Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
PENELOPE
Silas parks on the far side of the lot, half-hidden beneath a line of old oaks that creak in the wind.
The branches sway overhead, scattering sunlight across the dashboard in broken stripes.
I’m already sweating through my shirt. My hands won’t stay still.
My knee bounces, and I try to force it down, but it doesn’t stop.
Talon pulls into the lot a minute later in my car. He kills the engine and stays inside with Minxy, both of them ducked low enough to stay out of sight. Gideon stands in the tree line, hands in his pockets, pretending he’s on a call but watching everything that’s about to unfold.
They’re close, but they’re not supposed to be seen unless things go sideways.
Silas turns toward me, resting on hand on the center console. “We’re right here with you.”
“I know,” I whisper, staring as my dad’s SUV pulls into the lot. “But I want to start this part alone.”
“You’re not alone,”Silas says. “You’re just walking out first.”
A shake laugh escapes me. “That does sound slightly less terrifying.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he promises. “Ten feet back. I know he’s your dad, but he even looks at you wrong and I’m closer.”
“And the others?”
“Talon and Minxy stay hidden unless they’re needed,” he says. “Gideon’s watching every angle. You’re covered.”
“That’s the problem,” I murmur. “I’m covered. Abi’s going to spin that as proof I’m unstable.”
Silas’ gaze sharpens. “She can spin whatever she wants. We’re here to destroy her, anyway.”
I swallow. “You’re right. We’re here for the truth.”
“We are,” he smiles. “Now let’s go show your father some.”
I squeeze his hand once, then push the door open.
Dad sees me approaching and stands slowly from the bench he sat on. His eyes are guarded. My stomach twists. Silas walks beside me, casual, hands in his jacket pockets, but I can feel the tension radiating off him.
“Penelope,” Dad says. “Thank you for coming.” His tone is too formal. Too careful. My pulse jumps.
“Hi, Dad.”
His gaze flicks over to Silas, and his jaw tightens.
“Silas.”
Silas nods politely. “Chad.”
Dad looks at me and blows out a breath. “Tell me everything.”
So I do.
I tell him about St. Helen’s. All the paperwork we found, the lies told to Talon and Minxy about their dad’s death. The payment to Jensen that Gideon uncovered.
Dad listens without interrupting, each piece carving deeper worry into his face.
“You’re sure,” he says softly.
“Yes. I saw some of it with my own eyes when I went to the dress fitting. When I pushed her about Minxy and the school; she got really nervous and upset. Started being extremely rude to me and then hurried into a fitting room where I spied on her as she texted someone about me being pushy and uncovering what Minxy knew. That Todd would lead to Dominic and that couldn’t happen. ”
“And you have proof?”
“A lot of it.”
He swallows, then sits on the bench. His hands shake once before he clenches them together. “Can I see it?”
“Of course.” Silas pulls out his phone and holds it out to my dad. “I’ll airdrop it all to you so we both have copies.”
Dad pulls out his phone and holds it next to Silas’ until we hear the familiar beep of things being swapped between the devices. Silas pulls his hand back and slides his phone back in his jacket pocket. Dad stares at the phone and starts to read as more and more is downloaded onto his phone.
We idle in silence for a while until dad speaks.
“I didn’t see any of it,” he mumbles. “I thought she was…kind. I thought she cared about her kids and you.”
“She doesn’t,” I quip. “She cares about control and money.”
He nods. “She has been asking when I can add her name to the house and if I was going to change my will. I…I thought she was just being prepared,caring. I was so in love. I was blind.”
Silas glances to the side, a warning tone in his voice. “Someone’s coming.”
I turn.
Abi.
She strides down the path with the exact expression of a woman who came here to win. Her eyes are bright and glassy, her smile radiant but forced, and she looks like an unhinged stepford wife.
Dad stands on autopilot. “Abi? What are you doing here?”
“I came to fix this,” she says. Her gaze cuts to me. Razor sharp. “You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Silas steps closer to me. “Back up, Abi.”
She ignores him. “Chad, baby, she’s lying. She’s jealous. She hates me. She’s always been a bit dramatic, you said so yourself.”
Dad’s eyes narrow. “They’re saying you locked Minxy up at that school.”
