Page 140 of Deliverance

“It was an easy way to stop his questions and inherit his entire fortune. But that weasel changed his will without me knowing!” she seethes. “He changed it and left his entire fortune to?—”

“Me,” I say, shaking my head. It makes sense why she was so hateful after his death. When we had the reading of the will, she sobbed for days. I thought it was because she missed him. She didn’t miss him at all, she was devastated because he left her penniless.

“You, his little pride and joy,” she says with a mocking wrinkle of her nose. “I needed a new husband, and fast.”

“Why not just marry Thomas, then?” Bridgette questions. “When Matthew died, Thomas was plenty wealthy.”

True.

“Harry and I had some…disagreements of our own. He owed me a substantial amount for an investment I placed with him, he thought he didn’t. We settled on you as payment,” he says to Bridgette.

“But my mom was planted as a way to still get your money,” I say with a shake of my head, my mind reeling as I try to keep up with curveball after curveball that’s being thrown my way.

“We were going to wait a little longer before taking care of Harry, but you did the heavy lifting for us. Thank you for that, sweetheart.” Thomas nods. “Tonight, Calista will file a missing person’s report. After an appropriate amount of time, they will find Harry’s car burnt to a crisp just outside of Boston. Terrible accident. Hardly any remains left. So tragic,” he says, his smile still in place.

“My father didn’t leave me or Brad in his will?” Bridgette questions.

“No, I double checked this time,” Calista says proudly.

Bridgette rolls her eyes, clearly not surprised, but disgusted in her dad all the same.

“So, all those times you raped me? Held me down as I was screaming and begging. Let my father watch before he joined in or jerked off in the corner as he tore me apart piece by piece. That was all…for what? Kicks?” Bridgette asks bitterly.

Calista frowns, turning to face Thomas.

“I thought you said you never touched her.”

He rubs his hand on her back, keeping his narrowed eyes on Bridgette for a moment before speaking.

“I did what I had to do to keep up the charade, my love. Brenton loved playing with his little girl and part of the contract was that he would still have full access to her. That he could join in whenever. I had to make it believable.”

My mom pouts at that, walking up to Bridgette before delivering a sharp slap.

“Fucking slut,” she spits.

Bridgette cradles her cheek as Thomas grabs my mom by the hair, quite literally bringing her to heel at his side.

“What happened to my mother?” Bridgette asks, dropping her hand from her face.

Thomas looks at her, puzzled for a moment, before he has an ‘ah ha’ moment.

“Oh, nothing. She died giving birth to your sorry ass. That was a carrot I just knew you couldn’t resist.”

Hurt and pain flash across Bridgette’s face while I try to take control of the room.

“So, what now?” I ask.

I’m not stupid. They just admitted to one count of homicide, another count of attempted premeditated murder, and I’m pretty sure whatever poor soul is burnt to a crisp in Harry’s car didn’t die of natural causes. They don’t plan on letting either of us walk out of here.

Thomas grins, pride shining off him.

“Straight to the point, a woman after my own heart.”

Disgusting prick.

“It’s really quite easy. All we need from you is to write down the account credentials of the trust your father set up for you.”

“What if I don’t?” I ask, seeing what kind of leverage I have.