Hugo crawls up my body. He kisses the space below my ear once, twice, three times. "I love you. I love you, I love you. I could say it a million times. Let me be your husband. Let me be the man who shows you how incredible you are."
"Can't...do better...than that."
Hugo chuckles against my skin. "You were designed for me, Mallory. I can feel it."
"Yes," I murmur.
Hugo takes me to bed in his old room. He explains it's more of a guest room now, that he's taken most of his childhood memorabilia with him to his house.
We climb under the covers, and I whisper something I've been thinking about since everything happened thismorning. I've been drinking nothing but tea all evening, and it's helped soothe my vocal cords.
"Sounds crazy, but watching you with that sword today..." I bite my lip, reluctant to say what I've been thinking.
Hugo catches on, smiling provocatively. "Did you like what you saw, Mallory?"
"Not in the moment, but later when I thought about it...yeah."
His hand finds my breast in the dark. His thumb flicks over my nipple, making me arch into him. "Do you have a sword kink?"
"Perhaps. Choking is definitely not on my sex menu, ever."
Hugo groans. "Too soon."
The only communicating we do after that is with our bodies.
Chapter 49
Mallory
In the weeksfollowing the event with Liane, I pore myself intoCase Files. If I thought it was personal before, now it's tenfold.
Jolene came to visit, hell on wheels when she learned what Liane did. "I wish I'd been here, Mal. I would have stuck her through the chest, Inigo Montoya style." She mimed using a sword.
Jolene helped me write episode scripts, and schedule interviews. Liane's arrest and confession galvanized everybody, and they are more than ready to share their experiences. Mayor Rooney resigned following his wife's arrest, and after being interrogated by a relentless Detective Towles who brought a lot of emotion with him into the small, dark room, was determined to have not known about his wife. His finances however, are all being investigated due to Liane's rant in Hugo's kitchen that day. Something tells me there will be a lot for the police to find. Liane has, not shockingly, claimed to have beenlying about her son and what he did to Maggie. He lives in Baltimore now, a world away from his insane mother, and also denied any wrongdoing when contacted by authorities. Even behind bars, Liane is turning herself inside out to protect her adult child.
As broken as I feel over everything that happened, I'm doing my best to stay calm. Peanut needs me to be emotionally healthy.
Cecily and I have been in constant contact, creating content to stir up interest in the podcast and the forthcoming episodes. The local media attention on the solving of not one, but two, long-cold murder cases has helped everything we're doing. The De la Vega family has refused media interviews, stating they will be exclusively working with a true crime podcast.
Hugo's home, specifically his kitchen, has been scrubbed and bleached. I had a hard time standing in it at first, but I've decided to reframe the situation. Instead of thinking of it as a place where I nearly lost my life to strangulation, I think of it as the place where we took down my sister and Simon's murderer. When I look at it that way, I am empowered and no longer a victim.
Most surprising of all was the phone call from my mom after the detective who worked on Maggie's case called to tell her about Liane.
"You ready for this?" Hugo asks, taking my hand in his. We're sitting out front of my mom and stepdad's house.
There's no making up for lost time, but forward progress is all we have. I won't miss out on that because Iwant to protect myself, hold a grudge, let past pain guide future behavior.
"I'm ready. Thank you for coming with me."
"By your side is right where I want to be." His voice, his words sink into my chest.
My mother steps out front. Her hands are at her mouth, as if she can't believe it. Then her arms open wide.
I go to her, step into her embrace. She let her torment grow thorns, keeping others away. I don't know what that was like for her. How much a person must be hurting in order to hurt others.
"You are so beautiful," she whispers into my ear. "And I am so sorry."
There are tears. Handshakes as I introduce Hugo.
