Chapter 10 - Audrey Finally Told the Whole StoryAudrey asked for one complete conversation.
Gavin agreed only with Dr. Marks present.
“No lawyers?”
“No legal details.”
“No Paige?”
“Audrey.”
“Sorry.”
They sat across from each other.
Audrey started without being prompted.
“The Seattle trip.”
Gavin remained silent.
“You left after we fought.”
“I remember.”
“We were angry about work. You’d canceled our anniversary weekend.”
“Yes.”
“Reid came over because the upstairs pipe was leaking.”
Gavin almost laughed.
“The cliché is offensive.”
Audrey cried.
“I know.”
They drank wine.
Talked.
Complained about Gavin.
Then crossed the line.
Twice over four days.
“When I came home?” Gavin asked.
“I ended it.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved you.”
He looked at her.
Audrey corrected herself.
“Because I loved you and I wanted to avoid the consequences.”
Better.
“A month later?”
“I was pregnant.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did Reid?”
“He knew it was possible.”
“Then you told him it wasn’t.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted him away.”
“Then why make him godfather?”
“You asked.”
“You could have refused.”
“I was afraid that would look strange.”
Gavin almost laughed.
Fear again.
“What about the test?”
“When Mia was six weeks old.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You wanted certainty.”
“Yes.”
“And when you got it?”
“I panicked.”
“Did you consider telling me?”
“Every day.”
“That’s not the same as deciding to tell me.”
“No.”
“Then Darlene found it.”
“Yes.”
“She demanded twenty thousand.”
“Yes.”
“You paid.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“I hated her.”
Gavin watched her.
Audrey continued.
“She had power over me.”
“So you took power back.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Humiliation.”
There.
“Why keep Reid close?”
Audrey stared at her hands.
“I think I needed someone who knew the version of me from before the test.”
“The version that cheated?”
She flinched.
“Fair.”
Gavin continued.
“Did you love him?”
“I loved being wanted by him.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want a life with him?”
“No.”
“Do you want our marriage?”
Audrey started crying.
“Yes.”
Gavin felt nothing he expected.
No relief.
No triumph.
Just sadness.
“I don’t know if I do.”
She froze.
“Because of the affair?”
“Because of the six years.”
Audrey looked down.
“Okay.”
“And because you used Mia as somewhere to put your fear.”
She cried harder.
“Okay.”
“And because I don’t know who we were while I thought we were something else.”
Audrey nodded.
“Okay.”
No bargaining.
That mattered.
Gavin asked:
“Did you ever think the truth would actually destroy us?”
“Yes.”
“Look at me.”
She did.
“The truth hurt.”
“Yes.”
“The lie built the explosion.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Afterward, Gavin sat alone in his car.
His phone buzzed.
Reid.
I’M STEPPING DOWN AS COO.
Gavin stared.
Then:
YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO SEE ME EVERY DAY WHILE YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT I BROKE.
It was the first action Reid had taken that required no emotional reward from Gavin.
He replied:
UNDERSTOOD.
Nothing more.
Then Detective Shaw called.
“We found another recording.”
Gavin sighed.
“What?”
“Darlene and her sister.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
“Play it.”
Darlene’s voice sounded exhausted.
“I need to quit.”
Monique:
“Then quit.”
“If I leave, Audrey destroys me.”
“Then tell the truth first.”
Silence.
Darlene:
“I’ll lose everything.”
Monique:
“You’re already losing yourself.”
Gavin stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
Darlene whispered:
“I’m scared one day I’ll take it out on someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Gavin closed his eyes.
Months before the kitchen.
She knew.
Monique said:
“Then leave before that day comes.”
The recording ended.
Gavin stared through the windshield.
Darlene had seen the danger.
Named it.
Been warned.
Stayed.
The kitchen had not been an unforeseeable snap.
May you like
It was the day a warning finally became action.
And that fact would matter when consequences arrived.
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