I shook my head. “Why are you torturing me like this?”
His head tipped at an angle, his amused grin turning wry. “Because I can, Barbie, and because you deserve it.”
Chapter 7
Elis – Five Years Ago
I walked through the front doors, the scent of Devlynn still on my skin. My mom and Sarena huddled at the kitchen table, the place settings all in proper order, but the food was still on the stove, untouched.
My father wasn’t around, which wasn’t unusual. He worked hard and was barely home. What was strange was that my mother made today’s dinner seem important, and my dad’s presence was usually a requirement.
I didn’t care much now that I had Devlynn to occupy my time.
“Who died?” I joked, hanging my jacket behind my chair and sitting at the table. As soon as I sat, my mom began bawling hysterically. Sarena hugged her, shooting me a dark look. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t understand why she was acting the way she was. My entire life, I’d never seen my mother cry, not once. She was the epitome of measured grace.
I caught my sister’s eye, and she shrugged her shoulders, her look of confusion mirroring mine.
“I’m sorry, kids. Can you both sit down—are you hungry?” My mother stood, walking to the stove.
“Why aren't we eating in the dining room? We always eat in the dining room,” I said, thinking this scene was beyond weird.
Maybe I should have skipped this dinner in favor of Devlynn’s kisses. Since she’d come into my life, home hadn’t seemed quite as unbearable.
“Really, Elis?” Sarena scolded, shooting me a death-defying glare.
I walked over to my mother, took the white serving spoon from her, and placed it on the marble countertop.
Our apartment was nice. We lived in the Upper East Side. It was nothing like Devlynn’s place, but we were doing okay. My father was a corporate lawyer, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom who spent her time taking care of my sister and me. We had a pretty comfortable life, and for the most part, we were happy, my mom especially. She was the kind of mother my friends growing up wished they’d had. She was present, loving, and completely stable. So seeing her like this, falling apart and looking so sad, was more disturbing than it would have been for most.
“What are we going to do?” She hung her head and shook it slowly from side to side.
“Mom, please look at me.” I grabbed her hands, forcing her to shift her body to face me. I couldn’t help noticing how tired and worn she was, and her usual sunny disposition was now covered in defeat.
“He’s gone,” she whispered so softly I almost didn’t hear her.
“Who’s gone?”
“Your father. He’s gone. When the police called, I didn’t believe it.”
“What are you talking about?” Sarena asked, getting up from the table, her eyes rounded in shock and her bottom lip quivering as if trying to keep her tears at bay. “Where is Daddy?”
My mother wiped the tears from her face, straightened her back, and grabbed our hands, walking us back to the table. “I need you two to sit down.”
My sister and I took our seats, not protesting. We were frightened and confused about the whole situation. Sarena was only twelve and much closer to my dad than I was. I didn’t want to panic, but my fear was starting to take over, and the sensations were nearly crippling.
My mother fidgeted with a manilla envelope on the table. Her fingers worked the edges nervously as she looked everywhere but at us.
“Mom, you’re scaring Sarena. Just spit it out. This waiting is making everything so much worse,” I finally said, pounding my fist on the table so forcefully that it visibly shook.
My mother’s gaze shot to me, and the pain was replaced with anger for a moment before it returned to a mournful look. “Your father had an affair with Mrs. Price, and her husband found out. He got him ostracized Throughout the city—the entire Eastern Seaboard. It all started two months ago—your father has been unemployed for two months! I had no idea. He never told me…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes on Sarena, her hand on my fist, wrapping around it as if she was trying to offer warmth and comfort. “I can’t believe I’m saying this…but your father is dead. He took his own life this morning. I went in and identified the body.”
I stood in shock while Sarena cried so hard that she began hyperventilating.
My father and I had always had a tumultuous relationship. I couldn’t remember one decent memory with the man. Most of my memories were of him drinking a Scotch and working, barely saying a word to my mother or me. Yet the knowledge that he was gone hit me with such force that I couldn’t breathe.
And then the anger hummed in my veins when the rest of my mother’s words finally set in. My father was having sex with another woman who wasn’t my mom. My father was having an affair with Devlynn’s mom.