The Family Secret

THE FAMILY SECRET KIERSTEN MODGLIN THE FAMILY SECRET is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, images, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. No part of this publication may be used, shared, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews. If you would like permission to use material from the book for any use other than in a review, please visit: kierstenmodglinauthor.com/contact Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Cover Design by Kiersten Modglin Copy Editing by Three Owls Editing Proofreading by My Brother’s Editor Formatting by Kiersten Modglin Copyright © 2023 by Kiersten Modglin. All rights reserved. First Print and Electronic Edition: 2023 kierstenmodglinauthor.com For the friends who have become family... and the family who remain friends. “Everyone, at some time or another, sits down to a banquet of consequences. ” ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Don’t miss the next domestic thriller from Kiersten Modglin! Would you recommend The Family Secret? Stay up to date on everything KMod! Acknowledgments About the Author Also by Kiersten Modglin CHAPTER ONE AUSTYN They’re dead. They’re actually…actually dead. If this wasn’t the worst time possible, I might make a joke that they died to avoid finally meeting me. But…yeah, not the right time. Lowell runs a hand over his jaw, staring off into space with such pain in his eyes it physically hurts me. I want to take it away from him, but I can’t. No one can. That’s the worst part of grief, isn’t it? No one can share it with you. Not really. “What…what happened?” He blinks, clearing his throat and staring down at me as if he might’ve forgotten I’m still standing here. “Um…she…she didn’t say.” She is his sister, from what I’ve gathered. Another relative I’ve yet to meet. “There was an accident.” “An accident? Like…a car accident?” “She didn’t say,” he repeats, his voice stern. “Right.” My shoulders slump. My first test as a fiancée, and I’m failing miserably. “I’m so sorry, Lowell. What can I do?” His eyes flick to me, brimming with tears, and he shakes his head. “I don’t…” His voice catches. “I’m not ready for this.” With that, he leans forward and I barely register what’s happening as he falls into my arms. He’s collected, not openly sobbing or anything, but I know he wants to. How could he not? His parents have both just died. I rub his back as he breathes against me, one hand pressed firmly over his mouth. “It’s going to be okay.” I try to fill the silence with something, anything, though tears have begun to strangle my own words. “I’m here. We’ll get through this.” He pulls back, spinning around and moving away from me. “I just need some space for a minute.” “Of course. Do you want me to send everyone home?” I glance toward the door, the sounds of the New Year’s Eve party just outside of it grating at my nerves for the first time. “No,” he says quickly, waving me off. “Just give me a minute to…” He doesn’t finish the sentence. “I’ll be back.” “Sure.” When he disappears, I open a browser window on my phone, not yet ready to face the party outside either. At least I can be useful somehow. I check into flights to San Francisco, noting that there’s one that leaves tomorrow morning with a few first-class seats left. I’ll tell him about it when we’re together again. Just then, there’s a knock at the door and, when it pops open, my mother eases her head inside. The short, graying bob sways as she eyes me. “Is everything okay? Lowell just walked past… He looked upset.” I swallow. I should tell her. He won’t care if I tell her, but I can’t bring myself to. “Everything’s fine,” I offer gently. Seeing straight through the lie, she crosses the room toward me with her lips pressed together. She’s always been able to read me, but just this once, I wish she wouldn’t. It’s not a secret, and yet, it doesn’t feel like my news to share. “You’ve been crying.” It’s not a question. Her tone is soft, and when she reaches both hands out to hold my arms, I can’t stop the tears from falling. As the first sob comes, I drop my face into my hands. My phone digs into my temple. I don’t know why I’m crying. I have no right to. I didn’t know my soon-to-be in-laws. I’ve never met them and have only spoken to them on the phone. But the selfish part of me knows this changes everything. I know that the beautiful, happy life Lowell and I had just hours ago is gone forever. From this moment forward, he’ll be a parentless adult. He’ll know loss greater than he ever has. And, for that reason, he’ll never be the same. We’ll never be the same. “His parents…” I whisper as my mom draws me into her arms, rubbing my back rhythmically. It makes it all better, somehow. It erases my anxiety like chalk on a chalkboard. How is she able to do that? Is that what I did for Lowell? Given how quickly he wanted to