They Voted to Replace Me at My Own Wedding novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: What Gwen Knew

Gwen was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs when I came in out of the cold.

It was after ten at night, and the lake house was silent.

"Before you see her," Gwen said. "I have to tell you something, and I'd rather do it standing up."

I took off my coat slowly.

"Three years ago my father had me wait in his car outside a warehouse," she said. "He said it was time I learned the business."

"I was twenty-six. I sat in the back seat and watched the building burn."

"My uncle by marriage came out of the smoke and got in beside me. He had a phone in his hand, and he said, 'It's done. The boy wouldn't stop talking.'"

My throat closed.

"What did Eli say?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." Her voice cracked. "I knew whose boy he was. I knew it that night."

"In the pantry you told Marcello your father gave the order."

"I told him that. I didn't tell him I was sitting twenty feet away when it was carried out."

The grandfather clock in the hall ticked.

I wanted to hit her. I wanted to hit somebody, and I had already used up my one slap.

"You stood next to me in a pantry and drank tea," I said.

"Yes."

"You let me stand in that chapel not knowing."

"I didn't know about the drive, June."

"You knew about my brother."

"Yes."

"Did you ever think of telling me?"

"Every day." She didn't look away. "I'm a coward. It runs in the family. I'm here to stop."

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