Covet - Eve Vaughn Page 0,54

nights I fucked her until the demon that rode my back was satisfied.

This was starting to take a toll on me. The guilt had become too much. She might had been mine first, but ultimately she had been my brother’s wife, and there was no amount of justifying what I’d done.

I had to face facts that it might be time to send her off and forget about her. Clearly I couldn’t trust myself around her, and maybe I never would be able to. Feelings that I thought I had buried had resurfaced, and the times I thought I was punishing her, I was really punishing myself.

I pushed away from my desk and left my office with the intention to confront her.

Frankie was in her room looking through an old photo album I had stored away in the basement. She didn’t seem to notice me at first, but I watched her as she thumbed through the pages. The sight of her gazing so casually at our family pictures angered me.

I strode over to her and snatched the album out of her hand. “This is off limits to you.”

She didn’t answer or even look up at me which further fueled my ire.

“Get your stuff together. You’re leaving today.”

That seemed to get her attention because she finally looked at me. “You’re actually allowing me to go home?”

“I don’t care where you go, but you need to leave today.”

Frankie slowly rose to her feet. “Will I still get the rest of the money?”

Her answer shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did all the same. “You’ll still get your money, bitch. I just need you to be gone.”

“You act as if I didn’t earn every single penny of it. You have made me regret life every single minute I’ve been here. I will gladly leave, but you won’t make me feel guilty about accepting the money.”

“It’s always been about the money with you. You married my brother for his money and then ended up killing him. I’m not sure how you did it, but given the fact that you’re a medical professional, you found a way didn’t you.”

She took a deep breath. “Kenny died from natural causes. I’m sure you spoke to the coroner who told you the same.”

“As I said, you probably found a way to make it look natural.”

She sighed. “Believe what you want, Nick. If you really think I did something to Kenny, you would have contacted the police, but you never did.”

“You know damn well there wasn’t anything I could do about it without definitive proof.”

Frankie sighed heavily before moving past me. I grabbed her by the arm. “Oh no, you’re not going to walk away from me. I’m not finished talking to you. Just fucking admit what you did.”

“I didn’t do anything! No matter what I say you will never believe me.”

Deep down I knew she was right, but I wasn’t willing to just let this go. “What did you do to my brother?”

“Stop this, Nick.”

“Tell me!”

“Just let it go, okay? If you keep pushing for answers, you’re not going to like what you hear.”

She ripped her arm out of my grip and started to walk away, but I wrapped my arms around her waist and tossed her on the bed.

Before she had a chance to sit up, I held her down, pinning her wrists above her head. Looking down at her, I wasn’t sure whether to kiss or strangle her. “You killed my brother because you thought you’d be able to get your hands on his money, didn’t you?”

“Believe what you want. If you think I’m responsible for Kenny’s death, I’d say you and your mother are just as responsible.”

I don’t believe there was anything else she could have said that would have angered me more than that declaration. I could only see red, and a rage of the likes I had never experienced welled up inside of me and exploded. I released her wrists and wrapped my hands around her throat and squeezed with all my might.

Frankie clawed at my hands and tried to break free. Her eyes bulged, and I realized that if I continued I would actually kill her. I released my grip on her and pulled away. Frankie gasped and coughed. When her regular breathing pattern resumed, she sat up and slapped me so hard my head turned.

She then pushed me completely off of her. Frankie scrambled off the bed, rushed to the bathroom and closed the door. A decisive click indicated that she had