Chapter Fifty-Two #2
“I didn’t want to get us into trouble with Dad!” Brielle shrieks.
My voice turns icy. “No. You and your mom hoped the delayed rescue would kill her.”
“Nonsense! You just imagined everything because you were upset your mother passed away and needed to blame someone!” Deena shouts.
“You’re just jealous that I have my mom, while you don’t,” Brielle adds.
“The only reason I don’t is because you murdered her.”
“You crazy bitch!” Deena screams. “We should’ve committed you!”
“Shut up, Dee!” Hugh shouts, then turns to me, an ingratiating smile on his face. “Look, Olivia. I know you’re still grieving for your mother, but… She was never in the best of health. There’s no guarantee that if Deena had called 911 sooner, she would’ve survived.”
“But she definitely died because Deena chose not to call,” I counter, my voice low and tight. I look at the security team. “Please take them outside.”
They drag the trio out. Deena and Brielle start cursing, while Hugh displays a bit more intelligence. “I’m your father!”
How many times is he going to say that? I ignore him and start walking out into the garden. The men follow with the despicable three. I stop at the broken fountain and inhale the scent of stagnant water. “Remember this place?” I say softly.
“What?” Hugh looks confused.
Of course. He probably forgot about Pochi the day he turned her into ashes. How dare he forget and live his life guilt-free? It’s tempting to get in my car and run him over, just to show him the kind of pain my dog must’ve been in. “I’m sure Brielle remembers it.”
Deena pastes on a fawning smile. “Olivia, we’re family. Think of your sister—!”
“When did Mom have my sister?”
“What?”
“You said think of my sister. Who would that be? Mom only had me as far as I know.”
Hugh huffs a breath. “You know perfectly well that Brielle—”
I snort. “Has nothing to do with me. She’s your daughter.”
His voice grows tight. “You’ve made your point, okay? You’ve humiliated us enough. Don’t be cold, Olivia. It isn’t attractive.”
I chuckle. “Oh, you think I should be generous? Continue to support your mistress and her daughter with my mother’s money?”
“Olivia!”
“Hugh, you should’ve expected this when you betrayed my mom—and our family.”
“I loved your mother!”
“No, you loved her money. Her greatest mistake was marrying you.”
“If it weren’t for me marrying your mother, you wouldn’t exist.”
“And my greatest regret in life is having you as my father. Listen, Hugh. I’m not a Desmond. The blood that flows in my veins is the Whitmore blood. My lawyer is already working on changing my name.”
“This isn’t over!”
I scoff. “It’s not? Really? What are you going to do? Have me fall down the stairs just like Mom? Run me over like Brielle did to Pochi?”
His breathing grows audibly loud. Deena turns whiter than the flowers behind her. “Are you trying to send us to jail?” Her voice shakes.
“You can’t do that! You have no evidence!” Brielle screams.
I ignore them. “This is where you killed my dog, Brielle.”
She shuts up.
“You ran her over. And I’m never going to forget that because you meant to kill her. And you”—I turn to Hugh—“you covered for her. Washed the car, then cremated Pochi before I could say a word. Even got rid of the ashes before I could claim them.”
“You were hysterical! It was for your own good,” Hugh says. “Look at you. Even now you’re paranoid. Claiming everyone was out to kill your mother and your dog. They were both accidental deaths.”
“Exactly!” Brielle adds. “I didn’t mean to—” She stops abruptly.
I sneer. They sound like a bunch of broken records. “I know. Nobody ever means to. But does it matter? The outcome is the same—my mom died, then my dog died. At your hands.”
Deena and Brielle stare at me like I’m the boogeyman they never knew lived in their closet.
“Let’s be honest. Mom was your ATM. So was I. You’re just pissed that your card is about to be cut up. Will Winston still act like your buddy and let you test drive all those expensive Lambos? Will you still be welcomed into those parties you love when you’re penniless?”
“You’ve become so materialistic. Constance would be ashamed of how you’re acting,” Hugh says bitterly.
Does he honestly believe he can hurt me with words, after what he’s put me through over the last twenty years? “Yes, well, I’m going to love to see the three of you try to support yourselves without Mom’s money. You know, you being so nonmaterialistic and all.”
They glare at me for a moment, then deflate like popped balloons as they realize that I won’t budge. I stare at them. How pathetic they are now.
And they took away so much from me. All because I was too weak to protect those I loved the most. I put a hand over my belly. I’ll never allow them to touch my baby. I’ll make sure of it.
“Throw them off the property,” I tell the blond security guard.
“Yes, ma’am.” He moves over to Hugh. “Time to go.”
“You wouldn’t dare! You can’t just kick us out. We have rights as tenants,” Brielle says suddenly.
“Good luck proving that. I don’t recall you paying rent.
You were never tenants, just little leeching trust beneficiaries.
” I stand and watch the men drag them, struggling, down the driveway and throw them out beyond the gates like trash, then form a human wall to prevent them from coming back inside.
Once that’s done, I turn to the house. It stands like a relic of my innocence and happiness I can never get back.
I look down at the broken fountain, then back at the house. Through the open door I can see the stairs.
“Hugh’s finished,” I murmur. “Justice is served, Mom.” My voice cracks. “And now… You can rest in peace with Pochi.”
A warm breeze strokes my cheeks. I feel like I can smell Mom’s roses, even though the garden doesn’t have them anymore.
Mrs. Moore hands me a Kleenex. “Are you all right?” she whispers, her voice shaky.
I smile through the tears. “I’ll be fine. I always am.”