Vic and I leave the room and walk over to the desk where he left his phone and keys. I pick up the phone and take it over to his lifeless body, unlocking the older phone with his finger and dialing 9-1-1. The operator's voice comes over the line, and I leave it there, wiping it down to remove any trace of my fingerprints. We walk out of the place knowing that help is on its way for the girl who may have been drugged on the bed. But no help will be coming for the man who caused so much suffering and who got away with murder for a possible payout from the insurance company. And no amount of cover-up will help his reputation, or his brother’s, when they find that girl passed out and handcuffed to his bed, saved from who knows what kind of abuse he could have caused if given the chance. The undisputable evidence of her body is there on his bed, and it’s not one even his brother can deny.
We drive away from the scene with Vic in the passenger seat, and the unspoken promise that this too shall pass. When I arrive at my apartment with Vic in tow, I turn on the light to see Emma sitting there in the dark, twirling her hair. I jump up, and Vic steps in front of me, but I stop him. “Wait.” He stops mid-stride on his way to Emma. She doesn’t look scared. In fact, she seems amused. “What the fuck, Emma? How do you do that?” She laughs.
“Special skills, babe,” she says, pointing to the black dress she lent me a couple of weeks ago, which hangs in tatters on thehanger it came with. “So, I guess you owe me a dress.” I laugh, and it makes her green eyes sparkle. Vic looks between us.
“Vic, this is Emma. Emma, this is my Vic.” She stands from the chair and walks over to him. He stands still, assessing her. His eyes are calculating, and as she extends her hand, he pulls her into a hug.
“Oof,” Emma staggers into his arms, as he releases her just as quickly.
“I recognize you from the photo,” he says, as that explains it all. He looks over at me, and I nod, understanding as he shrugs his shoulders. Emma looks at me, her lip curled up, and her eyes alight with humor. “You’re her family,” Vic says, unbothered by it all.
Emma throws her hair over her shoulder. “Damn straight,” she says. She starts walking toward the door, and we follow her. “Oh,” I say quickly, just remembering what is in my pocket. “Can you get rid of this?” I hand her the scalpel, and her eyebrow quirks up.
She looks at the skinny scalpel in my hand before taking it with a roll of her eyes. “Please tell me we don’t have to get rid of another body, Dani?” She sighs, and I let out a laugh, while Vic just stares at us like we’ve all gone mad, and maybe he’s right.
“No, this one doesn’t need disposing of.” I snort as she pockets the scalpel.
“Yes, well, that’s good. I was here with you all night, right?” she confirms, with a slight smile.
I nod. “Yep, and Vic, too.”
“Of course,” she agrees. “Now, will you two get dressed and meet us at the Four Seasons? We can’t wait to finally see you guys.”
I clap my hands excitedly. “Is everyone here?” I ask hopefully, and she smiles widely. “Of course. Even Mateo came this time,” she says as there’s a knock at the door. I walk toanswer it, and then Eduardo comes through. He looks straight at Emma, checking her from head to toe as she rolls her eyes.
“Sorry, Em. You took too long, and I got worried,” he shrugs, but I know he isn’t sorry. He looks over at me and smiles before coming over to give me a quick hug and extending his hand over to Vic. “Welcome to our family. I’m Eduardo.” Vic quirks his lip, trying to hide his smile, and I can tell he likes them already.
“Vic, and thanks. I hear we are meeting you guys at the Four Seasons?” Eduardo looks over to Emma, and she beams at him.
He looks back toward us. “Of course. I heard you also need an alibi.” He winks, and Vic lets out a loud laugh.
“Thanks,” he huffs. “I guess we do.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
VIC
After having a shit ton of fun with Dani’s friends, we make it back to her place and finally let the night settle around us. Within the safety of her apartment walls, the noise of tonight fades into something that is just us. “I miss them all so much,” Dani whispers, pulling the blanket higher to her chest. She shifts the pillow beneath her arms, curling into it as the events of tonight take their toll on her body.
I lie on my side, facing her. She has never looked more beautiful than she has right now. In the dim light, her promise ring glints faintly on her left hand. I reach over and tap off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness except for the outline of her face. We stare at each other across the inches of space, but it feels like an eternity between us.
“What are you thinking about, Vic?” she asks softly, already sensing the question burning at the back of my throat. She tilts her head, studying me in only the way she can. It makes me smile as she prepares herself for whatever answer I can offer.
I sigh, brushing my thumb over the blanket where her hand rests beneath it. “Baby, how would you feel about going back home?” Her body stiffens almost instantly, and she flinches, not understanding that I want her with me, of course.
“What do you mean?” Her voice is cautious, but I can hear the ache behind it, the longing for a place that I equally miss. “You work here, and I just got the job that I always wanted.”
I nod, forcing her to hold my gaze, to let her know that I am not dismissing her dreams, but knowing that she only came here for me. “Yes, that’s true. I know that we have started to build something here together, and I don’t take that lightly. But what if we went home, like really home? Surrounded by our friends, with a support system that we can lean on, not just down the road, but now.”
She sighs, sinking deeper into the pillow, her eyes searching mine in the dark. “I don’t know,” she says on a long exhale, “the only place that I wanted to live was sold, and all those memories of us belong there. If it can’t be there, then we might as well start over and build new ones.” Her lips purse, like she is forced to surrender to the loss of it all over again.
My chest tightens, but this time it is not from grief. I can hardly contain the smile at the secret I’ve been carrying, waiting for just the right moment to share it because she doesn’t know. She isn’t aware that I've already reached out to Brandon, our former realtor, to ask if I can buy back Dani’s home. It has been at the back of my mind after he suggested it, should I ever have that as an option. When he asked when I wanted to sign the papers, I said, “Now’s as good a time as any.” He laughed, and as I gave him the down payment, we signed the papers, then took the keys and handed them to me. I reach back behind me and fumble through the dresser.
“What are you doing?” she asks curiously, but I can sense the excitement in her voice. “Is it another ring?” she asks jokingly, but I can tell she wouldn’t mind if it was.
I chuckle. “That will be our future soon, baby,” I say reassuringly. “The first box I gave you was our past, and you are wearing that.” I point lazily at her promise ring. “This box here,”I hand her the little black box with a red bow, “is our present, if you'll accept it.” She plops herself on one elbow as she stares down at the box in her hand. She looks up at me expectantly.
I chuckle, hands up in surrender. “You’re just going to have to open it and find out what it is then.”
