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

“Well, that’s better than accusing me of killing her.”

“Don’t put words into my mouth. I never said that.”

“The entry may be a forgery,” he stated, with the wariness of someone who had little fight left.

“Is that a denial? You never threatened to kill her?”

“I have to get back to work. We can talk about all this later—”

“I don’t care. You know what. I don’t want to talk about it later because I’ve had enough.” Her tipping point was way past gone. Quiet, naïve, insecure Alicia went with it. This would be her last stand. “Let’s discuss terms.”

“Alic—”

“We bow out gracefully. It was a great run. Twenty years. Few people can say they had a twenty-year marriage. That’s one thing we can be proud of, and our daughters.”

“I told you I’m not giving you a divorce.”

“No, you listen. I want you to pay off the mortgage and put the deed to the house in my name, only,” she began. “Lily has one year left of high school. We can’t uproot her, so we’ll stay here until she graduates. I want full college tuition for both girls put aside in a special account. You are to continue to provide their medical insurance until they both graduate from college and are employed in a company that offers them coverage. I want a monthly allowance and money set aside to provide them a good start in life. Call it a trust fund or whatever.” The cool detachment in her voice as she doled out her demands surprised her. Alicia Gray was all sunshine and goodness. What had that gotten her?

Eliot sat like a block of ice, not flinching, not moving a muscle.

His befuddled state gave her the courage to continue. “You will continue to pay the insurance on Marston’s car. When Lily gets her license, you will buy her a brand-new car, and you will pay the insurance until she graduates from college, or for as long as she has the car.”

She didn’t want her girls to depend on anybody, and especially not before they were established and successful in their own careers. Their mother had made that mistake that lasted twenty years, and now she was about to walk out of a marriage that she put her heart and soul into, with nothing.

“What about you?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. It’s time I stood on my own. Twenty years depending on someone else for my survival has left a bitter taste in my mouth.”

His chin dropped to his chest. He muttered something. She barely made out the words, “What have I done?”

It was too late for regrets, though. She had to accept her new reality. Starting over at forty-two. It was a scary thought that made her want to crawl into a hole and stay there for the rest of her life. But it would be her life, not beholden to a lying cheat.

Alicia had spent more than half her life with Eliot. Prior to meeting him, she’d never dated. She didn’t have a group of close friends to lean on and socialize with. After they married, her life was their family, her volunteer work, and supporting Eliot’s career.

“What if I don’t agree to the terms?” he asked.

“Then you’ll leave me no choice but to barge into McBride’s office and show him the text. I’ll let him take it from there.”

He froze, eyes wide. In a dazed whisper, he asked, “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Would you have left me with nothing after I devoted twenty years of my life to you?”

Silence enveloped the room.

“We need to tell the girls. Tonight,” she insisted.

CHAPTER 57

KATALINA TORRES

May 18, 2019

DIARY ENTRY

Having never seen Eliot so angry, I stood, dumbstruck for a moment, and I am never at a loss for words. But I knew what I had to do, so I pulled out the heavy artillery, the pièce de résistance. “I’m pregnant,” I said. Of course, he didn’t believe me. If I was in his position, I wouldn’t either. But it was the seed that needed to be planted. I know that because after we had a cooling-off period of a few days, all he cared about was getting me to confess that I made up the pregnancy. So, I told him what he wanted to hear. I said I wasn’t.

I know, it makes no sense, but I need him to be calm and rational when I tell him the truth. That I’m carrying his child. There is no doubt in my mind the baby is his. Richard and I have not slept together in a year.

But that’s not the biggest news. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him we already have a child. I’m willing to risk it all by telling him the truth.

Richard and I got married shortly after Eliot and I met, but when Maxim was born, I knew in my heart that he was Eliot’s. When Maxim turned five, I wanted proof as an insurance policy. And the paternity test confirmed what I knew all along.

Now is the time for that insurance policy to work its magic. When I let Eliot know about my condition, I’m going to present him with the lab results, too. After that, his marriage to Alicia will crumble. How couldn’t it? I’m the mother to his boy. Maxim is his son. I will divorce Richard; then the three of us and the new baby will begin our new life together. I win again.

CHAPTER 58

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Alicia took a seat next to the despondent man on the park bench. His dark hair had more than a few extra gray strands than the last time she saw him. His eyes were wary, punctuated by a deep, penetrating sadness that manifested itself in his physical being. His shoulders sagged. He looked down at his feet, not her.

It was the first week of June. There was not a cloud in the