by Nicola Marsh
I envisage the whole scenario: paying exorbitant sums to the corrupt guards to protect me, biding my time, planning the untraceable crime.
Because I will walk out of prison a free woman.
I’ll send a message to my online contact, the man who can do anything and maintain my anonymity, to take out the two people who are the only witnesses to my confession.
I won’t miss my son Grayson. He was dead to me years ago.
As for Ria, she has proved to be a major disappointment.
I thought she might console Justin after his marriage imploded, the only potentially good thing to come out of this farce. But he’s recalcitrant and bitter, and Ria could’ve helped him through it. She should stand by him and support him, not be making goo-eyes at Grayson.
I can make it happen. Once Grayson and Ria are gone, there’ll be nothing standing in my way. The prosecution will drop the charges and I’ll be free.
But then I remember Justin and Ria’s threats, that regardless of what happens I’ll never see my beloved granddaughters again… they’ll keep them from me… I’ll have no access at all…
I stare at my reflection in the mirror as my bravado fades.
I can’t go to prison. I can’t face a lifetime of being deprived of the only thing that matters to me anymore.
Everything I’ve done has been for Jessica, Ellen and Shelley. And if they’ll never know it, what’s the point?
A loud banging on the door makes me jump. “Hurry up, Mom,” Grayson yells and I flip him the finger.
He’s an idiot, the twine binding my wrists already loosening. They think they’re so smart, my family. I bet they imagine incarcerating me then enjoying the spoils I’ve worked a lifetime to build.
But would they enjoy it as much if dogged with guilt?
I’m not a weak woman, far from it, but I’m exhausted. I’m going to be dispossessed of the only thing worth fighting for, my granddaughters. I know Justin, he’s as stubborn as me, and Ria is a protective mom. She won’t let me near Shelley no matter how much I grovel, not after what I did to her.
So there’s only one way out.
I hook the twine over a gold tap and tug, over and over. It bites into my wrist, the pain sharp, and a few drops of blood trickle into the sink. I don’t care. In a few moments I’m free and I flex my wrists several times before opening the bathroom cabinet, instantly spotting what I’m looking for.
The untraceable poison I doctored Percy’s whiskey with is on the bottom shelf, hidden in a misnamed bottle for an old muscle relaxant. The faintest shimmer of fear makes my hand shake as I fill a glass with water, unscrew the cap and tip the powder in. I stir it with my index finger, staring at the colorless liquid that will end all this.
My regret is fleeting as I take the first sip, before forcing myself to gulp the rest. My head swims and my eyes blur as I slide toward the ground, grasping at the sink for support. There’s a loud crash as I knock over the expensive soap holder and the last thing I see is Grayson’s stricken expression as he flings open the door and stares at me in open-mouthed horror as I take my last breath.
49
Ria
The funeral is small and private, the resultant media furor isn’t.
May would be proud that she’s as notorious in death as she was when she lived.
The memorial service at the cemetery is brief. We’re not hypocrites. We disperse as soon as the ceremony is finished, seeking refuge in black limousines with dark tinted windows to avoid the news cameras. Only Justin faces the media scrutiny. He has to, being CEO of one of the biggest financial companies in the state. After only three weeks in his new role as sole boss at Parker Partnership, he’s thriving. He’s not selling the company and after recovering the hundreds of millions May siphoned, he’s using the money to expand and consolidate all assets. He’s fair too, insisting all family members have a seat on the board and individual trust funds. Thankfully, he’s too busy to visit or contact me beyond the family meetings he calls. Our attraction has fizzled out and I’m relieved.
I’m growing closer to Ashlin too. I guess everything that happened has brought us together. With Christine moving back to Chicago and postponing her rehab until after the funeral, the four of us—Shamira, Ash, Chrissie and I—have caught up for dinner a few times. We’ll never be best friends but more than our surname bonds us now. We closed ranks after May’s suicide a month ago, relying on each other because we can’t trust anybody else. Ironic, that her death solidified our bond when she tried so hard to make us a cohesive unit when she was alive.
Everyone’s secrets are revealed and we’re all closer for it. We accept each other for who we are in a way May never did.
We’re catching up at May’s mansion later for a wake. A celebration of the loving grandmother she’d been because the kids deserve to remember her that way. Maybe we all do.
But for now, I have somewhere I need to be.
I give the limo driver directions then raise the glass between us to ensure I have complete privacy. I need to read the letter Grayson pressed into my hand at the end of May’s service, with a whispered, “Meet me at our place after you read this.”
It’s all very cryptic and I’m over the mysteries of this family, but as I slide a sheet of paper covered in Grayson’s familiar scrawl out of the envelope I can’t help the flicker of excitement that zaps through me.
