Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“Exiled!” Shouts Catalina. “Banished!”
“Those mean the same thing,” my best friend points out around another pull on the cigar in his mouth.
“Wrongfully imprisoned!”
“Rightfully imprisoned,” growls my wife on a savage grasping of her throat. “That Daphne Flake purposely poisoned the woman that is now her stepmother for weeks all because she had a Scooby-Don’t plot she thought would bring her misplaced revenge and justice.”
Grabbing another fish to dissect is halted to toss her an icy glare in tandem with Bryn releasing her grasp. “Sound familiar?”
“Watching you suffer…” her green glare attaches to my mismatched one, “watching you almost lose those you love again and again and again is justice. Hearing how miserable you were when she couldn’t remember who you were. How heartbroken you were having something taken from you that you can never get back.” She wheezes past the increasing pain. “You deserve all the hell and more you’ve been through for taking what little family I had away from me!”
Confusion cocks my head. “You blame me?”
“Of course, I blame you!”
“Why?”
“You’re the one who took Catharine’s husband away! You’re the one who led to their divorce! You’re the one who then locked her daughter up! You’re the one who made it so she could never see her again! You’re the one whose heartless decision to separate a mother from her daughter led to her taking her own life!”
“I see, so Little Red Crazy Hood has to be held accountable for nothing?” Bryn bitterly bites.
“You,” she sneers as I arrange the cold dead creature in front of me, “ripping her from Catharine literally drove her insane.”
“Pretty sure insane just runs in your family’s DNA,” my wife not so quietly mutters.
I would co-sign that statement any and every day of the week.
Instead of rebutting, I slam the clever down near the fish’s head, sending the body part soaring. “Park.”
“Catharine was a pill popping alcoholic-”
“You shut your filthy squint eye mouth!”
“Drowning in fucking debt,” he continues around his own glaring, “because she hadn’t found a new target to fuck for money.”
“You-”
Bryn’s bloody hand slaps itself over Catalina’s mouth on a bitter beam. “Continue.”
“Catharine – like yourself – was a con woman except while you did it over misplaced anger, she did it, to be kept in a life of luxury.” Park folds his arms across his chest. “She would study men connected to wealthy men rather than go directly for the wealthy ones herself. Part of her probably knew that those with real money would be able to spot her a million miles away, but those near the wealthy individual, wouldn’t. It’s why Clark was the ideal target. He was…an elite member of the estate staff. Well paid. Extremely valued. Trusted. He made the mistake of thinking he was marrying for love-”
“The mistake that keeps on fucking taking,” mutters Bryn as I slice another piece of fish.
“-when in reality he was simply being milked for money.”
“Not picking up on victim vibes,” J.T. announces before leaning forward to allow his ash to fall on Catalina like a human ash tray.
“Catharine picked what she felt was an easier mark when she chose Clark; however, she wasn’t expecting not to be invited to the Wilcox’s estate or that he would always be loyal to them rather than to her.”
“His loyalty to me is what saved your niece’s fucking life,” I inform on a harsh pointing of the tool. “You should have gratitude.”
“Having Penny was the ticket to keeping her lifestyle flowing without having to keep up appearances. Once Clark agreed to fork over constant cash, without the constant effort, she was set. However, when the divorce went through, and the cash cow stopped mooing…She went back to her old ways, most recently becoming the mistress of a drug lord who she – stupidly – made the mistake of stealing from.”
Bryn snarkily leans forward and states, “Stupidity definitely runs in your family.”
“The supposed ‘suicide’ wasn’t a suicide at all.” Park innocently shrugs his shoulders. “It was a hit.”
Tossing a hunky chunk into the closest metal container precedes me meeting her glare again. “Your thirst for vengeance was severely misplaced.”
“Ermbying!” she shrieks behind my wife’s hand until it falls at which point she repeats, “You’re lying!”
“Why would we lie?” J.T. inquires, scooting to the edge of the couch. “People lie when there’s something to gain or lose or hide. We have none of that.” He stretches across the table and smashes the cherry of the cigar into her bare thigh to hear her scream. “We have you. There’s nothing else we want. Eliminating you solves any other problem.” His stare lifts to Bryn’s. “You wanna cut that part out next. I don’t know if sharks like burnt meat.”
“They’re less picky than you think when they’re really hungry.” She drops her face into Catalina’s view. “And they’re really hungry at this time of night.”