“But what about Sabrina?” he said.
“I won’t interfere with your little project, since it’s the only thing you seem to care about,” she said. “She can stay for as long as she wants, and you can keep on treating her. This isn’t her fault. It’s yours. You’re despicable. You’ll be hearing from my attorney next week, and if you don’t give me everything I want in the settlement, including full custody of the girls, I’ll tell the police everything you did.”
She started crying.
Lisa’s father didn’t defend himself. He shrugged and left the ballroom, slamming the door behind him. Lisa’s mother collapsed in a storm of grief, but Lisa rushed after her father. She could live with the knowledge of his crime; maybe her mother could, too, if her parents would just sit down and talk. She caught up with him in the driveway and grabbed his arm, preventing him from getting into his car.
“You can’t go,” she said. “Not like this.”
“Lisa, go back inside,” he said, trying to free himself.
“Please,” she said. “I don’t care what you did. I need you.”
He flung her away. Lisa lost her balance and fell. She was so startled that she didn’t try to get up. The sharp gravel on the driveway dug into her legs, and blood oozed out of a cut on her arm. Even though she was numb with horror, the pain allowed her to focus. She gazed up at her father’s bewildered face.
“Are you okay?” he said. “Lisa—”
He hesitated. Lisa waited for him to reach down and help her up, but he didn’t. As she watched, his expression gradually changed from uncertainty to anger.
“I told you to keep your mouth shut,” he said, and without another word, he climbed into his car and drove away.
Lisa knew she was supposed to cry, but she couldn’t. Her chest ached. She wondered if she was dying, and for a fleeting moment, the possibility didn’t seem entirely unpleasant. There was nothing she could do to explain herself to her father. He would never believe her, no matter how much she protested her innocence.
She sat on the ground for a long time while her mind wandered over the catastrophe. Eventually, the music inside the house stopped. The guests were getting ready to leave. Lisa got up, found her mother’s car in the driveway, and waited beside it until her mother arrived. Veronica was nowhere to be seen. Lisa guessed she was with Stephen. She knew Richard would take care of them, so she didn’t worry.
Her mother was still crying, and they drove back to the house without speaking. Lisa went into Veronica’s room and locked the door. She pulled off her dress and left it lying in a wrinkled heap on the carpet. It was only after she had changed into her pajamas and crawled under the covers that she began to sob.
She didn’t stop until she was too exhausted to continue. Lying there with her face buried against the pillow, she realized her problems were even bigger than she had thought. She hadn’t revealed her father’s secret, and neither had Sabrina, if her mother’s decision to let her stay was any indication. Someone else knew what her father had done and had used the information to intentionally harm her family.
She thought about Graham, but there was no way he could have found out, unless he had been spying on her family for months, and that was ridiculous. It was too complicated. The only certainty that remained in her life was the knowledge that nothing would ever be the same. Her father was gone, and she didn’t know if she would ever see him again. To her surprise, she missed him terribly.
Chapter 11
Lisa’s father drove to the hospital and sat in his car in the parking lot, fighting the despair that threatened to overwhelm him. Lisa had betrayed him, and her mother had rejected him. He couldn’t blame anyone except himself, but he had never felt such pain before. It gnawed him from the inside, and the tension in his body coiled itself into a lump that settled in his throat. He couldn’t get the image of Lisa’s anguished face out of his mind. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her when he had pushed her away.
The accusations of Lisa’s mother echoed in his head. She hadn’t even given him a chance to explain. The finality of her rejection broke his heart. He felt so guilty that he almost wished he could be locked up for his crimes, but he knew a confession alone wouldn’t be sufficient to convict him. He had covered his tracks too well; the evidence had been reduced to ashes.
The only thing he could do to make himself feel better was to distract himself. Sabrina couldn’t be allowed to die. If he failed to save her, the loss of his family would be meaningless. He decided to review the notes he had taken during Richard’s description of Peterson’s research. He climbed out of his car, but before he could enter the laboratory, his cell phone rang. It was Richard.
“Andrew, where are you?” he said.
“I’m at work,” said Lisa’s father.
“That’s a relief,” said Richard. “When you disappeared, I suspected the worst. Since you’re okay, let’s get one thing straight: I don’t appreciate being stranded at Hamilton Estate, especially when my grandchildren are involved. Not only was it incredibly awkward, but it was also expensive. Do you have any idea how much it costs to hire a taxi in this dysfunctional town?”
“I’ll reimburse you,” said Lisa’s father.
“Forget it,” said Richard. “That’s not why I called. I had an unfortunate conversation with Graham at the reception, and he knows an awful lot about Sabrina. He pretended Molly told him, but she’s too scatterbrained.”
“Richard, I’m not in the
