Our Wicked Lies by Gledé Kabongo (books for new readers TXT) 📕

The damage was done. She picked up the remote control and shut off the television. Someone had exposed them. Perhaps the anonymous texter Eliot had mentioned during their prep for the interview. It didn’t matter who it was. Their lives would never be the same. Kat ruined lives and left others to clean up the mess.

But in reality, Alicia didn’t care about public opinion of her. She had two daughters to worry about. Kat had ruined their lives, too.

As if communicating via telepathy, Lily and Marston walked into the family room, their footsteps heavy, eyes wet and dull. Marston spoke first, clutching her phone in her hand.

“Is it true, Mom?”

“Girls.” Alicia’s voice was full of sorrow. “Please sit.”

They obeyed. Lily shivered, then rubbed her arms as though trying to keep them warm. Marston, in typical Marston style, held it in, remaining poised and holding herself tall, despite everything. But she wanted answers. There was no point in lying to them. Alicia didn’t want the girls to think badly of their father, but it was too late for that. She could no longer protect him. Everything was out in the open.

“We thought Maxim was just upset when he told us, jumping to conclusions and just acting out,” Marston said. “But he was right.”

Alicia nodded miserably. “Yes, that poor child. He told the truth.”

Lily and Marston exchanged curious glances. “How come Maxim knew about the affair?”

She exhaled and provided an abbreviated version of how Maxim accidentally found out and had been angry at his mother ever since.

Lily stood and raked her hair back, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “What are we going to do, Mom? Are you and Dad getting a divorce?”

“It looks that way.”

“Don’t tell me you would consider staying with Dad,” Marston said. “What he did is unforgiveable.”

“Yeah,” her sister chimed in. “That’s seriously disgusting. They both played you, Mom. I knew something was funny, the way Kat reacted when I showed her pics of you and Dad in Paris. I just shrugged it off at the time.”

“What do you mean, funny how?”

“I came back to the house a couple of days after you guys left for the trip. I’d forgotten my curling iron. I ran into Kat. She had just come back from a walk. Anyway, I showed her the pics you guys sent. She was not happy. She gave me a fake smile to cover, but it was too late. I had already caught her reaction.”

“Ugh,” Marston grimaced. “She sat here that night of the dinner, acting like she was happy you and Dad went away. How dare she?”

Lily said, “And the bracelet she bought.”

“Girls, stop it. You’re upset, I get it. But it’s not nice to speak ill of the dead.”

“It doesn’t change what she did, Mom,” Lily whispered. “I feel terrible she’s gone—she was basically like an aunty to us. And I feel awful for Maxim who will never see his mom again and Mr. DeLuca who lost his wife. But as far as I’m concerned, what she did… how she tried to break up our family and steal Dad from you… that doesn’t go away. She got her wish. She’s just not around to collect her prize.”

Alicia reached over and hugged a sniffling Lily. Marston embraced them both. When they pulled apart, Lily said to her sister, “Dad screwed up your big day.”

“What?” Marston asked.

“Your graduation. Everyone is going to be gossiping about the latest development. They’ll think Mom had something to do with Kat’s death. They’ll be looking at us sideways the minute we step foot on school property tomorrow. Colby sent me the link to a popular crime blogger website. They’re calling it the ‘Bestie Murder’ if you can believe that. I mean, how unoriginal. It’s even trending on Twitter.”

Alicia had forgotten all about social media, the digital equivalent of a snake pit in her opinion. She had a Facebook account she accessed once or twice a year. The Bestie Murder, she mused with disgust. Now, her daughters were caught up in the melee. The thought of them being targets ripped her heart right out of her chest. She could kill Eliot.

“Girls, it’s going to be okay,” she said.

“How can you say that?” Marston asked. “It will never be okay again. Don’t put on a brave face for our benefit, Mom. We’re not little kids. Don’t stay married to Dad for our sakes.”

Her children were being brave for her, but she could see it in their eyes that they had been shredded to bits. They adored their father, and the thought of him not coming home every night, not being part of their daily lives, was too much to bear.

“Prom is definitely off.” Lily swiped a tear.

Marston concurred, and so did Alicia. It had taken a lot to persuade Marston to give prom a go after the incident with Brandon. Now, with their family crisis out there for everyone to see—and Kat’s tragic, untimely death—trying to convince them to attend a party would be pointless.

Silence pricked the air. She had no words of comfort to offer her girls. Whatever she said would sound empty.

“There’s just one other thing,” Marston said. “I don’t want to keep secrets from you anymore. Dad did, and it didn’t work out so great for our family.”

Alicia braced herself. In the past few weeks, secrets and lies had been popping up like weeds. She wasn’t sure she could deal with much more.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Dad went after Brandon and told him if he ever came near me again, he would destroy him.”

Alicia’s eyes went wide. “When did this happen?”

“The day Kat died.”

So that was what he was up to when he went “jogging”. Alicia was partly relieved. At least if he was with Brandon, he couldn’t have murdered Kat, right? Alicia hated herself for even contemplating it, but with recent events, she could no longer trust her own instincts.

“Who else knows about this?” she asked.

“Just Brandon and his