Zoe's "pranks" before had never gone as far as murder. But the moment she decided I was standing in the way of a grandson, she made her move. Kill me and my daughter in one clean stroke.
I watched them celebrate, and honestly, it was almost funny.
When James and I first got married, they called me the best daughter-in-law in the world. Said I was closer than a real daughter. Said the luckiest thing that ever happened to James was marrying a woman like me.
But now that James's career was taking off, they'd conveniently forgotten he was a self-made man from nothing, that everything he had started with my family's money and connections.
There was an old saying that fit perfectly.
Nurse a wolf, and the moment it finds its strength, it bares its teeth.
But I wasn't angry. Not anymore.
Right now, I was just curious.
Curious what Silas and Zoe's faces would look like the moment they found out I wasn't in that car.
Mid-sentence, Silas's phone rang.
"Looks like it's the hospital."
He cleared his throat, put on a face of pure ignorance, and answered. A second later, his expression shifted to shock.
"What did you say?"
His voice traveled a careful arc: calm to stunned, stunned to grief-stricken, grief-stricken to devastated. Then he hung up.
Zoe paced in frantic circles. "What happened? What is it? Don't you scare me like that!"
Silas's expression smoothed back to perfect calm.
"Relax."
"The hospital couldn't reach the registered owner of the car, so they found my number listed as the emergency contact. The owner's phone is probably under James's name. He's taking that Nicole girl to some clinic out of town for a prenatal checkup today, so he probably didn't pick up. That's why they called me instead."
He waved a dismissive hand. "That whole performance just now? Acting. I can't exactly let them think I heard my daughter-in-law and granddaughter were in a wreck and didn't bat an eye."
Zoe let out a small breath of relief. "So what did the hospital say? Are they both dead?"
Silas shook his head. A flicker of disappointment crossed his face.
"No."
"Neither of them. One's in critical condition, the other has minor injuries. What a shame. God really is blind." He sucked his teeth. "The hospital called because they want us to come in with money. Surgery alone is going to cost a fortune, and post-op recovery plus skin grafts will bleed us dry."
Zoe let out a sharp, contemptuous snort.