Joseph stood frozen beside the idling Maybach. He stared at Deanna, his legs suddenly too heavy to move. She looked like a corpse dragged out of a shallow grave, her clothes torn, her hands dripping blood onto his pristine driveway.
Candy didn't miss a beat. Seeing her protector arrive, she shifted her expression instantly. The cruel sneer vanished, replaced by wide, tear-filled eyes. She scrambled down the marble steps, clutching Poppy to her chest, and threw herself at Joseph.
"Joseph!" Candy sobbed, burying her face in his shoulder. "She broke in! She smashed my phone and tried to grab Poppy! She's completely lost her mind!"
Joseph reacted on pure instinct. He wrapped his arms tightly around Candy and the little girl, pulling them flush against his chest. His large hand stroked Candy's back in a soothing, rhythmic motion.
That simple, subconscious gesture of protection twisted a rusty blade deep into Deanna's gut. It shattered whatever microscopic fragment of hope she had left.
Deanna wiped the tears from her face with the back of her wrist, smearing blood across her cheek. She dragged her injured leg forward, her boots crunching loudly on the gravel as she closed the distance between them.
Joseph looked up over Candy's shoulder. His eyes were a chaotic mess of guilt and panic. He tried to soften his face, attempting to summon the gentle tone he used to use to calm her down.
"Deanna," Joseph started, his voice trembling slightly. "Let's just calm down. This is all a massive misunderstanding."
The nausea hit Deanna again. "Misunderstanding?" she snapped, pointing a shaking finger at the five-year-old girl hiding against his leg. "Did you misunderstand the timeline before I left for the Middle East?"
Joseph's jaw tightened. He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose-his telltale sign of lying. "It was a mistake. I was drunk... it was a business dinner... I thought you were dead..."
"Shut up!" Deanna lunged forward. She grabbed the silk fabric of his expensive tie, wrapping it around her fist, and yanked him downward so he was forced to look her in the eyes.
"Where are my parents?" Deanna demanded, her voice vibrating with a terrifying intensity. "And what the hell did you do to their trust fund?"
At the mention of her parents, Joseph's pupils contracted to pinpricks. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple. He grabbed Deanna's wrists, trying to pry her fingers off his tie.
Deanna held on with a death grip. Her knuckles turned white. Her fingernails dug through his shirt, scratching the skin of his neck.
Two security guards sprinted up the driveway, reaching for Deanna's shoulders to rip her away.
Joseph held up a hand, stopping them. He needed to maintain his image. He couldn't have his ex-wife dragged away screaming about stolen money.
Joseph took a deep breath. He smoothed out his features, replacing the panic with a mask of profound, tragic sorrow.
"Deanna," Joseph said, his voice dropping to a somber whisper. "During your first year missing, your father made a terrible investment on Wall Street. A massive fraud scheme. The family went completely bankrupt."
Deanna's eyes widened. She shook her head violently. "No. My father was conservative. He never touched high-risk portfolios. You're lying."
Joseph ignored her, his tone turning icy and clinical. "They couldn't handle the shame of the bankruptcy. They locked themselves in the old estate in Connecticut."
Joseph paused, letting the silence stretch for a fraction of a second before delivering the kill shot.
"A year ago, a fire broke out in the middle of the night. They both died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning."
Died in a fire.
The words detonated in Deanna's brain. The sound of roaring flames filled her ears, entirely deafening her. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision.
Deanna let go of his tie. She stumbled backward, her boots slipping on the gravel. "No," she mumbled, her lips numb. "No, no, no. It's a lie."
Candy peeked out from behind Joseph's back, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Joseph even paid for their funeral out of his own pocket. You should be thanking him for handling their ashes."
Betrayal. Erasure. The murder of her parents.
The triple impact of the trauma hit Deanna's nervous system all at once. It was too much. The human brain wasn't built to process this level of destruction.
A sharp, tearing pain ripped through Deanna's chest, as if her heart had literally split in two. Her throat closed up entirely. She couldn't breathe.
Deanna clutched the fabric over her chest, her fingers twisting the material. Her knees buckled. She crashed down hard onto the sharp cobblestones.
Joseph took a half-step forward, his hand reaching out instinctively to catch her.
Candy's manicured fingers dug into Joseph's bicep like claws, jerking him back. She shot him a warning glare that screamed don't touch her.
Deanna threw her head back, looking up at the pale, indifferent moon. A horrific, animalistic scream tore out of her throat-a sound of pure, unadulterated agony.
She bit down on her lip so hard that a stream of hot, dark blood poured from her mouth, dripping down her chin and staining her collar.
Her eyes rolled back into her head. Her body went completely limp, dropping forward like a severed marionette. Her forehead cracked against the cold stones, and the world faded into absolute blackness.
Joseph stared at the pool of blood forming under Deanna's face. Panic finally broke through his composed mask. He ripped his phone from his pocket and dialed the emergency number for the private hospital he owned shares in.
