Chapter 9 #5
Drake cried out, and I turned to embrace him, wishing I could shield his eyes from the horror of watching his father get shocked. He encircled my waist and buried his head in my shoulder. I soothingly rubbed his back, but couldn’t tear my gaze away from the events unfolding before us.
“She did it. She did it,” he sobbed against me.
Damon slumped over, his forehead hitting the steering wheel.
Tracey stumbled back, frantically looking around.
Her face fell for a moment before she lifted her hand and gave a middle finger to someone.
The garage door was wide open, and I could see the same woman from earlier curiously peering down the driveway.
“Still being your noisy ass self, huh?” she yelled before rushing to the garage door opener. Her hands were shaking the entire time. The door slowly began to go down. She continued to nervously glance toward Mrs. Townsend.
“She has a gift?” Anna asked tearfully.
“I never knew,” Drake answered, his voice thick with tears.
“She acted like I was a freak when I got my gift. She had a meltdown when Jemmy started showing signs of her gift. She denied knowing what was happening to us. She chose to get rid of us because she claimed she wasn’t capable of giving us the attention or training we needed, since she had never known anyone who was gifted. ”
The walls began to distort and warp. I looked at Patrick.
His eyes filled with tears. “There’s more,” he said, his voice breaking.
“Do you want to go back?”
Drake resolutely shook his head. His hot tears soaked my shoulder. His arms trembled around me. “No. No. I need to see it all!”
η
I tried to talk Drake into leaving but he was determined to see what exactly occurred the day his father died.
He almost seemed numb at that point. He had a determination in his eyes, resolutely determined to discover the truth.
The hurt and pain he felt seemed to have been buried deep.
I just prayed he didn’t bury it too deep so it wouldn’t fester into a wound he could never repair.
We watched as a man in an expensive three-piece suit come storming into the house. “Dammit, Trace, I was in a meeting. A meeting you should have been at. What the hell was the big emergency?”
Tracey had called her lover and boss the moment she came back into the house. Then the vision had warped into the scene we were currently watching unfold.
I sucked in a shocked breath as Anna made a disgusted sound. “Eww, he’s not even cute.”
If the situation wasn’t so depressing and sad I would have laughed.
Because she was right. Drake’s dad had been a handsome man, and by Drake’s recollections and his own admissions a great man to boot.
The man Tracey was having an affair with wasn’t anything to look at.
He was really short in stature with thinning hair, a bird-like torso, but extremely bottom heavy, making him look like a misshapen pear.
Somehow, I didn’t believe she was attracted to him for his looks.
Not that was any less shallow than being attracted to him for his money.
Because lets be real it was his money or power, she was using her body to get from him.
“I’m sure it wasn’t his looks Tracey was going for,” Drake dryly commented, echoing my thoughts.
Tracey’s lips curled up in anger before she turned the laptop around and pointed at it. “This was the damn emergency, Denny,” she hissed. “My husband had us followed.”
On Damon’s laptop was pictures of the man and Tracey in compromising positions.
She had frantically attempted to delete them, but Damon had some kind of lock on them.
They could be viewed, but she hadn’t been able to delete them.
We watched as she attempted numerous times.
It would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so tragic.
Her anger had been nearly explosive when she discovered other files of all her transgressions including others Damon hadn’t mentioned to her. It was evident that he had been planning to leave her for some time.
A part of me wondered if Damon would still be alive if he had waited to pack up him and the kids.
In her fit of rage, it had triggered him, and he had essentially backed the crazy wench into a corner.
My heart hurt for him but most of all for Drake and Jemmy.
It was clear that Damon had loved them. I’m positive he would have given them the life they deserved.
“You stupid bitch, I thought you said he didn’t care what you got up to,” Denny snarled. “Who took these? Who did he send them to?”
“Who are you calling a stupid bitch?” Tracey returned his vitriol. “It was your idea to fuck me on the balcony. He hired a PI and a lawyer.”
Denny grasped his thinning hair in his fist, reared his head back, and cursed at the ceiling. “Why? Why did he have us followed?”
“He was planning on leaving me. He wanted to take my kids,” she hissed. “He thought he could blackmail us so I would let him quietly leave with them.”
Denny’s mouth curved into a frown before he let out a harsh laugh. “You don’t even like the brats. Why not let them go?”
“And have him coming after me for child support,” Tracey snorted. “Yeah right. I work hard for my money. I wasn’t going to let a leech drain me dry.”
“She really is a pathological liar,” Drake scornfully stated. “After Dad delivered some cold hard truths, she still believes her lies.”
Denny’s cell phone went off. He pulled it out and frowned.
He held up a finger and answered. “Hey honey,” he crooned with sickening sweetness.
“What?” A look of panic struck his face.
“I wish you would have said something. I had to drop off some papers to a client.” His voice trailed off as he walked into the garage.
Tracey appeared to attempt to stop him for a moment before a cruel smile curved her lips. Then she calmly walked over to the cabinet, pulled out a wine glass, and some wine. She poured herself a generous amount and then perched on a dining room chair.
Denny walked in moments later, his face ashen. “What did you do?”
“What I had to do. Now help me clean this up and figure out what exactly he’s been doing behind my back,” Tracey pointed toward Damon’s laptop. “I can’t figure out his password for his email account.”
Denny began to walk backwards toward the front door. “You’re crazy if you think I’m getting involved in your domestic issues.”
“You already are,” Tracey calmly stated.
“The hell I am,” Denny shook his head. “Your snatch wasn’t that good.”
Denny’s hand was on the front doorknob when Tracey began to laugh.
It was then I saw the madness in her eyes.
“I have your text and emails promising a promotion if I slept with you. I have hotel receipts for when we went away. I would sure hate it if your wife were to find out. She made you sign a prenup didn’t she? ”
Denny turned around; his lips curled in derision. “Do you think you can blackmail me when you have a dead husband in the garage?”
“I was protecting us. Now, it’s your turn to protect me,” Tracey sipped on her wine.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Denny let out a bark of harsh laughter. “An affair is completely different then an accomplice to murder.”
“I didn’t kill him, you did,” Tracey smiled, before he could protest, she cut him off. She hit a few buttons on her phone before Denny’s voice rung out in the still air.
“Hey, baby, it’s me again,” Denny’s voice stated.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone? I hate it when you ignore me.
Jane’s being a bitch again and I needed to hear your sweet voice,” He let out a dry laugh.
“If your husband and my princess bitch of a wife wasn’t in the picture, we could be together.
Maybe we should make them disappear for good. ”
Denny’s mouth opened and closed several times before he said in a harsh whisper. “You know I didn’t mean it that way. You know Jane was being a bitch to me that day. I would have never done any harm to any of them.”
“That’s not how it sounds,” Tracey’s eyes lit up with satisfaction. “Plus, your fingerprints are all over my house. Did you open his door? Did you touch him?”
I couldn’t believe Denny could get any paler, but he did. “You set me up.”
Tracey giggled as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “I know you have connections everywhere, time to start calling them up.”
Denny’s head hung down as if he was attempting to gather his thoughts. “After this, I’m done with you.”
“No sweetheart,” Tracey maliciously stated. “I’ll tell you when we’re done. Do this for me today, get me my promotion, and then maybe we can be done with each other.”