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That was the year Trey went away to college. He was the last of my brothers to leave, and the others were still away at school, either in the master’s program or PhD. Since I no longer had my protectors there as often, Helen let her mask slip. When the boys were still around, they made sure Dad and I had time alone with each other.
That all stopped that year. Helen insisted that Mitzie, who lived with and saw my Dad every day, had to be a part of everything we did. If I said anything, I was yelled at, and to keep the peace, Dad always made me take low.
He had no idea that my anger turned to rage and slowly simmered into loathing. I saw the once loving, strong man, who I had once held above everyone else, become a despicable cliché.
I always knew I was going to make them pay. Though I never spoke of my inner feelings with anyone. Not even Sherry, my closest friend. I used to keep journals until I realized the dangers of someone else finding them, so I burned them all. But everything was already imprinted on my brain, some things you just never forget.
I will never forget him paying more attention to someone else’s daughter while neglecting his own. Never forgive him for standing by while Helen talked down to me and ripped my mother apart out of her petty jealousy.
Something else I made sure to do was to excel in school. I knew that meant a lot to Dad, and because Helen loved making comparisons, I knew it would stick in her craw that I was better than her kid in every way. What she didn’t know was about the things her kid was getting up to when she was supposed to be at school.
When I graduated, she did some shady shit to get her diploma, and I know all the details. I’ve been covering my tracks over the years, and no one, not even my brothers, knew about any of this. About the fact that I have been collecting incriminating and reputation-killing evidence for the past ten years.
It suddenly hit me that Garrett knew my darkest secrets and didn’t seem the least bit fazed, which makes me wonder just how crazy he is. I knew why I was doing it; my moral core wouldn’t let me do anything different, but what the hell was his excuse?
“Why are you helping me?”
“Why wouldn’t I help my wife?”
“It can’t be that simple.”
“But it is. If what you were doing would put you in any danger, I’d find ways around it, but I’ve already told you I only have one bottom line that must never be crossed. Everything else is fair game. Besides, they fucked with my woman, that’s not allowed.”
“But you didn’t even know me then.”
“Doesn’t matter. It means enough to you after all these years, so it must be important. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”
“Are you trying to make me like you or something?” He choked on his orange juice and looked at me.
“You really don’t hold back, do you?”
“Did you want me to?”
“No, I like this straightforward, no shits given approach. I’ll always know where I stand.”
“If it gets to be too much, let me know.”
“No, don’t change who you are, not even for me, baby.” He’s so freaking smooth. I can’t stand him.
HELEN
What the hell is going on? Why does it seem like everything that can go wrong has in the last few months? If I didn’t know better, I’d think someone had it out for me, but I have no enemies with that kind of power. In fact, for the last fifteen years or so, I have been the one with the power.
Once I left my shiftless husband and married up, my and my daughter’s lives have been on easy street. I know what some people say behind my back, but none of them would dare say it to my face because of my husband’s standing in the community.
I was able to hold my head up even after breaking up a marriage, which most people seem to have forgotten with time. My ex-husband came from nothing, and though we loved each other for a time, love doesn’t pay the bills after all.
I had a child to raise and I wanted better for her. What’s so wrong with that? Once I realized that I had a way with men and didn’t have to just settle for the boy I met in high school, I decided to set my sights higher. I didn’t want to kill myself working for the rest of my life after all, and with my looks, why shouldn’t I shoot for the stars?
Corbin had been easy. I knew once I got him to open up about his home life, especially the fact that his wife wasn’t putting out because of her depression, that it would be child’s play getting him in my bed, and from there, I would do the rest.
The only fly in my ointment had been his kids, especially his bitch daughter who wanted to be Daddy’s girl, while leaving my kid out in the cold. It had been a long, hard fight, but I eventually won there too. But the little bitch had lost her mind, and since then, everything has gone to shit.
I knew I should’ve called the cops that night. She broke in here and attacked us. Things would be so different now if I had, I’m sure. But the truth is, I felt him slipping away long before that. It started when she didn’t invite him to her graduation when he had to hear about her valedictorian speech from others.
Or maybe it started long before that and I just never realized. I was too busy enjoying my new status to care about him sulking. After his attack of conscience when I threatened to sue him and the company all those years ago, I sensed a shift even then, but as long as I got what I wanted, I didn’t care about anything else.
I was Corbin’s wife, and my kid was enrolled in one of the best schools in the area, where she got to meet the sons and daughters of the wealthier citizens. She got to wear better clothes, and so did I. It didn’t matter that I had to force him; I didn’t care as long as I got to live the life I always dreamed of.