He used to leave me notes when we were married all the time. Cutesy, love notes mostly, tacked onto the cookie jar or on top of the butter in the fridge or in my lunch bag. He’d said emails were too accessible by anyone and words meant more when written down so he preferred the personal pen touch. I used to accuse him of being a romantic goofball but considering that anybody can be hacked for a price, and after what we’ve all been through, I tend to agree.
Memories of his past notes bring tears to my eyes and I blink several times before I start reading.
Dear Ria,
I’m writing this the old-fashioned way not as some lame attempt to recapture our past but because you know as well as I do that emails aren’t safe.
I owe you an explanation.
May was telling the truth about not sending those emails.
I did.
I gasp out loud and reread that last sentence. Twice. What the… He can’t be the one who sent them.
Why the hell would he have sent me that incriminating photo five years ago?
But as I mentally pose the question, I know. He wanted to ensure I didn’t try to find him.
I continue reading.
I’ll explain everything when I see you shortly and I hope you’ll hear me out.
But I want you to know that everything I did has been out of love for you and Shelley.
Leaving you both was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and once you hear the truth, I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me. And maybe, just maybe, we can move forward together? Recapture the life we once had?
I love you, Ria.
Always have.
Grayson x
(This will self-destruct in five minutes.)
A guffaw bursts from my lips. He always used to sign off that way when we emailed each other. It’s so quintessentially Grayson I find myself pressing his letter to my chest with one hand and swiping at the tears trickling down my cheeks with the other.
I have no idea what he’s going to say but it doesn’t make what he put me through any easier to accept. I understand his rationale to protect Shelley and me five years ago but I can’t help but wish if he’d been more open, none of this would’ve happened.
He’s re-bonding with Shelley and I’ve facilitated that. My daughter needs to know her father and vice versa. They’ve regularly met over the last four weeks and he’s taking it slow, like I insisted. But it’s obvious how much they love each other and I’m glad my daughter has a chance at a real relationship with her father.
As for letting him back into my life… it’s too soon.
I need to
tell him that, in person.
The limo stops outside my place and he’s waiting out the front, hope lighting his eyes as I step out of the limousine.
He glances at the letter in my hand. “You read it?”
I nod and shove it into my handbag. “We need to talk.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He takes a step forward and I hold up my hand.
“I don’t know how I feel about you or if I can forgive you…” my voice quivers and I clear my throat, “but if I gave Ashlin a second chance it’s only fair I do you the same courtesy.”
That lopsided grin I once loved lights up his face. “However long it takes, I’m okay with that.”
He takes another step forward and this time I don’t stop him. “Maybe you can write an article on our crazy family? Or better yet, pen a novel and win a Pulitzer?”
“None of this is remotely funny—” He crushes me to him in a bear hug that snatches my breath.
I don’t resist. I enjoy being held by him too much.
When he releases me, I point at the house. “Time to tell me everything.”
Solemnity fills his eyes as he nods and follows me. I unlock the door and wait until we’re both inside before closing it. “Do you want a drink?”
He shakes his head. “No, I need you to know everything so we can start moving forward.”
I don’t tell him that may never happen, that my trust in him and this family is shattered. But I will hear him out and I gesture at the sofa, where we both sit, a yawning gap between us.
There’s an awkward pause, before he rushes in. “So I guess you figured I sent that ridiculous photo so you’d end our marriage hating me and expedite our divorce.”
I nod, fixing him with a dubious stare. “Stupid.”
“I know, but at the risk of sounding repetitive, I had to because the danger to you and Shelley was real. I received death threats, along with footage of you and Shelley at home, and photos at school, at the supermarket, everywhere.” He drags a hand through his hair and the urge to smooth it is strong. “I had no choice because they told me to leave or they’d make good on threats so to keep you safe I ran. I figured if I stayed off the radar and resumed investigating what I’d discovered at the company remotely I could get proof and ultimately get my life back, with you and Shelley in it.”
He sounds genuine but I need to hear all of it before I make any kind of decision that will affect my daughter’s future.
“So May was behind the threats?”
He nods, anguish twisting his mouth. “Back then, I noticed an anomaly in Parker Partnership’s finances. Millions being siphoned out. Mother must’ve flagged it because a day after I discovered it, I received the threats.”
“This is bizarre.” I press my fingers to my temples and massage them. “So why did you send those emails to me?”
He glances away, sheepish. “After regularly trying for years to infiltrate the company online to get proof of who’s behind everything, I discovered a flaw in their latest software program about two months ago and realized only five people have complete access to the program, three of the IT managers, Mom and Justin. But anyone who had access to the family’s bank account could hack into the program if they knew what they were doing.”
