Page 66 of Wicked Promises
He waits for my realization to dawn.
The Ashers are wicked, wicked people.
How we ever got caught in their web is almost inconceivable. Dad should’ve known Ben wasn’t the same person he went to school with—that money had corrupted him. But it seems to stand that Lydia Asher is just as bad.
A memory filters back to me. I was looking for Caleb—another game of hide and seek in his huge house—and overheard them. I didn’t recognize him at the time, didn’t have any idea who he was except that he wasn’t Caleb’s dad. But they were in the bedroom…
What kind of conspiracy were they discussing? That was before Caleb’s dad was murdered.
“Were they planning something?” I ask woodenly.
Caleb’s expression closes.
If they were planning, would it be horrible to blame them?
For Ben’s murder.
Dad’s arrest.
Mom’s addiction.
And Lydia… well, she became an outcast. That couldn’t have been part of the plan.
“Did your dad cut your mom out of the will?” I ask.
Caleb stops short. “How do you know that?”
I hum. So the rumor Lenora heard was true. It made sense, what with everything we’re learning. “Lydia and Tobias were in bed together—figurativelyandliterally. She left you with youruncle and went where, to work in a shitty diner for the rest of her life?”
Theo whistles. “She’s finally asking the right questions.”
“Assuming Tobias and Lydia are still relatively close… how is Matt related?”
Caleb pauses. “What do you mean?”
“You went to him,” I say slowly. “He knew the diner. Did he see your mom? Did he figure out who my stalker is?”
Liam and Theo are standing now, too, creeping closer. Our voices are getting softer. This type of thing, it’s too big to talk about loudly.
I look over my shoulder, toward the front door. I closed it, but… maybe I should’ve locked it, too.
“Mom knew Matt,” Caleb says. “He was my friend, she had seen him around.”
“But does she know him currently?” I prod. “Did she recognize him?”
He stares at the ceiling, blowing out a breath. “Fuck.”
“That’s not an answer,” Eli calls from the couch. He’s still got the vodka in his hand, and his cheeks are red.
Besides Eli, they’re all focusing on me. Caleb seems to be concentrating. Maybe trying to read my mind. I take in his expression: slightly furrowed brows, searing blue eyes, his lips pursed.
Then he says, “I don’t know if he kept digging. Matt took me to the diner, and my mother recognized him. Greeted him by name.”
“The plot thickens,” Eli sings. “You think that means he’s involved?”
Liam stomps over and snatches the bottle from Eli’s grip. “Let’s take this seriously.”
Eli tsks. “I could punch you for that. And Iamtaking it seriously. But this is all conspiracy shit. We’ve got no proof except that car, which is circumstantial at best.”