The Last Invitation (28)

Kennedy glared at Jessa. “Show him the note.”

“What’s happening?” Poor Liam rushed to catch up but kept falling behind. Most of his focus seemed to be on Kennedy and her reason for being unexpectedly home. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

Gabby’s world upended and kept spinning. She tried to stay on her feet and ended up leaning into the kitchen stool. “Liam, we need—”

“Tell him!” Kennedy’s scream echoed off the kitchen walls.

Mother. She still had a role, and she needed to play it. “Kennedy, that’s enough. I know you’re upset, but this isn’t easy for any of us.”

Wrong words. Gabby heard her mistake as soon as the sentence slipped out.

“Us? Like, this is about you?” Kennedy didn’t hold back. “You can’t be serious.”

In any other situation, on any other topic, Gabby would step in and hold the line. There were limits to Kennedy’s behavior. She’d grown up with commonsense discipline and had slammed more than one door over the years, but this intensity, the hate rolling off her, stunned Gabby. She wanted to stop it, but she knew she deserved every spite-filled word.

But Liam didn’t know this wasn’t the average teen meltdown. “Hey, that’s enough. Since when do you talk to your mother like that?” He sounded shocked and appalled.

Kennedy turned on him. “Did you know?”

No, Gabby couldn’t let Kennedy blame Liam. Not for this. Only one person deserved to shoulder the blame here. “He doesn’t.”

“I hate you.” Kennedy put all her energy into the horrible yell. Her voice shook, and she nearly doubled over before she ran out of the room and stomped down the hall.

Liam’s eyes widened. “What the hell? Why is she even home?”

“You should sit.”

“Is that about her dad?”

Oh, Liam. “There are reasons for what I did. You’re not going to want to hear them at first. You’ll be too lost. Too pissed off. But I hope you’ll let me explain. Later.”

He sat down, putting them almost at eye level. “Gab, I have no idea what’s going on.”

Of course he didn’t. He trusted and believed and was about to learn what a huge mistake it had been to invest anything in her. Their having grown up together didn’t forgive this. Her having given in to an attraction she’d fought for as long as she could remember didn’t absolve either of them, but most of the blame fell on her.

But who knew? Who would do this?

She inhaled, trying to center her body for what was to come, and handed over the envelope. “Someone gave this to Kennedy at school.”

“Did she do something wrong, because right now that shouldn’t be held . . .” He kept staring at the paper, likely reading it over and over, until his head finally snapped up. “Gabby?”

She didn’t have to explain the meaning behind the sentences. She and Baines had separated years ago, for the first time, after only a few months of marriage. He’d immediately settled in and started focusing every minute on the business while she wrestled with bar exam preparations and nagging doubts about them as a couple. And Liam was there. He was always there, and for so long she’d pretended not to know how he felt about her . . . or that she fought an unexpected tug in the same direction.

Two months. That’s how long the separation back then lasted, how long she secretly spent every moment she could with Liam instead of her husband.

“No one knows. I don’t know how . . . or why. The fact they—whoever they are—went after Kennedy is terrifying. It shows they don’t have any boundaries.” She kept talking, letting the words tumble out. Anything to get a hint of relief before her entire world collapsed on top of her. “They had to . . . I don’t know. Invade my privacy? Find my medical records, somehow. I’d been so careful. So—”

The stool screeched against the hardwood floor as Liam pushed back and stood up. “You promised me.”

He cut through all her nonsense babbling and dove straight to the point she ached to avoid. She never realized how much she’d tamped down and pushed away to keep this secret, how much energy this lie sucked up, until that moment. But his face. That pained expression. She’d done that to him.

“I know,” she said in a whisper.

“When you found out you were pregnant, I came to you. We sat down, and you promised me—”

“I lied.” She’d invented a complicated story about birth control and timing, and Liam had bought it. He’d depended on her to be honest, and she’d used the trust built up over a lifetime against him.

“Kennedy is . . .”

“Your daughter.” God, she’d never said it out loud before. Not those words. She waited for relief to rush in, but there was no room right now.

“My . . .” He stumbled back before regaining his balance. “Jesus, Gabby. Why would you keep that from me?”

“My choice wasn’t about you.”

“Bullshit.”

She rushed to explain, even though she knew the words wouldn’t be enough. “You and Baines jointly shared responsibility for your sister. She’d stopped leaving the house, and her health spiraled. She needed both of you and . . . and . . . I knew if I told you that the battle would be devastating and you two wouldn’t have worked together to help her or the business.”