Chapter 14 - The Storage Door
“Give me the key,” Marcus said.
Simone did not move.
“You had no right to come here.”
“My name is on the access list.”
“You had no right.”
“Give me the key.”
She looked at the open bins.
Her face collapsed.
For the first time, Marcus saw panic without anger covering it.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You hid Nia’s things. You forged a psychologist’s signature. You tried to send my daughter away. You hid Evan’s letters from Caleb. You met him behind my back.”
Simone’s eyes filled.
“I wanted my family.”
“This was never a family to you. It was a picture you wanted to control.”
She flinched.
Marcus held out his hand.
“The key.”
Instead, she pressed the remote.
The storage door began lowering.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Simone.”
She backed outside.
The metal door came down.
Marcus grabbed the bottom edge and shoved upward.
For a few seconds, the motor fought him.
Then the safety sensor reversed.
Simone ran.
Marcus followed.
She reached his car first.
He stopped ten feet away.
“I’m calling the police.”
“Go ahead!”
“Give me the key.”
“You’re destroying my life!”
“No. I’m finding out what you did with it.”
She threw the key.
It landed near his shoe.
Then she sank against the side of the car and began sobbing.
“I was jealous.”
Marcus did not respond.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds accurate.”
“She had you first.”
“Nia is my child.”
“I mean Alicia.”
Marcus stared at her.
Simone wiped her face.
“You still loved her.”
“She died.”
“That didn’t answer me.”
Marcus’s anger softened into something colder.
“Of course I still loved her. She was my wife. She was Nia’s mother. Loving her memory did not stop me from loving you.”
“It did for me.”
“That is not Nia’s burden.”
Simone shook her head.
“I tried. I really tried.”
“You locked her in a pantry.”
“I know.”
“You left her at a cemetery.”
“I know.”
“You took food from her.”
“I know!”
The parking lot went quiet.
Marcus heard her words echo.
She looked at him.
“I never hit her.”
As if that saved something.
Marcus took out his phone.
“I’m calling Mara.”
Simone’s face changed again.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“There’s something you need to know about Nia.”
Marcus froze.
Simone laughed through tears.
“You think Alicia was perfect?”
“Don’t.”
“She wasn’t.”
“Do not use a dead woman to change this.”
“I’m not.”
Simone reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope.
Old.
Yellowed at the edges.
Marcus recognized Alicia’s handwriting before Simone said a word.
His name was on the front.
Unopened.
Simone held it between them.
“I found this two years ago,” she said.
Marcus could barely speak.
“Where?”
“In the back of your old desk.”
He stared at the letter.
May you like
Simone’s voice dropped.
“You might want to read what your perfect wife never told you.”
