Our Wicked Lies by Gledé Kabongo (story read aloud TXT) 📗

in the morning, so she booked a room. I escorted her up. She invited me in. I went in just to make sure she was okay. She said she didn’t want to be alone and asked me to stay. One thing led to another.”

“You just couldn’t help yourself, is that it? And at no time in the past two years did you think this was a bad idea?”

He remained quiet, reminding himself he couldn’t afford to divulge the full story. He had to hold back, protect Alicia, their family. Her next question, however, left no doubt that she wanted her pound of flesh.

“Were the two of you planning to pass off your child as Richard’s?”

He blinked hard. “What do you mean?”

“I received a sonogram.”

“She wasn’t pregnant,” Eliot stated.

“How can you be sure?” Her words dripped with disdain.

“We’d been careful. And I confronted her about it.”

“And you believed her? Because she’d been honest to a fault, right?”

“I bought a pregnancy test, forced her to take it. She had no choice but to tell the truth once she discovered I was serious.”

“If you say so.”

“Meaning what?”

“I’m just wondering how it worked in your relationship, since both of you found telling the truth impossible. In fact, I think you enjoyed your game of deception. Did you two get a rush from how easy it was to dupe me? Did you laugh at my stupidity when you were in bed together? Did that get you all fired up? Is that how it was, Eliot? I want to know.”

“I would never mock you.”

“You wouldn’t, but she did. Tell me, what were you thinking when you bought her the same bracelet you gifted me on our fifteenth wedding anniversary? And the matching earrings.”

“What?”

“Think carefully about your answer.”

“I didn’t buy her that bracelet. I swear.”

“But you bought her the earrings. Why?”

In a toneless voice, he said, “She threatened to tell you about us if I didn’t.”

“Oh. Well, that makes it all okay then?”

“Alicia, I’m—”

“Don’t bother explaining anything else,” she said harshly. “You’re not sorry you cheated. You enjoyed every minute of it. You disgust me. You got off on juggling two women, the sneaking around, the power trip. One woman pressuring you to end your marriage so she could be with you openly. The other, your loyal, clueless wife.” The last sentence dripped, no longer with anger, but with total and utter despair.

He opened his mouth to speak but then decided against it. He couldn’t dispute the accusation. Though he’d had no intention of giving in to Katalina’s demands, he couldn’t deny that in the earlier days of their relationship, her pestering had stroked his ego and puffed up his pride.

He prayed this would be the end of the interrogation from Alicia, that she would be satisfied with his answers and leave it at that. He had nothing more to say because he needed to protect her from the truth at all costs.

CHAPTER 43

Even in death, she wears glamor with her trademark confidence and swagger, Alicia thought.

Exquisite bouquets of white blooms—a blend of hydrangeas, Lily of the Valley, and English roses—filled the sanctuary of St. Julia Catholic Church. Alicia slowly approached the casket. She resolved not to crumble, despite the feeling that her knees could buckle at any moment. She had skipped the viewing at the funeral home. Truth was, she didn’t want to be among the scores of people who traipsed through to look at Kat as if she were some object on display. Alicia’s emotions were far too complicated to work out as part of a parade of mourners. She needed time. She needed a private goodbye.

Kat appeared to be asleep. Her face was saturated with a serenity that eluded her in life. Finally, she was at peace. Pearl drop earrings clung to her ears. Her raven hair, spread out like a curtain, created a striking contrast against the soft white pillow. She wore a scarlet-red Valentino dress, matching stilettos, and lipstick. Red was not her favorite color; it was purple.

Richard wanted to make a statement.

Alicia heard him loud and clear.

“This isn’t goodbye, Kat. You can’t leave.” She dabbed at her eyes with the crumpled tissue in her hand. “Not yet. I’m still angry.” She squeezed the tissue in her fists, nails biting into her palms, as she tried to work through her emotions. She eased over to the top of the casket so she could focus on Kat’s face.

“Did you do this on purpose because you felt guilty?” Alicia asked. “No, that’s not it. You don’t do regrets or apologies. Who did this to you, then?

“Don’t think that because you’re in this box it excuses anything. I loved you like a sister, and yet you stabbed me in the back, over and over. But I kept coming back for more, didn’t I? Oh, how you must have laughed at my stupidity. Every time you touched Eliot, lay next to him, kept him away from me and our girls, it was another stab wound.”

She inhaled deeply. “Maxim is heartbroken, you lying tramp. That’s how he described you when he heard you were gone. He’s inconsolable. Your son still needed you, even if he behaved as if he didn’t. But you abandoned him, your only child.”

She caught her breath and composed herself. She heard noises and rustling at the back of the church. The mourners would be arriving soon. Time was running out.

“You know, you had a lot in common with my father, Kat. You both wrecked lives and then left others to pick up the pieces. Here I go, clearing up your mess. Adios, vieja amiga.”

Eliot adjusted the Ray-Ban sunglasses on his face for the third time. His head throbbed, a relentless, exhausting hammering that made him want to cry out in agony. He stood at the back of the funeral tent erected at the garden-like cemetery, maintaining his distance from the clump of mourners.

Loud wailing and sniffling erupted from the sea of black as the priest read from