Her Silent Revenge novel Chapter 121

"I do. He ate something at my house." Her face crumples. "That's not your fault, Mom," Patton says quietly.

"How do you know?" Delly turns to him, and for the first time I notice the way her mascara isn't picture perfect beneath her eyes. It's been running, the same with the foundation on her cheeks where tears must've cut a recent trail.

"We'll have answers soon," Patton promises, though his expression doesn't ease. "Look, we need to go, Mom. She needs dinner and Arlo needs someone with him. Can you do that?"

"Gladly." Delly gives Patton a perfumed kiss on the cheek, and then it's my turn. "I'll call you the instant anything changes."

"Thank you." Patton reaches for my hand again.

Soon, we find out the cafeteria just closed, so we leave the hospital holding hands. The cold wind beating me in the face is another shock, and he throws his heavier coat over my shoulders.

My chest aches. Anger and resentment and affection battle, turning my guts into knots, and I don't know which one will win.

To my surprise, he doesn't take me to his house.

He brings me to my apartment. A brutal lump in my throat makes it hard to breathe the second I look around.

Arlo's toys are scattered across the floor. The bowl from pancakes this morning is still in the sink.

Oh, if only I'd taken a rain check and had that brunch with Delly another time.

It all feels so long ago.

I don't think I can hold it together.

Patton slides an arm around my back, and for the second time since hearing the news, I'm in his arms. He holds me tight, almost until I can't breathe, and that's a good thing.

But I can't relax into him with all the unsaid things between us.

He pulls away like he senses it, leaving one hand lingering by my hip. "You should eat first. Then we'll talk," he says.

"I want to talk now."

His eyes are dark pools at night, almost pained with shadows, but he nods.

"Okay. But at least let me make you food."

My kitchen is a mess, but he doesn't seem to mind as he finds a knife and a cutting board. A companionable silence falls over us with his rhythmic chopping.

I sit on the sofa where we first kissed.

This cramped, beat-up apartment feels dizzy with memories.

"I know it sounds batshit," Patton says, his voice heavy. "That's how we all felt when we figured it out. Arch and Dex, they're thinking it, too. I'm not crazy."

"I just don't—how? Why?"

"It wasn't just the poisoning, Salem." He comes and sits next to me, taking my hands.

And he explains her schemes with the personal loans, the nearly half a million she collected from all three brothers, stealing their money and cashing the checks after baiting them with the same sob story.

Lying to them, using their pity and their generosity against them.

"I don't understand." I shake my head, even though I think I do. It's just too horrible to contemplate. "But why poison him? Why would she want to hurt Arlo?"

"She needed a distraction. The cops called the banks and the money's already been sent to some overseas account," Patton growls, finding taco shells in the cupboard and opening the bag. "She landed in Miami hours ago and we've been trying to get in touch, but we haven't been able to get through. Odds are she's already left the country."

"Jesus Christ. Holy shit. I don't understand," I repeat, kneading my forehead until my skin burns. "I mean, she's that greedy? She's that cruel for money?"

"Human nature." Patton shrugs. "It's an ugly fucking thing if a person's priorities are screwed up. I know mine will never be right again as long as she's free. If I ever track her down, she's dead."

My heart drops.