“You promised.”
“That was before.”
“So that’s it?” she demands. “You just decided I don’t matter anymore?”
I let the lie settle in my chest.
“Yes.”
The pain in her face almost breaks me.
“Get your things,” I repeat. “You leave Miami tomorrow.”
She doesn’t move at first.
I pull cash from my pocket and drop it at her feet.
“For your time. Use it to disappear.”
The sound she makes cuts deep. But she nods once and begins packing silently.
When she reaches the door she pauses.
“If you do this,” she says quietly, “never come looking for me.”
I open the door.
“I won’t.”
My Darling.
Mi cariño.
Still she won’t go. I almost break.
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” I say, instead, twisting the knife.
She walks past me without another word.
Down the stairs.
Out of my life.
An hour later Carmen slips her arm through mine in the clubhouse.
The Saints Outlaws cheer.
Miami crowns its new king.
And the only woman I ever loved disappears into the city.
Chapter 2
Darling
The first thing I notice is the silence.
Not the good kind. Not the peaceful finally-alone quiet that comes after a long shift when the world finally stops demanding pieces of me. This silence feels wrong. It sits in the room like something watching, something crouched just outside the door waiting for the moment it decides to step in.
