Melissa pulled away and dabbed at the tears on her cheeks. “I’m mad at you for not telling me sooner! What the hell, Erica? How long have you known?”
“I didn’t want to take away the attention from you or make you sad during the most important event of your life.”
“How long, Erica?” Melissa pressed.
“Three weeks now.”
“Can it be reversed or something?” I whispered afraid of the answer.
Erica cringed shaking her head. “I went through a few tests and I’m waiting for the results, but the specialist told me beforehand that the odds aren’t on my side. And that I shouldn’t get my hopes up.”
“Miracles do happen,” I said. “Anything can happen.”
“I’ve always wanted to have children of my own. Always. It was sort of my dream to become a mommy, to be capable of carrying my own child. I feel like such a failure, I mean what woman can’t give her husband a child? It’s supposed to be something easy, a gift we’re born with—except for me apparently.”
“Don’t say that,” Melissa reprimanded, “Dave doesn’t think that way and you’re not a failure, we’re going to get through this. You’ll have that gift; you just have to be patient.”
“It sucks, like, really sucks.” Erica laughed dryly then turned to me with bloodshot eyes. “Tell me about you and Ezra. I need some cheering up?”
“Perfect. Sometimes we bump heads a bit, but you know, he’s wonderful.” My lips tugged with the imminent joy brought about by hearing his name. “He’s so good to me.”
Erica smiled for the first time. “Don’t ruin it Christina, you guys have something special.”
Not ruining it meant letting go of the ones I loved. Even though it hurt me, I wouldn’t back down. Eventually I’d be with my friends again.
“You guys know that I’m not good with words. Expressing my feelings and stuff.” I cleared my throat. “I want you to know that no matter what happens, I’ll always love you. You guys mean everything to me and I’m honored to have the two of you in my life. You’re the best, best friends anyone could ever ask for. No matter what happens, I’ll always love you. We’re friends for eternity and beyond.”
Melissa furrowed her brows. “Why are you saying these things now? It almost feels like you’re saying goodbye.”
“I don’t say it often and I think you should know I appreciate you and our friendship.”
“Well, Ezra is working wonders on you.” Erica chuckled. “He’s turned you sentimental.”
Melissa didn’t commemorate, there was suspicion in her hard gaze. I averted my eyes from hers, thankful that she didn’t question further. Thereon, I was able to enjoy what little time I had with my friends and family.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ezra
Icouldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. I couldn’t sleep, and had been awake for hours. I watched the grey dawn crawl over the sky unable to shake off the dread. Despite the hours spent planning and strategizing, I was anxious.
Unease had my stomach locked and my teeth clenched together. But I couldn’t turn back time, nor could I drag the sun from the sky. Therefore, I loaded both our suitcases into the trunk of the car and then checked the phone Detective Nunes had given me.
Nothing yet.
I used the time to send Melissa an email—it was time to collect. I wrote to her not asking, but demanding, she found a job for Sienna, Frank and Stacie. After everything would blow up, they’d be unemployed and I couldn’t allow that since everything was happening because of me.
Once the email was sent, I sighed. Soon this would all be over and Christina and I would be on a plane headed to Egypt. From there, we’d go to Morocco and the rest was unknown.
With a slam, I closed the trunk and rested against the car. Any moment Nunes would invade the warehouse and I’d use the distraction to transfer all of Chichi’s money remotely to an offshore account. While they’d be busy trying to escape the feds, it would give us enough time to make it to the airport and flee. Thus far, everything was on track as intended, nonetheless I was nervous. More nervous than I’d ever been in my entire life.
The night before, we stayed in a motel across town. It was a dump, but it was necessary in case someone was watching my house. Even before we settled here, I drove around town for hours to assure that we weren’t being followed.
Christina came out of the room with the last of her belongings. Her hair was pulled back and her pretty face lit up my world.
“It’ll be alright,” she said, resting her head on my chest. “Don’t overthink this.” I cupped the back of her head, keeping her close.
All the reasons not to do this came flooding in and the soft panic grew with every passing second. My pulse pounded in my temples. I kept it all in for Christina’s sake. I couldn’t show how distressed I was.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Christina.” I rested my chin on the top of her head. “I dragged you into this mess.”
“My mother always says negative thoughts produce negative outcomes. Stop attracting bad luck. In a few hours this will all be over and we’ll be far away from all of this.”
Positive thinking wasn’t enough to shake off my dread.
The phone Detective Nunes gave me beeped and Christina stiffened. She knew what it meant. Still holding on to her, I took out the phone and read the text.
Don’t forget to buy potatoes.
They were going in.
“We have to go.” I clasped Christina’s hand. She looked up at me, brown eyes brimming with equal measures of hope, excitement and fear. Lowering my lips to hers, I whispered, “You’re my north star. I need you to stay alive no matter what.”
She kissed me and like always a volcano erupted inside my chest. I thought I’d been in love before, but now I wasn’t certain anymore. No other person had ever evoked the reactions Christina did.
Her smile rendered me speechless.
Her eyes brought hope.
I needed her possibly more than she needed me.
Before leaving the motel, I transferred all of Chichi’s money to the offshore account. At that point, there was no turning back.
Christina was settled and buckled up when I got into the car. Her hands clasped on her lap, chewing her lips and there was an almost imperceptible bounce to her left knee.
“Put on some music it might help you relax,” I suggested.
“I’m fine.” She reached for her phone and synced the Bluetooth.
“Do you think there will be anything on the news?”
“I don’t think so. At least not for a while.”
The longer we drove, the closer we got to the airport, and both our worries began to dissolve.
Wanting to switch lanes, I glanced at the mirrors and spotted a black motorcycle—Ducati—four cars down. I couldn’t tell if the driver was a man or woman. They were wearing a black and gray helmet that left nothing to the sight. But something about the bike was oddly familiar. I switched lanes and exactly six seconds later so did the motorcycle.
My pulse thudded faster. To confirm my suspicion, at the next stoplight I made an unexpected turn to the right. For a while, I didn’t see anything and my shoulders relaxed. Perhaps it was a coincidence.