Abi shrugs. “She needed structure.”
“They have proof that she was being drugged, and that you had her communication privileges revoked. She could have come home multiple times, and … And you refused.”
“I fixed what needed fixing.”
Silas moves between us. “You’re done.”
Abi’s eyes flick to him, and her expression cracks. “Oh look. The creepy brother-in-law. Still chasing college pussy? Tell me Silas, do you prefer ruining families now too or just your own reputation?”
Chad stiffens. “Abi–”
She barrels on. “At least your brother had the decency to off himself instead of downgrading like you have. Dominic couldn’t handle one measly affair, so he shot himself like a coward.”
Silas goes rigid, his rage almost tangible, sea-glass eyes turning flat and cold.
“We know that’s not what happened.”
“Oh please,” she spits. “You people love your delusions.”
Silas steps forward. “Mention my brother again and see what happens.”
Abi laughs. “You’re pathetic. Just like he was.”
Dad’s face drains of color. “Abi, stop.”
She turns to him, tears miraculously springing to her eyes. “Chad, I'm trying to protect you. They’re poisoning you. She’s worried she’s losing her daddy and all her rich-girl money.”
“So you can have it and pay Jensen Rowe five more years of hush money?” I ask.
Abi freezes, and her pupils shrink as her hand slips inside her purse.
Silas reacts first. “Penelope, get behind me.”
He steps in front of me, solid as a wall.
Abi pulls out a gun.
Everything stops.
Dad stumbles back. “Abi! What are you doing?”
“What I should have done years ago,” she hisses. “All you do is ruin things. All of you. You ruin everything you touch.”
Silas’s voice drops. “Put the gun down.”
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
Her hand trembles. Tears streak down her cheeks in thin, frantic lines.
“She turned you against me,” Abi sobs at my dad. “Just like Dominic. Just like Randy. Just like Todd. I fix everything, and nobody appreciates it!”
Chad looks horrified. “What did you do to Dominic?”
Abi laughs through tears. “I saved myself from a life of misery. He threatened me; I would have had nothing. So I fixed it.”
Silas’ jaw clenches. “You murdered him.”
“He threatened to take the kids and leave me!” she screams. “I had to. He couldn’t just forgive me for sleeping with Jensen. It was a mistake; he was my first true love. I wanted to fix things, even offered to let him fuck someone. But no, he wanted a divorce and the kids.”
“Why didn’t you let him? You never were good with the kids?” Silas asks.
“I needed them for bargaining chips. I could buy this if I got Minxy that. Talon wanted to take an art class, so I shopped while I waited for him. They were my excuses; I needed them. He started packing his things, even went to wake the kids up to take them. I panicked. I grabbed the pistol we kept in the closet, and I shot him.”
“You fucking bitch,” I hiss. “You killed your kids’ dad.”
She laughs. “He never even saw it coming. Turned around and bang…point blank. But I didn’t know what to do, so I called Jensen. He came over right away, and we staged it to look like a suicide.”
Abi’s confession hangs in the air making my skin crawl. Dad takes a step back, his hand shaking, eyes glassy with betrayal.
She doesn’t notice.She’s spiraling.Unraveling.
Her mascara is smeared down her cheeks, her breath hitching in ugly, ragged bursts. She swipes at her face with the back of her hand, smearing everything worse.
“I FIX EVERYTHING,” she screams, voice breaking. “AND NO ONE appreciates anything I DO!”
“Abi.”
She whirls so fast the gun jerks sideways in her grip.
Gideon’s walking toward her, hands visible, posture calm, storm-grey eyes locked on her like she’s a live wire
“Gideon,” she gasps. Her whole body sags toward him like he’s her salvation or a one-way ticket out of this mess. “Please. Please, you get me. You always understood me. You know how dramatic Dominic’s family was—you KNOW how they twisted everything. Help me. Help me fix this.”
He stares at her as if she’s something vile.
“I’m not here for you,” he says. “I’m here for Penelope.”
Abi goes still,l then she laughs. A high, fractured sound that shakes her whole body.
“For her?!” she shrieks. “For that little gold-digger slut? She spreads her legs and suddenly you’re all wrapped around her finger? Is that all it takes? A pretty girl and a needy pussy?”
