Mom gives me a curious look, but she does as I tell her. She probably thinks Justin did something bad and that we are going on the run. Only it was me who screwed up. Mom gets her bag and locks up the house. As she gets in the back-passenger seat she looks to Justin. “Will you make sure my plants get watered? And make sure Cleo gets fed?”
“Whatever you need,” he tells her with a weak smile.
A bad feeling settles in my gut, but I chalk it up to my anxiety.
Justin drives for a few hours only stopping to get gas and takeout from a drive-thru. Eventually he pulls up to an airstrip where a private plane awaits us. “Justin, what is this? This isn’t the airport.”
“No, it’s not.” I grab his arm, but he refuses to meet my eyes.
“What did you do?”
“Get out of the car, Steph. Don’t make it any harder than it needs to be. I told you I would put you on a plane I just never said where to.” He takes the keys from the ignition, pocketing them as he exits the car.
A dark-haired man steps out of the plane and my heart drops to my feet. I’m going to be sick. He can’t do this to me…to us. Oh God, I don’t want to get out of this car. My husband comes around to my side of the car and opens the door. “Get out.”
“No. You can’t make me go with him. Justin, please! I love you. I love, Justin. You don’t want this. You don’t.” I shake my head as my tears fall. “What is this?” I start to panic seeing two or
derlies’ dressed all in white approaching my mother once she gets out of the car screeching at Justin to tell her why I am so scared of this man. One of the men grabs her while the other stabs a syringe into her neck. Immediately she goes limp in the arms of the man who grabbed her.
Tiny Leone smiles at me as he produces a stack of papers and a pen.
“Sign the papers,” Justin demands through clenched teeth.
“You sold me,” I whisper scream at him. He really sold me to the devil. He doesn’t love me anymore. I’ve truly lost him. He’s signed my death certificate himself. I no longer exist. “How can you do this to me?”
“I did what I had to.” His hand grabs my arm, jerking me out of the car. With shaky hands I sign the divorce papers and sign my life away. Justin gathers the papers and tucks them under his arm as I stare at him feeling like he is a stranger to me now.
“You don’t have to do this…,” I call out to him, reaching for him, as my world begins to spin. He shuts down, blocking me out completely as Tiny puts an arm around my waist and drags me toward the plane. “Justin!” I scream his name and he won’t even look at me. “Justin, please,” I whisper out in broken sobs.
“Shh, my sweet girl. You are going to make yourself sick. I’m going to take care of you now. You and your mother. This part of your life will all feel like a bad dream in time. You’ll see.” Tiny hugs me close and bile rises in my throat when he kisses my temple.
What has he done?
What did I do?
Oh God, help me.
Chapter 12
—Uno
Tiny comes back off the plane. “Don’t worry yourself. I will take excellent care of my sweet little bird. You know how long I have wanted her.”
I nod, keeping my mouth shut afraid that if I don’t I will kill him right here on the spot. I should kill him. I should do the rest of the world a favor, but Hades has warned us all of making rogue moves behind his back. I have no idea how many of his men are stationed in the woods ready to take me out via sniper rifle if I make one wrong move.
He pats my shoulder once and then he boards the plane.
Leaning on the hood of Stephanie’s car, I watch as she beats on the window of the plane, red faced and teary eyed. She can scream all she wants but there is nothing I can do for her. She signed her own death warrant the moment she went behind my back to the cop. Had she come to me first and told me what she was up to then maybe I could have understood. We were always a team. It was the two of us against the world. She betrayed me. Betrayed the club by doing what she did.
Boogeyman saw it all with his own eyes. Had pictures and video to prove she cheated. I have no idea if what she said was true about doing it all to protect me, but she did give me a tape that supposedly came from the cop. It was footage from a home security system in Zo Zo’s neighborhood that showed me pulling into his driveway about an hour before the explosion. I think Stephanie saw an opportunity and took it. I can’t fault her for that, but she fucking destroyed what love I had for her.
I continue to stare at Stephanie, never taking my eyes off her as the plane starts to roll down the runway, until she is out of sight and the plane leaves the ground.
It’s really over.
My marriage is done.
All that is left is filing the paperwork. It seems so insignificant that after all we went through that the only thing left connecting us is a stack of papers.