The Billionaire Boyfriend Trap

Chapter 9

Reece killed her? I didn't believe it. No way did that man kill anyone. He might be hard-nosed on the surface, but I'd seen a different side of him and I knew he wouldn't hurt anyone. This had to be a mistake, or a misunderstanding.

Becky shifted forward on her seat, her interest clearly piqued. "You mean he murdered her?"

Cassie sighed and tucked her feet up under her. "Not murder in the traditional sense."

"An accident," I said, my mouth dry.

"It wasn't an accident. According to official records, Wendy killed herself."

Becky gasped. "Oh, Cass, I'm so sorry." Her gaze shifted to me. I could see in her face she was wondering how that could be Reece's fault. "Did he drive her to it? It's what you'd expect someone like him to do."

"Becky," I scolded. "Cassie, you told me your sister and Reece dated a few years back."

Cassie nodded, her gaze focused on the garden in the distance, now steeped in long shadows that made it look forbidding, dangerous. "For about six months, but she'd had a crush on him for years. He finally asked her out and she was so happy. Happier than she'd been in a long time. Her eyes would light up when he came into the room. She was besotted with him. When he wasn't around, she moped and waited for him. She'd keep watch from her room and if she saw his car drive past, she'd race across the lawn and climb through the hole in our connecting fences. She was totally in love with him. But he wasn't with her."

"I'm guessing he broke up with her," I said. "And that sent her into a downward spiral."

Cassie nodded. "I know what you're thinking. That it's not his fault. That she was mentally unstable."

I was thinking it, but I didn't tell her that. It wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Reece knew she was delicate," Cassie went on. "We all told him he had to handle her gently, and yet he still tossed her away like she meant nothing to him. He started seeing someone else."

"That's terrible," Becky said. "The poor thing."

"How did she find out?" I asked.

"He told her. She was hysterical all that day. She cried so much until she had no energy left to cry anymore, then she just lay on her bed, staring into space. She wouldn't drink or eat or speak. She just stared. It was like her body was alive, but the person inside had already died. Nobody could get through to her." She trailed her finger down the stem of her wineglass, a delicate fingernail on fragile glass. "We found her the next morning floating in the river." Cassie sniffed and wiped away a tear.

I touched her knee. "I'm sorry. I can see this is very hard for you, even now. You clearly loved your sister."

"Not enough," she whispered.

It seemed to me that nobody could ever love poor, tragic Wendy enough to make her happy.

Becky shook her head and I thought she was going to say something, but she remained quiet, frowning deeply.

"How long ago did it happen?" I asked.

"Twelve years next month. She was eighteen."

Reece had been young then too. It was a heavy burden for someone just entering manhood. I wished Cassie could see that, but I didn't try to talk her out of her anger toward him. It had been boiling for so long that a few words from a woman she hardly knew wouldn't make a difference.

"My age," Becky muttered, shaking her head. She stood and gave me a nudge. "We better go. It's getting cool. Will you be okay, Cassie?"

Cassie nodded and stood too. She tucked her hands into her back pockets and gave us both sad smiles. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come over so morbid. It's just that having this place sold out from under me has shaken my foundation. I'm dealing with some things right now that I thought I'd left behind. The thought of leaving this place has stirred it all up again."