My gut roils, a stone in the pit of my stomach threatening to come up. But I stay steady and force a smile to my lips, though I can feel it’s twitchy and wavering.

“You two are cute together. I’m sorry about Richard, but at least you have someone.”

Without meaning to, I twist the knife in my own heart, remembering Blake and what I thought we had, only to be proven wrong. Just like Yvette, who thinks she’s found a sweet guy to comfort her after her husband’s death, but the reality is . . . Sebastian killed Richard.

I’m sure of it.

I can feel it instinctually, even if I can’t prove it.

“I do. I’m very lucky to have found Sebastian to help with Rusty. I don’t know what I would’ve done without Sebastian to train my baby boy and help since Dickie passed. I wasn’t looking for anyone, but fate put Sebastian in front of me and wouldn’t let me ignore our connection.”

Yvette snuggles into what she thinks is her soft and cozy safety net when the truth is, Sebastian is the razor-lined threat in Yvette’s life.

“Even though I tried,” she confides.

That is new information, and I latch on to it with fervor.

“You didn’t . . .” I trail off, not sure how to say ‘cheat on your husband’ without sounding judgmental.

Yvette catches my meaning and shakes her head. “No, Sebastian pursued me, but I told him I would never hurt my Dickie. But when Dickie was gone, Sebastian was right there to comfort me.”

“That’s convenient,” I say, giving an inch when what I really want to do is shake Yvette so she sees the miles of scheming Sebastian has been up to.

Sebastian has been quiet, hugging and comforting Yvette but truly keeping her at his side, under his control. Them against me, especially as I pick and prod for details. Now, he tests back, though he’s wearing the façade of a sweet and caring boyfriend and not his true self.

“See? I knew you’d understand why Vettie needs Richard’s death to be from natural causes. A quick and simple change and one signature, and you’ll make her . . . us . . . so happy. The way we were meant to be.”

Is he stupid? Or willfully ignoring the obvious? “I can’t. Or well, I can,” I correct myself, “but no one will believe it.”

“You’ll have to make them.” His mask is slipping again, exposing his ugly side, promising an unspoken punishment if I don’t get everyone to believe something so obviously untrue.

Unaware of the change in Sebastian, Yvette coos, “It’ll be fine. At least we can be together.”

He snarls. “The money fucking matters, Yvette.”