A week passes.
Then another.
No visitors. No more letters.
Endless reports about Ella.
Candlelit vigils. Protests about organized crime. And a hard drive released outing hundreds of officers for taking bribes.
The biggest crackdown in legal history, they called it.
Ranger Luxe was arrested, but released quickly, because the man is untouchable. He won’t see the inside of a cell like me. Men like him never get punished.
A month passes.
Another letter about Hunter’s estate.
I do the same with it that I did with the last one.
I work out.
I watch the shows about Ella.
I wait.
Every Thursday, visitor day, I wait for my name to be called. For her to be here, because she will be here.
But Thursday passes.
Then another.
And another.
Ten weeks.
And nothing.
Just like today. Another Thursday, and no visitors.
“Why are you so sure?” Charlie asks quietly as we sit at one of the tables, playing cards.
“I just am.”
“They showed her funeral last week.”
I place my cards down. “I know that. I’m not saying the world doesn’t think she’s dead, but she’s just not.”
He eyes me before placing his own cards down. They look tiny in his massive hands. “So, you think she faked her death?”
“Yes. It’s the only way Guy could release those names and guarantee she’d be safe.”
“But … I thought you said Guy and Ranger had an agreement. He wasn’t going to touch Ella.”
I frown. “You think that motherfucker wouldn’t go back on it? I’m telling you, something went wrong and she had to go into hiding. This keeps her safe. And it also means we can be together. We won’t need to hide; we can both leave.”
“But Gable … you’re not together,” he says softly, and my eyes meet his. “No one has come for you. No one has even visited you. Wouldn’t they let you in on all this? Wouldn’t she somehow get a message to you?”
My throat thickens, but I shake my head at him.
