Page 34 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“Why not?” she said with a huff.

“Because. Alerting him to your presence could set off a catastrophic chain of events.”

“I think we are well past catastrophe here—”

“But you can’t be certain what he was talking about! Knowing more might help!” Cole cried, and threw himself between her and the umbrella stand. He held his hands up like he was begging her not to shoot. His face scrunched like she might have been about to hit him instead. “Please.”

Dell calmed at the pleading expression on his face. The energy needed to move an object drained out of her like a stopper had been pulled. “What do you mean knowing more?”

Cole peeled open his eyes, which he had pinched shut. He straightened himself when he realized she was no longer a threat. “I mean perhaps it would help to clarify the situation more.”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “But I thought you said no eavesdropping.”

His face briefly bent into a frown. “I did! But this is a pretty obvious wrong turn, don’t you think? So maybe it’s worth exploring more.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You mean my wrong turn is being about to marry a cheating jerk?” She gestured at Tommy and Nikki, back to holding each other amid the broken lamp. “Message received!” she shouted with her arms out. She dropped them with a slap against her thighs. “Still dead though.”

Cole stroked his chin. “Yes, that doesn’t seem to have remedied the situation yet.”

Dell impatiently stared at him, waiting to see if he would offer an alternative solution. “Might it be something else?” he asked.

“Something else like what?” Dell said with her hands on her hips.

Cole looked as though he didn’t want to say what he was thinking. “Well, there was what she said aboutsupposed to happen.” He pointed at Nikki.

Dell recoiled at the memory even though its sting still lingered. “You think that really means something? That they were somehow plotting behind my back?” Memories from the morning started piling together at the front of her brain faster than she could stop them. What the reporters had said on the porch, Tommy’s hushed conversation with his mother—the fact Tommy hadcalledhis mother before he’d called 911.

“Oh my God,” she said out loud. She marched up to Tommy and screamed in his ear.“Were you going to kill me?”

“Ms. Rodgers!” Cole cried, and tried to calm her.

She shook him off once more. “No! I think thissnakehad some kind of plan! When we woke up this morning, he called his mom before anyone else. And then when she was here, they were whispering about telling theright storyto the police, and she was basically offering to cover up anything bad for him, and then—!” She cut off with a gasp and slapped her hands over her mouth.

“What is it?” Cole asked.

Dell couldn’t believe the pieces snapping together before her, but there they were. “Our prenup,” she said numbly. “We never signed it yesterday because I had to leave, and he was really adamant about signing it. And then this morning, his mom mentioned we never signed it, but he said it doesn’t matter now anyway because he can’t marry me if I’m dead.” She slapped her hands over her mouth with another gasp. She turned to Cole to find him frowning.

“I don’t understand. How would a prenuptial agreement have benefitted him? I believe it’syouwho is bringing more financial resources to the partnership?”

“There is no more partnership,” she spat like she had a kernel in her teeth. “But yes, the prenup protected me more thanhim—unless.” She smacked her hand to her forehead when the memory came back to her. Her phone call with her brothers the previous morning. They’d asked if she’d had the family lawyer review the final changes, and she’d lied to them, saying she had. “There must be something else in there. Something I wasn’t paying attention to.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but there’s a copy of it in his lawyer’s office downtown.” She nodded at Tommy.

“Well, perhaps that should be our next step,” Cole said.

Chapter 7

“Great, I’ll go get chan—” Dell said, and cut herself off when she remembered what Cole had said about being imprisoned in her nightie.

Cole pursed his lips, as if he knew she’d be annoyed by a reminder. “How far is it to the lawyer’s office?” he asked.

Dell glanced down at her body. Sure, prancing around her house in her pj’s was one thing, and maybe even going to the park was fine since she jogged there in spandex every day already, but cruising across town and rolling into the posh law offices of Brooks, Sterling, and Hoffman in her underthings felt like a step too far.

“Too far to walk barefoot in my jammies,” she said to Cole with a frown. “How are we going to get there?”

“Public transportation is an option.”