Retribution Read Free Page A

already in bed. I’d tried not to let it bother me, but it did. I had known he worked a lot, but it felt like he didn’t even live at the house anymore. Loneliness started to creep in, and I worried that this would be my life from now on.
    The photos Cooper had shown me weeks before kept flashing through my mind. He’d had his father followed both before and after his mother’s death. He had gathered photos of Robert cheating on Marie along with several of Robert with women after her death. I clearly remembered the day Cooper had shown them to me even though it felt like a lifetime ago.
     
    “Your dad was cheating?” I asked. It felt like the air in the room had been vacuumed out.
    “Yes. Look in the envelope.”
    I opened it and pulled out several photos. All of them had Robert with women I didn’t recognize. I counted three different women in the photos. In each one, Robert was holding, kissing, and touching a woman in ways that made it very clear what had happened next.
    I looked up at Cooper. “Why are you showing these to me?”
    “Because you need to know.”
     
    I tried to push away those memories and the doubts they brought. If I didn’t trust Robert, our marriage would never work. Still, it was hard not to worry about whether Robert was working every night or if he was secretly meeting with another woman.
    The only blessing I could think of was the fact that Cooper had not returned home yet. If he had been home, he would have tried to push even more doubt into my mind. That was what Cooper did. He would make me want to trust him as he whispered lies and half-truths into my ear. His charisma rivaled even his father’s, and he used it like a weapon.
    Even without his presence, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I’d checked his room, and like Ellie had said, only a bag and some of his clothes were missing. He would return. That much was obvious. And that meant I would spend half my waking hours waiting for him to come home, anticipating the inevitable battle that would occur when we came face-to-face again.
    Yes, Cooper was gone for now, but he was still very much a part of this house.
    I’d mostly spend my days with Ellie. Once she finished her tasks, we would lounge together by the pool or in the kitchen. She was teaching me how to cook. I enjoyed the time I spent with her. I needed it. Her kind and nurturing disposition would help me stay sane. I was pretty sure that Ellie had realized how lost I was at home.
    I decided that was probably why she so much time at the house instead of leaving once she was finished for the day. I was sure she had something better to do than hang out with me all the time. Still, she never once acted like she wanted to leave me alone. I appreciated that more than she knew.
    On the days when Ellie couldn’t stay at work, I’d find myself aimlessly wandering the house. I’d once marveled at the size of Robert’s home, but I was starting to hate it. I felt too small, too insignificant, in the structure when I was on my own. I felt like the house might swallow me whole, and no one would even notice.
    One afternoon, I called Tammy, Shelly’s foster mother, and asked if I could take Shelly out for a few hours. I missed the little girl like crazy, and I needed to escape from my cage for a while. When Tammy agreed that I could come pick Shelly up, I was ecstatic. As soon as I hung up, I hurried to my car and hauled ass across town to Tammy’s house. The moment I pulled up to the house, Shelly ran to my car and climbed in. It seemed that she was just as excited as I was.
    My good mood was quickly shattered.
    Before I could even get a greeting past my lips, she asked, “Where’s Cooper?”
    My hands clenched the steering wheel as I explained that he was out of town. She seemed disappointed that it would just be the two of us. Shelly absolutely loved Cooper. It was quite obvious when they had been together. She looked so sad that I didn’t have the heart to tell her that