I curl up on the soft pink and cream striped velvet, remembering all the times I sat here reading a favorite book, and sometimes staring out the window, daydreaming, sometimes sneaking a glimpse of Santos.
I stare up at the moon. It’s full and its shimmering light reflects off the water in the pool. I look around the room at the marks on the walls where picture frames once hung.
This has been my bedroom since we moved here when I was six years old. The art has changed over the years from posters of princesses to boy bands to Carrie Underwood.
I think of Saint, too. The favor to my mother, taking me on, taking me into his home…. And I remember all the special things he did for me. Treating my injuries. Drawing me a candlelit bath. Cooking Tamales for me. Giving me a fun day at the lake. Opening a closed store in the middle of the night so I could play piano again.
Did it all mean nothing?
A light in the pool house draws my attention, and I strain to look, frowning. It’s a small, moving light, perhaps a cell phone light. Fear flashes through me. It could be a burglar.
I have the small gun that Ghost gave me for protection. It’s in my purse.
I dig inside and feel it there, and it gives me some sense of security. I pull out my phone and turn it on to call Mary Elizabeth. When it powers up, I see a million missed calls and most recently a text from Saint.
I pull it up.
Saint: Kami, Drake escaped prison. I need to know you’re safe.
Oh my God. I look to the pool house and I know its him. It has to be. And suddenly I want this nightmare to be over. He’s the reason we lost this house. He’s the reason all our things were sold off. He’s the reason my mother is in a prison cell. He’s the reason for all of it.
And I know what I have to do. I pull out the gun, and go over in my head everything Ghost taught me about shooting it. Don’t forget the safety. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re prepared to fire. Breathe. Aim carefully, Squeeze the trigger gently; don’t jerk it. Aim small; miss small.
I look to the pool house, and head toward the staircase.
I make my way outside, around Saint’s pickup, and across the courtyard, pressing my back to the cold stone of the structure. I peer inside the window. He’s sitting in a chair, talking on the phone. His back is to me.
I move to the door, and find it ajar with the lock busted in. I push it open, praying it doesn’t creak, and slip inside. I see him and creep across the black and white tiled floor.
I lift the gun and take careful aim. “Well, well…. Look who we have here.”
He whirls, coming out of the chair, then grins when he sees its me.
“Kami. You saved me the trouble of having to hunt you down. I thought you’d be too smart to return here.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I needed a place to crash for the night. Figured the law would never look for me here.” He lifts his chin. “Put the gun down, sweetheart. Let’s talk.”
I adjust my grip, keeping it aimed at his heart. “I can talk just fine with it aimed at your heart.”
“Kami, please. You don’t want to shoot me.”
“Don’t I? Why not?”
“Because I can help you. I’ve got some money stashed in the Caymans. You didn’t think I’d let the Feds find it all, did you? We can go there, just you and I. We can live a good life off what I have stashed there.”
“And my mother?”
He shrugs. “She cut her own deal. She’ll be out in a year and can join us.”
I laugh. “You must really think I’m stupid.”
“Not at all.”
I lift my aim from his chest to his head. “No, I think I’ll just blow your brains out right here.”
There’s a sound behind me, and I turn my head, shocked to see Saint standing there, a gun in his hand, also aimed at my stepfather. “Saint.”
“On your knees. Now.” His eyes bore into Drake, who with two guns on him isn’t so smug anymore.
“What are you doing here?” I stare at him, hardly believing he came after me.
“When you walked out, you walked away with my heart and soul. I’m not gonna let that happen.”
“Saint—“
“Drop the gun, baby,” Saint says softly to me.
I hesitate, then adjust my grip, pointing it at the my stepfather’s head. “No.”
“You don’t want to do this.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do. He’s ruined everything. Because of him, my mother is in prison right now.”
“Please, baby. You don’t want to pay this price.”
“I don’t see any cops. You’d turn me in?”
“Hell no, but you’ll have to carry the weight of this on your shoulders the rest of your life, and that’s a weight I don’t want for you. It’ll ruin you, eat you from the inside out.”
“I’ll manage.”
I see more movement, and Mary Elizabeth and her brother step quietly inside the pool house, shock on their faces, but Saint draws my attention back to him.
“This is not who you are, baby. This is not the woman I know—the woman I love. You pull that trigger, you’ll be throwin’ your life away. You’ll be throwin’ us away.”
“There is no us.”
“Yeah, there is.”
“It was all a lie. A temporary one at that.”
“What we have is not temporary by any stretch of the imagination, Kami. I don’t know what you think happened between me and Asia, but I don’t want her. I haven’t touched another woman since we said our vows. You’re the one I want—the one I love. You. Only you. You tear us apart—I’d rather that bullet took me out.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
My eyes glaze.
“I’m not giving up on us. You’re mine, and I don’t give up what’s mine.”
“I’m yours?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I swallow, and then lift my chin. “And?”
He grins, his eyes still on my stepfather, but his whispered admission is all for me. “Damn, you’re not easy.”
“Never claimed to be easy. And?” I prompt again.
“And I’m yours, baby. Until they put me in the ground.”
His words mean everything to me, and I feel like I’ve waited my whole life to hear them. I need him, so badly, and suddenly I want nothing more than to feel his arms locked around me, giving me his strength.
“Baby, look at me. You can do this. Just put the gun down, and everything’s gonna be all right. I’ve got you.”
I nod, my tears rolling down my cheeks. I drop the gun and press against his side, burrowing close. He lifts his arm, locking me tightly to him, while still holding his gun on Drake.
“Go ahead, asshole, give me an excuse to take you out. I can have you buried in the backyard with a peach tree planted on top before the sun rises,” Saint growls at Drake.
I look over his shoulder and see Mary Elizabeth, tears in her eyes as well, as she presses her phone to her ear and speaks with the 911 operator.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE