Betrayed: She Took My Son novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Supervised

Philip came to the farm on a Sunday in June, in a used pickup with a cracked taillight.

He had sold the Audi. I knew because Dot told me, and Dot knew because the whole county talked about nothing else.

He parked at the gate and waited to be waved in.

Dot's husband waved him in with one finger.

I stood on the porch with Liam on my hip.

Clayton leaned in the barn doorway across the yard and did not come any closer.

Philip got out and took off his cap.

He had lost weight. He had a new haircut, and there was gray at his temples that I didn't remember.

"Thank you for letting me come," he said.

"Dot is going to sit in the kitchen with us."

"Good."

"Thirty minutes. If you miss a Sunday, it ends."

"I won't miss one."

"What did the prosecutor say?"

He had been waiting for me to ask.

"I gave a statement for four hours," he said. "All of it. Nine months with Lacey. The paper I signed. The visits I never made."

"You told them about the affair."

"I told them it was mine. I told them she was twenty-three and living under my roof, and I was the adult."

His jaw worked.

"I'll testify at her sentencing. It won't help me with anyone."

"And your license?"

"The state board has it. I turned it in myself."

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