Page 200 of Heartless Sinner

Daphne

It was the question of the century.

“Why’d you do it, Daphne?”

The terrible lighting threw shadows across Brooks’s face. His expression was filled with nothing but fury.

If he was going to kill me, then he’d do it knowing the ugly truth.

A fly buzzed somewhere in the distance as I worked up the nerve to speak.

“Did you …” I looked down, ashamed of how hard it was to get the words out. “Did you ever notice that near the end of … whatever we were … that I didn’t like being around your father?”

His brows pulled together. “Never noticed that.”

I stared over his shoulder at the water-damaged wall. “You couldn’t tell by the way I looked at him?”

“No. I was always too busy staring at you.” His face changed so fast it stole my breath. “Wait. Did my father hurt you?”

“No,” I rushed out.

His face relaxed a hint.

“But he … he hurt my mother.”

“How?”

My knees felt like water. I backed up, ready to sit on the mattress, but stopped when I noticed the stains and cigarette burns. I recoiled, deciding to stay on my feet.

“Start fucking talking,” Brooks warned, as if each second I took made him believe anything I said less. “Because right now, you’re looking really fucking bad.”

“He had an affair with my mom!” I shouted. My throat constricted as the words left my mouth.

Brooks went dead quiet. His mouth parted, then closed again. A second later, his upper lip curled in disgust.

He cleared his throat. “And you thought that was a good enough reason to have him killed?”

“I never wanted him dead!” I sobbed. “No one told me they were shooting him!”

He stepped around the corner of the bed and came closer. “What the hell did you think would happen then?”

“Impeachment!” I threw my arms up. “They told me they needed evidence to destroy him politically!”

“No.” He sliced his hand between the space separating us. “I don’t believe you’d do that over a fucking affair! It had to be something else for you to go to those lengths.”

Closing my eyes, I knew my legs were ready to give out. It was either on the mattress or the floor, which made the mattress look clean. I chose the mattress, blocking out the thought of filth as I collapsed onto it.

At this point, I had nothing to lose.

I’d probably be dead or in some prison cell soon.

I focused on a series of cigarette burns that almost formed a star. “Ask your dad about the affair,” I said quietly.

Rage and sadness drowned out every sane thought as memories crashed into me. I shot to my feet to shove Brooks hard, pretending that for a second, it was his father in front of me.

“Ask him about the baby he forced her to abort because he said it’d destroy his career!” I yelled around another punishing shove. “Ask him why he sent her to some back-alley clinic where she almost bled to death!” I was so blinded by tears and anger that I couldn’t even make out how Brooks was looking at me. “Then ask how he threatened to tell my father and the king about the affair if she didn’t go through with the abortion!”

Brooks never raised a hand to me during my shoves.