Chapter 10 - PRESTON’S SECOND LIE
Preston requested another meeting.
This time he did not try to soften anything.
“I put it back.”
Madeline stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because I panicked.”
After the ambulance left Sunday, Serena wanted to take the bottle.
Preston refused.
He realized it might matter medically.
Then fear took over.
If he brought it to the hospital, he would have to explain why Serena had it.
Why he gave it to her.
Why he ignored the conversation about making Madeline sleep.
So he took the bottle upstairs.
Put it back in the bathroom cabinet.
And lied by omission while doctors searched for the cause.
When Madeline was discharged Wednesday, he moved it again.
Into the kitchen drawer.
“Why?”
“I was going to throw it away.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He struggled.
“Because some part of me knew that would be worse.”
Madeline felt physically sick.
Then she understood Serena’s behavior Wednesday.
Serena had not brought the bottle intending a carefully prepared second attempt.
She found it in the house.
She saw that Preston had kept it.
And she took that as confirmation that he was still protecting what happened.
When Madeline entered the kitchen unexpectedly, Serena made the milk in front of her.
Not secretly.
Almost defiantly.
That explained the smile.
“You should’ve stayed unconscious.”
Serena was not following Preston’s original plan anymore.
She was punishing Madeline for coming home, confronting her, and threatening the position Serena believed she had earned.
Preston looked destroyed.
“I never thought she would do that.”
Madeline’s voice stayed flat.
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
“You never thought she would use it Sunday.”
“I know.”
“You never thought she’d lie.”
“I know.”
“You never thought she’d do it again.”
“I know.”
Madeline leaned closer.
“At what point does ‘I didn’t think’ stop being an explanation?”
He had no answer.
The major twist was not that Preston secretly wanted his wife dead.
It was almost more pathetic.
He wanted comfort.
He wanted Madeline asleep.
He wanted Monday’s argument delayed.
He wanted Serena helpful.
He wanted himself uninvolved.
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Then when the shortcut endangered Madeline, he called the ambulance because he loved her.
And hid the bottle because he loved himself too.