“Enough!” Dad snaps.
Abi’s head snaps toward him, and her smile fades.
“You don’t get to tell me ‘enough.’” She points it at him.
“Abi,” Dad breathes, stepping back. “Put it down.”
“You know what’s funny, Chad?” she asks, voice trembling with manic delight.
“I could end you the same way I ended Todd. All you had to do was say ‘I do.’ Just say it and be happy with me until the money ran out. Then maybe I’d let you go easy.
No guns. No head bashing. Just a little bleach in your cereal each morning.
Or maybe I’d smother you with a pillow while you slept. Peaceful. Painless. Romantic even.”
Dad’s face drains of blood.
My blood runs cold.
Gideon steps closer. “Keep talking,” he says quietly. “I want to hear you say it.”
Abi snaps at him instead, eyes wild.
“Todd was angry,” she spits. “He didn’t like my spending. He didn’t like me seeing Jensen. He wanted me to stop. He wanted me to settle. Why doesn’t anyone understand?” Her voice cracks into a sob. “I love him.”
Gideon tilts his head. “Then why aren’t you with him?”
Her face contorts. “Because he’s dirt-fucking-poor, Gideon! He doesn’t have money! He doesn’t have a future! I needed money. I needed a life. I needed… stability.”
Silas swears under his breath. Chad takes another step back.
Abi swings the gun wildly between all four of us—me, Dad, Gideon, and Silas.
“You all think you’re better than me,” she snarls. “You think you get to judge me? ME? I had to do everything alone!”
“No,” comes a voice behind us. “You didn’t.”
Abi’s eyes widen when she sees Talon. Minxy’s beside him, their hands clasped together as they face their mom. Talon’s dark brown eyes burn behind his glasses; Minxy’s stare is sharp and too old for her messy ponytail and oversized hoodie.
Abi’s entire soul seems to fall out of her body.
“No,” she whispers, shaking her head in jerky little motions. “No, no, no… You’re supposed to be at college, and Minxy, you’re missing. I have a PI out looking for you. Where have you been?”
“We know everything,” Talon says.
Abi’s hand trembles around the gun. “Talon… baby… please…”
“Don’t call me that,” he spits.
Minxy steps forward, chin high. “I heard you. All of it. I saw the blood. I saw the dent in the wall. I saw the mess you left after you murdered Todd. And you weren’t even sorry.”
Abi’s breath breaks apart like shattered glass.
“I protected you,” she cries. “I PROTECTED YOU!”
“No,” Minxy says softly. “You protected yourself.”
“We would have been thrown out on the street. Penniless! Homeless!” Abi raises the gun again—higher this time, more desperate, shaking so violently I’m terrified it’ll go off by accident.
Gideon shifts forward. Silas blocks me entirely with his body. Talon moves in front of Minxy.
And for a split second, the world holds perfectly still.
Then Abi breaks.
Completely.
Her face crumples. Her shoulders collapse inward. The gun dips low, then trembles higher again. Her tears fall in fast, frantic streams.
“I didn’t mean any of it,” she sobs. “I didn’t mean for any of it…I didn’t…”
Gideon’s voice is lethal in its softness. “Put the gun down.”
She shakes her head violently. “I can’t. I can’t let you all take everything from me. I can’t lose everything again. I can’t—”
“Abi,” Dad says softly. “Put it down.”
She looks at him.
Really looks.
For the first time, she must see him not as a resource, or a bank account—but as a man realizing the woman he loved is a monster.
And something inside her snaps.
Abi lifts the gun to her own temple.
Minxy screams. Talon lunges forward.
But Gideon’s arm blocks him.
Abi’s final whisper is almost tender.
“You were all supposed to love me.”
Her finger flexes.
A single shot cracks through the park.
Abi collapses to her knees.
Then to the ground.
Silence swallows everything.
Birds stop. Wind stops. The world stops.
My dad makes a sound I’ll hear in nightmares. Talon pulls Minxy into his chest and shields her eyes. Silas holds me so tightly I can feel his heartbeat hammering through his ribs. Gideon steps forward, kneels once beside her, checks for a pulse he already knows isn’t there.
Then he stands.
And the only words he speaks are quiet, steady, final.
“It’s over.”