Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Although my stomach lurches at the thought of how vile and conniving he is, I shake my head. “It's not.”
“Where'd you get it then, huh?” Dad growls in frustration. “I gave you all your mother’s things.”
“You’re a genius. You know where I got it, Jonah.”
“Luxury, Charles is just as smart as I am.”
“I don’t think you believe that. Dumb as I am.” A tiny chuckle escapes my mouth. “I think that you believe yourself superior to everyone. Momma had an extensive list of the names you called her. Stupid, idiot, imbecile. You said you’d enhance her vocabulary by referring to her with a new nickname every day.”
“I-I have no idea what you’re referring to. This is all a game to Charles. He never slept with your mom. Baby, it’s all a lie.” Dad tries to touch my shoulder, but I step back with Victor at my side.
Shut up, Luxxie, your dad has a grave to dig. Let him dig.
“Tell me your side then.” My voice is tiny, poignant, complacent.
A reluctant hand pats the side of his Afro. “Charles wrote all those words. He forged that diary, Luxury. He . . . he had an unhealthy crush on Gina. She told me that he would always stare at her. Then Gina's molestation ate at me for a year. Fucking ate me alive that my beautiful wife was so afraid. That’s why she had that irrational fear—wouldn’t let you out of her sight.” Jonah laces together a supporting argument. “You remember that? Don’t you, Luxxie?”
Luxxie.
The nickname I call myself while striving for more gumption.
The nickname Uncle Red gave me when he took me back outside to teach me to ride a bike, having the patience Dad lacked.
The nickname my manipulative ass father uses sparingly—such as the day I found out he told Victor to leave me alone.
Working the lump in my throat, I nod.
Give this motherfucker ammunition to continue.
“See, that’s right. After a year of my wife being so afraid of anyone and everything, I tried to kill him, honey. Gina thought that he had raped her. She said that the scent of her rapist was familiar. The same cologne,” Jonah adds, looking off in the distance. “Charles is a deranged man.”
He slaps a hand over his chest. “Yes! I made an attempt on his life. See, I’m man enough to admit my mistakes. That sonofabitch tried to take my wife. My child. You don’t know Charles as I do. He grew up rich, getting everything he wants.”
This man is a stranger to me. Lies piling on top of lies. Why cheat if he was so in love? Disappointed in him and in myself for having him as a father, I let my shoulders drop. With despair constricting my throat, my voice hardly rises to a whisper as I ask, “Make the connection, please.”
“I mean, he had everything handed to him.” Dad’s malicious gander falls on Victor.
“Dad, don’t go there.”
My man fortifies the fact that he doesn’t give a fuck about my father’s rebuff by lacing his fingers through mine.
“When your mom didn’t accept his advances, she was a God-fearing woman—”
“She was,” until you broke her.
“He spiraled out of control. As I said, I tried to kill him. Every day I regret not succeeding. He took her from us, Lux.”
Silence bleeds between us. I gesture to my father with a stiff, flat hand, “You lost your wife the day you stopped treasuring her, Jonah. You lost me, too.”
“Lux, this diary is a lie.” He points a rigid finger to the memoir at my feet.
“I can’t even deal with you anymore. So, you’re saying my mom was leery of Charles. That’s a fucking lie. She cheated. We visited him at his beach house!” I shout. Yes, after almost finishing the diary, I remember seeing them kiss. He had this huge house in the Hamptons. They were shocked. Mom had tried to explain, but I didn’t care. We—Momma, Charles, and I—were a family while Dad was away.
“I- I never cheated,” Jonah sputters. “Honey, my worst crime is shielding you from a manipulative woman.”
“You were saving me from a manipulative whore, right?” My laser glare penetrates straight through him.
A substantial sigh redirects my father’s mindset. The Machiavellian bastard nods in agreement. “Love, your mother was sleeping with Charles all along. She tried to take you from me. They were going to run away and—”
“Go ahead, Jonah. Continue to speak ill of the dead. All you have is your word against Mom’s. I was so delusional, compiling portions of the story that make you the good guy. When my grandparents got sick, you agreed to move from your swanky Manhattan apartment. Yeah, that made you the good guy, huh?”
“Why are you questioning me, Luxury? I settled, sure. If that’s your question. But you suffered, honey. You attended the worst schools in New York because of it.”