He shakes his head. “I couldn’t believe someone in the family could be responsible for stealing hundreds of millions, let alone getting me to stop investigating by threatening you and Shel, but I had to consider all possibilities so I needed to come home in order to delve deeper. But I know you trust everyone implicitly and would hate me after I abandoned you, so if I’d come to you, you wouldn’t believe a word I said. That’s when I sent those emails appealing to your investigative side, knowing you’d eventually reach out to me.”
“That’s awfully cocky of you.” Annoyed he knows me so well, I glare at him. “What if I’d gone directly to May after receiving those emails? Or Justin?”
“You’d never do that because you’ve always been protective of this family, but I knew you’d want to investigate because that’s who you are. And ultimately, you’d reach out to me.”
I shake my head. “There were so many potential flaws in your dumbass plan.”
“Yet I’m here and we now know the truth.”
It’s a sobering thought, the extent of May’s treachery, and we both know it.
“Do you think your reappearance rattled her and that’s why she lost the plot?”
“No, it didn’t faze her, because she probably thought I’d given up.” His stare is filled with concern. “I’m so sorry I inadvertently put you in danger again.”
I shrug, like his mother’s depravity means little, when in fact I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life about those last few moments when she’d lifted the top of that beehive.
“She was a desperate, delusional woman,” I say, sounding surprisingly calm. “It’s rather terrifying to think she wanted to mold our daughter, along with Jessie and Ellen, like some twisted puppet-master.”
He shudders and reaches for my hand. “It’s over and now you know the truth about me.”
He scoots closer and I let him take it. “I know you must think the Parkers are more trouble than we’re worth, after all you’ve been through. But I love you. I want to come home, be a husband and a father again.” He raises my hand to his lips and presses a kiss to the palm. “I want to make our marriage work.”
I want to believe him, I really do. His eyes radiate sincerity and his expression is guileless.
But I can’t ignore the fact this man lied to me five years ago and what’s to say he’s not doing the same now?
When I remain silent, he says, “I don’t expect you to take me back overnight, but I’m hoping we can start rebuilding trust and see what the future holds?”
Hope blooms in my chest but I squash it. I’m not the same naïve, trusting woman I was when I married him and into the almighty Parker family. I’m wiser now. Time to start acting like it.
“I need time,” I eventually say, and he seems appeased by that, bundling me into his arms for a hug.
Being a Parker has taught me one thing.
Who to trust.
And for now, the only person I completely trust is me.
Want to read another twisty women’s fiction novel from Nicola Marsh? Get The Scandal, her debut novel about three women and a secret child that tears their lives apart.
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The Scandal
My life is like one of those cheap snow globes my twins collected when they were younger. Shiny and pretty on the outside, blurred beyond recognition when shaken.
Ever since her twin girls left home, Marisa has felt there’s something missing from her life. Her sprawling mansion is no longer filled with laughter and chaos, and she’s desperate to feel needed... and to be distracted from the secret she’s been hiding from her husband for all these years.
Coffee with her best friends might be the only thing holding Marisa together. But Claire and Elly have their own secrets. Like why Claire hasn’t been to work in weeks, or why Elly won’t tell anyone who’s buying her flowers.
When Jodi, a pregnant young girl, turns up at Marisa’s doorstep, Marisa is quick to come to her aid. She sees herself in Jodi and she knows how devoting yourself to looking after others can take up all your time in the most marvellous way.
But Jodi’s arrival quickly pushes everyone’s lies to the surface. The father of her unborn child is someone the women know very well, and Marisa starts to wonder if her obsession with helping Jodi might come at a devastating price…
The Scandal has a twist that will take your breath away. An emotionally charged novel about secrets, affairs and perfect small towns from USA Today bestseller Nicola Marsh that will be devoured by fans of Kerry Fisher, Big Little Lies and The Other Woman.
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Books by Nicola Marsh
The Scandal
The Last Wife
Available in audio
The Scandal (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Nicola
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The Last Wife. If you enjoyed it, and want to keep up to date with my latest releases, please sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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The idea for The Last Wife came about in a most interesting way… at a child’s birthday party of all places! With kids cavorting among rides and building blocks, I discovered that a fellow parent had an unusual occupation: ethical hacker/penetration tester.
What followed was an intriguing conversation about the intricacies of the cyber world and the dark web. Fascinating stuff for an author whose imagination runs wild!
It made me wonder… what if the least likely person used this cyber knowledge to control and intimidate her family? And how far would she go?
I’m also intrigued by the behind-the-scenes machinations of families, particularly in-laws, and how often mismatched people are forced to socialize, all in the name of family. I loved creating the unique Parkers and I hope you have as much fun reading about their tribulations as I did creating them.