I didn’t blame her, honestly. If the situation were reversed and her crazy ex took my son, I didn’t know if I could’ve looked in her eyes without feeling disgust, either.
The irony of that thought wasn’t lost on me as I walked up the stairs to her apartment and learned what I was about to. As I reached her door, I found myself staring into a set of familiar eyes. Eyes I’d never forget in a million years.
He turned to me, nodded, but didn’t linger. He didn’t recognize me. I meant nothing to him, though he took everything from me. I knocked on Palmer’s door with a fire in my belly, bile rising in my throat.
“What the hell was Nathan Creswell doing here?” I asked, my body trembling with anger.
“How do you know Nate?” Palmer asked, taking our sleeping son from my arms.
“How do you know Nate?”
She flushed red. Before she answered, the realization hit me. No. There was no way her Nate was my Nathan. “He was…my ex. The one before you.”
My stomach dropped. “What are you talking about?”
“Nate and I dated for eight years before you and I got together. How do you know him?” she asked again.
I shook my head, finding it hard to catch my breath. I couldn’t tell her. Not now. Maybe not ever. Perhaps therapy wasn’t working as well as I thought if I could still lie so easily. “Just from…you know, around.”
She gave an unsure laugh. “Okay…”
“What was he doing here?” I pressed. “I thought you hadn’t talked to your ex in years.”
“I hadn’t,” she said, her voice guarded. “He came by my office yesterday. Wanted to grab brunch. We just got back.”
I kept my face still, emotionless. I couldn’t react. To react would be to lose it.
“We’re seeing other people, Ben. You agreed.”
I did, technically, but just because she pressed the issue. She needed space from me, and I couldn’t blame her. “Right, yeah. Of course. I just didn’t realize you were seeing him. You said he was an alcoholic. That he cheated on you.”
“People change, Ben. I’m not dating him, anyway. We just went out for brunch. As friends.”
“Are you planning to see him again?” I clenched my fists at my sides.
“Maybe. We didn’t talk about it. Is it a problem?” she asked, walking to lay Gray on the couch. She headed back to me, her arms crossed.
“Not at all. I wish you the best, you know that. But I’m not giving you up.” I nodded, hoping I sounded more genuine than I felt.
“I never asked you to,” she said, a hint of a smile on her perfect lips. I leaned down to kiss them, just barely.
When we parted, her cheeks had flushed crimson. I still did that to her. “Listen, I’ve got to go. I have work in an hour.”
“Sounds good.” She leaned forward, giving me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. “See you this weekend?”
“See you then,” I vowed. By this weekend, all would be well again. By this weekend, Nathan Creswell wouldn’t be in my way. I waited until she’d shut the door to dart down the hall and onto the street in time to see which direction he was headed. He stopped at a little red sports car, digging in his pants pocket for his keys. Adrenaline coursed through my body as I approached him.
“Hey, bud, can you help me with something?”
He looked up, his lip curled. “What’s that?”
After you’d killed once, it wasn’t that hard to kill again.
I wondered if he felt the same. Then again, he wasn’t a murderer. Not technically. It was just manslaughter. Wrongful fetal death, they’d called it. A .28 alcohol blood level, a stoplight he couldn’t be bothered to stop at, and a car crash that would end the world as I knew it.
“I’ve got something in my car, but I can’t carry it alone. It’s for Palmer, the woman upstairs. She didn’t want to leave her son alone…”
He groaned, looking up at the apartment building. He didn’t want to help me. That was the kind of person he was, but he’d do it for Palmer. He wanted her again. At least for a little while.
“Fine. Sure.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Where’d you park?”
“Oh, great, thank you so much. I’m just right around here,” I told him, pointing around the side of the building, past the security camera’s line of vision. I’d never stepped in front of them, keeping a safe space. If anyone watched them, they’d never see who he was talking to. He followed me around the building and toward the back of the parking garage.
“You really parked in a shitty spot to be unloading something,” he said, looking behind him at the journey he believed we’d be making.
Oh, how wrong he is.
“I know, man, what can you do? This street is always packed. Everyone’s constantly in and out.”
“You live here?”
“Not anymore.” But soon. “This is me.” I pointed to my silver Mazda. “It’s just in the trunk.”
He walked around to the trunk, and I opened my driver’s side door, grabbing the tire iron I kept under the seat and popping the trunk. I shut the door, and Nathan opened the trunk. He looked up at me with confusion. “What the h—”
I swung, ending the sentence and, from the amount of blood that spurted from his skull, I’d guess his life. I hit him again, just to be sure. He fell into my arms, and I shoved him in the trunk, groaning and grunting until his weight was off of me. I closed it firmly and wiped away the spattered blood from my face, arms, and the car. I used my shirt to clean the weapon off last, tossing it back onto my floorboard.
I stared in the rearview mirror, adjusting it. I couldn’t feel good about what I’d done, but it was what was necessary.
Nathan Creswell had already taken two of the four things that mattered most to me, and I’d be damned if he took the only two that remained.
I said I’d do anything to keep Palmer this time, and I meant it.
Anything.
I pulled out of the parking garage and headed the opposite direction that I’d been intending to. I might be late for work. I needed to make a pit stop in Red River. Thanks to Kat, I knew the perfect place to bury a body.
It was the least I could do for her.
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I have to start by thanking my husband and daughter—I’m so grateful to have you two in my corner, celebrating every success and pushing through every failure. I love you and I could never repay you for all we’ve made it through together.
To my family—Mom, Dad, Kaitie, Kortnee, Kyleigh, Granny, Papa, Nan, Pop, and so many aunts, uncles, and cousins—thank you for giving me books for almost every holiday or birthday and notebooks for all the rest. I wouldn’t be here without you!
To my beta reader, Emerald, thank you for always being the first cheerleader for my stories and for giving me such amazing advice. I couldn’t do this without you and it wouldn’t be half as fun to try.
To my editor, Sarah West, thank you for always believing in my stories and for pushing me to make them the very best.
To my proofreading team
at My Brother’s Editor, thank you for being my final set of eyes and for always finding those pesky typos that manage to sneak through.
To my fans—thank you for believing in me and supporting my dream. Thank you for being readers and supporting art. I’m forever humbled and grateful for all of you.
And finally, to you. Thank you for purchasing this book and reading my story. Whether this is your first of my books or your twentieth, I hope it was everything you expected and still nothing you could’ve guessed.
About the Author
Kiersten Modglin is an award-winning author of bestselling psychological suspense novels. Kiersten lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, daughter, and their two Boston Terriers: Cedric and Georgie. She is best known for her unpredictable suspense and her readers have dubbed her 'The Queen of Twists.' A Netflix addict, Shonda Rhimes super-fan, psychology fanatic, and indoor enthusiast, Kiersten enjoys rainy days spent with her nose in a book.
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Also by Kiersten Modglin
STANDALONE NOVELS
Becoming Mrs. Abbott
The List
The Missing Piece
Playing Jenna
The Beginning After
The Better Choice
The Good Neighbors
The Lucky Ones
I Said Yes
The Mother-in-Law
The Dream Job
THE MESSES SERIES
The Cleaner (The Messes, #1)
The Healer (The Messes, #2)
The Liar (The Messes, #3)
The Prisoner (The Messes, #4)
NOVELLAS
The Long Route: A Lover’s Landing Novella
The Stranger in the Woods: A Crimson Falls Novella
THE LOCKE INDUSTRIES SERIES
The Nanny’s Secret
The Liar's Wife Page 17
