Devil She Became (Devil's Angels Book 1) by Autumn Raynne Read Free Book Online Page A

with thinning hair looking at her. Who is he? She thought. Probably just some guy looking to score. She turned away and went back to her drink.
    A few moments later, the bartender returned with another vodka tonic. “Compliments of the gentleman at the end of the bar.”
    As he sat the drink down in front of her, she looked up expecting to see another guy hitting on her. To her surprise, it was the same man she had noticed earlier. He waved at her.
    “Reese! How are you?” She peered closer. It was Darrell Wyndham, an old friend of hers from Northwestern. Darrell had married her former sorority sister, Julia Wasserman.
    Reese jumped up from her seat and walked over to him. “Hi, Darrell! So good to see you!”
    They embraced briefly.
    “Reese, it’s been so long. You look so beautiful, as always.”
    “Thank you.” Her blue eyes scanned her former friend. Tall, thin, almost too thin, with balding hair, Darrell didn’t look anything like she remembered him. The last time she had seen him, he had been handsome with teasing green eyes and clean-shaven with dark hair. Now his eyes looked a bit sunken, giving him a sad, tired appearance, and he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in several days.
    “ So how are you, Darrell? Are you still married to Julia? How is she doing?” Reese sat down next to him.
    Nervously, Darrell swirled his drink in his hand. His eyes remained downcast and his face clouded with pain.
    “I am surprised you haven’t heard; it was all over the local news.” Darrell looked up at her.
    Reese swallowed hard. “What is it, Darrell?”
    “Julia... She died several months ago.” Darrell choked up.
    “Not Julia! Oh, my God, Darrell. I am so sorry.” Reese reached over to embrace him. “How? Why?”
    Darrell sighed heavily. He threw back the rest of his drink.
    “Depression. She had been depressed for a number of years, but after our kids were born, it got worse. A friend of hers recommended she try getting on an antidepressant or something and she did. Didn't help. She got worse, and one weekend I had the kids out camping. She... she hung herself in the basement.” Reese’s mouth dropped. “Oh, how tragic, Darrell.” Tears filled the corners of her eyes.
    Darrell cleared his throat. He rubbed his arms as if a chill had come over him.
    “I… I found her. My brother and I had been camping with our kids. He ran inside when he heard me scream.”
    “Oh, my God, the kids didn’t see her, did they?”
    Darrell shook his head. “No, thank God. My brother had kept them upstairs until the police had arrived. Cops had initially thought it was some weird ‘autoerotic asphyxiation’ thing since she wasn’t fully clothed, but I knew what she had done. Her depression hadn’t gotten better. Actually, Julia had been suffering from bipolar depression since she was a teenager. Tragic. So tragic.”
    Reese put her arm around Darrell. “I am so sorry. I never heard anything about it on the news. Julia had never seemed depressed in college. She’d been such a fun girl.”
    He nodded. His jaw tightened.
    “Yeah, the fucking media got a hold of the story given my job and position in the community. ‘Prominent investor’s wife dead from apparent suicide.’ Then they also talked about the ‘autoerotic asphyxiation’ theory as well. It was very humiliating to my children and the rest of our family. Then my in-laws took my kids with them out of state so they wouldn’t have to hear terrible things about their mother.”
    “So where are your kids now?” Reese reached in her purse for a tissue.
    “Still in California. My in-laws had a place out there before any of this happened.”
    “How long have they been there? Since it happened?” Reese blotted the tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
    Darrell nodded. “Yeah. They have been going to school out there. They are doing pretty good.” Darrell pulled his phone out to show Reese photos of two very beautiful children – a boy, who appeared to be