Page 118 of A Lethal Game of Trust

I blinked an eye roll.

“You are holding its hand,” she said, squinting as Dom sat and pulled me onto his knee. “Now it’s sitting on your lap.”

“She is, yeah,” Dom said. Instead of holding my hand, he rubbed circles on my back. “We’re together, Aunt El.”

“Together,” she parroted. “She has a boyfriend, Dominic. She’s bad news.”

“Shedoeshave a boyfriend,” Dom said patiently, looking up at me. “Me.”

“No. Another boyfriend. That boy with the creepy smile and the patronising voice.”

Dom cocked a brow at me, trying to hide his laughter. “I know the one.”

“See? She’s a cheat just like her father,” she said and turned back to her colouring book. Each stroke of the felt tip pen was rough and hard. Her work had been neat up until our arrival. Now, she had no issue drawing outside of the lines. “Stay well away, Dominic. You deserve better.”

Just like her father.She’d made the claims over and over, butthere had never been any proof. When it first slipped from her lips eight years ago, I had searched through as much as I could without returning to the house. I’d asked Derek and Julia, but they had never heard of anything so ridiculous.

Her paranoia often brought the two of us to tears.

“Mum, I’m not with Jared anymore. I’m with Dom.”

“Exactly. Flavour of the month is all you are, Dom. You’re too good for her. Just like Luís, moving on to the next.”

“Mum—”

“Aunt El,” Dom started, his voice gentle as he took her hand to stop her angry colouring, “I’ve loved Leonie for ten years — longer, even. If anything,sheis too good forme. She’s a credit to you, Elena.”

Her back straightened and she dropped the pen. It rolled off the paper and onto the floor at her feet. “Yes, well, we did raise her well.”

“Remember last time I told you she was training to be a lecturer?”

My brows lowered. Last time? And that ‘last time’ would have to be pretty recent.

She nodded slowly, but her voice had bite, “Yes, of course I do.”

“And what did you say?” he prodded, his hand under my top, those circles warm in my skin.

“I said she was always too good for our world.”

“And that she got out.”

“She got out,” she repeated, her eyes glassy as she stared out at the lake, “but then she didn’t come back.”

“I’m here now,” I said, reaching to put my hand over Dom’s.

“Yes,” she said, pulling her eyes away from the water. “You got out, but you’re here now.”

45

The Family Line

Dom

For the whole two-hour drive to Darley, Leonie had fidgeted. Her eyes had roved the countryside we passed. We had stopped three times to fill up her water bottle and get some snacks. I had never seen her drink so much, but if she wasn’t drinking, she was fiddling with the bottle cap.

Getting ready at my apartment, she listened to the playlist we had made without singing along. She trembled as she pulled out the dress she was going to wear. A sleek, satin black mini-dress with a square neck.

The second it was on her, I was ready to take it off.