.

He tugs the hem of my tank top out of my shorts and caresses my breast through my bra. I moan, already wet. I shouldn’t let him make love to me with this secret between us, but on the other hand, I should take this one last time and thank God that he’s given me these past few days to help me forget Darren and what he turned our marriage into.

“Hmmm,” I hum against his lips. “I thought you were busy today.”

“I didn’t get much done. I missed you.”

“Seth—”

My phone chimes and I swear under my breath. I should have put it on silent.

He looks over my shoulder and lets me go. “You should probably get that.”

Darren’s calling again and I sigh. “Fine.” I answer the call before it goes to voicemail. “What do you want?”

“Avery?” His voice is full of worry. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

I glance at Seth. He can hear every word that Darren’s saying. “I know. What do you want?”

“Avery, honey. I made a terrible mistake. I want you back.”

I open my mouth but nothing comes out.

Seth tangles his fingers in my hair and presses a kiss to my forehead. The look he gives me shatters my heart. He leaves me standing in the kitchen and walks across the grass, his shoulders slumped.

“Avery?”

I jerk my attention back to my ex-husband.

“Are you there? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to. You left me, Darren. What do you want me to say?”

“I want a chance to explain. Are you in Lakehaven Falls? Can I drive out?”

“No, you can’t drive out. What are you talking about? Explain what?”

He pauses. “Bailey had a miscarriage. She’s taking it hard and said, well. She said that I’m not what she wanted after all.”

Hot and cold washes over me, and I tremble with rage. “Are you serious? Do you know what my life was like during the last few years we were married? You treated me like I was—” I choke. “You treated me like I was—” I try again but still can’t get the words out. The humiliation I put up with, the constant shame. And then the relief when it turned into nothing. No feelings at all that could finally let me breathe. “You treated me like some broken thing you put out on the curb to be hauled away.”

“That’s not true. I always loved you, but I thought I wanted more.”

“And now you don’t because you can’t have it. All your wants just magically disappeared.”

“Avery, I realized after we divorced that I didn’t need more. I already had everything I wanted with you.”

I suck in a breath. “Then you realized that too late. I met someone. Someone who knows I can’t give him children and he still lov—” Seth never said he loves me and I backpedal. “He still wants me for who I am. You never talked to me about adoption or surrogacy or anything like that. It was all or nothing, and I’m sorry you ended up with nothing. I’m sure Bailey’s going through a hard time and if you support her and be there for her, she might change her mind. But no matter what she does, we’re over, and I’ve moved on. You should do the same.”

“You met someone?” he asks, his voice low and resigned.

Good.

“Yes, I did, and when we make love, we don’t think about babies. Do you know how freeing that is? How that makes me feel? That I’m in his bed because he wants me to be and for no other reason? I’m worth more than the price you put on me and he knows it. So, I’m sorry if I can’t accept your apologies, as sincere as they are,” I say sarcastically, “but whatever good times we had are gone. Goodbye, Darren. Good luck.”