Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

They were tears of anger. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me growing up? For the others that lived in that town? Do you know what it’s like to watch kids starving because there’s not enough food?”

My eyes dropped. I didn’t know what that was like. I had a good childhood. I had no complaints whatsoever.

“You grew up in this nice community with people that care about you. You didn’t watch as your mother slowly withered away until there was nothing left of the person you once knew. You didn’t have to see your father morph into a warped, angry man that would rather drink himself into a stupor than provide for his kid. You didn’t have to watch your best friend work himself to death just to support his family and his friend. That was my life, Andrew!” She swiped angrily at the tears falling down her face and took a deep breath. “You have no idea what it’s like to live that kind of life, to watch people starving all around you and no one came to help. Maybe what I did seems drastic to you, but to me, it was the opportunity to help those people, because there sure as hell wasn’t anyone else stepping up to help.”

Not knowing what else to do, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close as her body shook against mine. “I’m sorry,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re right, I don’t know what that’s like. I shouldn’t have judged you.”

I glanced around the room, ready to glare at anyone that was giving her a dirty look, but they all had their heads down, like they didn’t want to intrude on this private moment. When she gathered herself and stepped back, she wiped the tears from her face, and then her armor was back up.

“So, that’s the whole story.”

“Not quite,” Jack said. “What was your deal with Arlen?”

She looked over at him, squaring her shoulders. “It’s simple. I had the blackmail evidence to hold over his head. I married him for his money, and upon his death, I would receive pretty much everything he owned. In the meantime, he set up a fund that was to help the families impacted by the closure of the mines in the area.”

“That doesn’t exactly help your case,” Robert said. “From a legal standpoint, they’ll hang you if you tell a jury that.”

“We had a contract attached to our marriage. If there was any foul play, the money would revert back to his kids. It ensured that I couldn’t just kill him off for the money, not that I would do that.”

“Except, someone did kill him,” Andrew stated. “And you’re going to go down for it if we can’t figure out who did it.”

“It has to be Barty. He was pissed about the trust and he hated his father.”

Except that there was something else hanging over her head, and the state already had that evidence in hand, and they would use it against her. I cleared my throat as I rubbed my hand uncomfortably over the back of my neck.

“Lorelei, they know that you were in the car with Murray the day he died.”

“How?”

“I figured that you were in the car with him, and when I handed over the evidence…they got a warrant to search your house. They have your DNA on file now. It’ll match the hairs they found in the car.”

Her face was shocked as she stared at me. “They’re going to charge me with his murder.”

I stepped forward, but she stepped back. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei.”

She shook her head slightly, her eyes slipping closed. She laughed humorlessly. “It’s not your fault. This is on me. I was the one that took it to this extreme. If I had just walked away, none of this would have happened.”

“And those people in your hometown would still be suffering. You’re giving them a chance to have a life again,” I tried.

“But it wasn’t enough. I’m going to end up in jail. I didn’t help anyone. I didn’t make my life better,” she said scathingly. “If that money reverts back to his kids, they’ll stop the fund that’s providing for the families. Barty doesn’t care about any of those people. Elena only wants more money to spend on getting her hair and nails done.”

“And Oscar?” I asked. She had said he was the good kid.

“He’s taken care of. When the trust didn’t pay for his education, I paid the rest with my savings.” She glanced at Eric. “You’ll have to stop work on the house. I won’t be able to afford the rest of the repairs.”

He shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure this out one step at a time.”

She huffed out a laugh. “We? Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near this.”

“There has to be a way to prove that someone else killed him,” I argued. “With forensics nowadays and…” My eyes lit up. “You had to have security cameras around the house. That would tell us who was there the night he died.”

She shook her head. “I paid off the security team to get rid of all footage from the time I started living there.”

“Why?” I asked, baffled why she would do that. “Did you have something to hide?”

“Not that I know of, but do you know how hard it was to be the perfect wife all the time? I was worried that there would be something I had done that could be used against me.”

I grinned at her. “Well, you’re in luck, baby. You know why?” She shook her head. “Because I’m the Hacker of All Trades.”

“Oh, Christ,” Josh muttered. “Here we go again.”

“Hey, that was a momentous moment and you just ruined it for me.”

“You’re not the Hacker of All Trades,” Josh argued. “If you were, you wouldn’t have had so much trouble cracking the case against Lorelei. Let’s face it, you’re a great cybercrime PI, but you suck