Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 128356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“See?” Regis says. “I didn’t murder your dear mother, Jude.”
“Just because you didn’t stab her physically doesn’t mean you didn’t kill her a thousand times over the past twenty years.” Jude’s panting, his hand gripping me so powerfully, it hurts a bit, but I still stroke the back of it with my thumb, trying to ease some of what’s paining him.
“She killed herself,” Regis says.
“Father!” Julian shakes his head.
“What the fuck did you just say?” Jude asks.
“Enough is enough. Julian said you didn’t have the mental capacity to accept or even face Susie’s true image and that if we let you play the role of slasher for a while, you’d come back to your senses, but that obviously didn’t work. Killing all those people only made you feel hollow and brought no sense of peace whatsoever. And for whom? A woman who attempted to kill you?”
“Shut up.” Jude’s whispering now.
“Why? Because you don’t want to recall the times she held you underwater in the tub when you were six years old? When the bubbles escaped your mouth and you thrashed and screamed, but she didn’t let go? Or when she held a pillow to your face, trying to smother you when you were eight? Or the fact that she tried to kill you several times after birth when you couldn’t have remembered? Because I do. If Julian, Lucia, or I hadn’t gotten there in time, I’d be one son down.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Your mother was mentally unwell, Jude. Just because you refuse to acknowledge it doesn’t mean it wasn’t true. Sure, she loved and doted on you when she was in her normal phases, but she also seemed to have a strange contempt for you on her off days. If you hadn’t gone on a hunger strike and nearly died at six after I locked her up in a mental institute where she belonged, I would’ve never allowed her back in. I only did so because she promised to medicate, but how often did she flush her medication down the toilet? How often did she play the victim just to make you defend her and prevent me from forcibly admitting her again?”
“That’s not true.” Jude’s shaking his head, his eyes glassy. “Even if it were, she only became mentally unwell because she married you.”
“It’s the other way around.” Regis releases a long sigh. “Marrying that woman was my tragedy.”
“Then why didn’t you let her go?”
“She wouldn’t leave no matter what I offered and even threatened that if I kicked her out, she’d devise a way to take you with her and never let me see you again.” Regis lets out a low chuckle. “You probably don’t know this, but she’s the one who came on to me, not the other way around.”
“Liar.”
“It’s true.” Julian swirls his glass of wine. “She stalked him for years while he was married. I saw her in all the places we went to, even when I was young. She used her family’s power and influence to get close to Father until she eventually had her way. I recently found out she was the reason behind my mother’s suicide, though unintentionally. My poor mother was led to believe Father was cheating on her again, and she couldn’t handle it, so she overdosed on pills, paving the way for Susie to walk right in.”
“You’re fucking lying.” Jude’s speaking so gutturally, it makes my chest hurt. “Mom would never—”
“Because she was so sweet and caring?” Julian laughs. “I fell for that, too, but that woman was very mentally disturbed.”
Annalise flinches at his words, but I can’t focus on her, because Jude’s face is pale, his grip growing lax.
“And while we’re at it, all those babies she was so obsessed with having?” Regis says. “Most of them happened because she’d take my sperm to clinics for in vitro fertilization, Mr. Sperm Donor’s son.”
“Enough!” Jude stands up. “I won’t sit here and listen to you slander my dead fucking mother just because you can’t take accountability for your actions.”
“I admit I was wrong,” Regis says. “I should’ve freed you from her claws before she converted you with her propaganda.”
“If you think I believe either of you, then you must be out of your mind.”
“Believe your memories, then.” Regis rises and motions at Lucia, who’s standing by the door. “Do you ever recall the dark side or are you too far gone and they’re always roses and sunshine?”
Jude’s shoulders are so crowded with tension, I’m afraid they’ll snap.
“I’m happy for you to consider me the devil, but your mother was no saint.” Regis grabs the envelope from Lucia. “Julian said it’s better we spare you the disappointment since she was the only light in your life, but your constant worship of her is starting to grate on my nerves. Either hate us both or stop with the high-and-mighty speech.”