“It wasn’t ready.”
“Or the Rawlings wanted to sell it in secret! I wanted to help,” her voice cracks. “So many people need it!”
Michelle collapses in on herself, head buried in her hands, silently crying. “She has everything already!” she croaks, and some heads turn our way.
“Those two agents over there,” I nod toward the table where Ruiz and her partner sit, “will take you into custody, and you’ll tell them everything.”
“But my family…”
I hate to pull this card. “The FBI can protect them. If you cooperate.”
Ruiz stiffly rises and crosses over the restaurant, placing a firm hand on Michelle’s shoulder. She doesn’t resist. Her headlowers, tears dripping behind her hair. But it’s her small nod, a tiny tilt of surrender, that finally untwists the rope of dread that’s been sneaking around my lungs since that day at the ice rink.
My girl is going to be OK.
For the first time in months, I can breathe.
And as soon as she wakes up from Eliza’s bachelorette party hangover, I’m going to tell her everything.
Chapter Thirty-One
JACKIE
This time, I want to know for sure. Ill intentions and my ego destroyed us eight years ago. I won’t let that happen again.
As the driver slows to a stop at the curb, the restaurant’s tall window comes into focus, the golden light from inside spilling down the empty sidewalk, while my heart slams furiously in my chest. The kind of panic that comes before something breaks.
Like a warning.
No breathing exercise in this world could settle the brewing storm of anxiety choking me as I scan the interior. Couples murmur over candlelit tables. Servers glide between them with bottles of wine and trays of food. It looks so warm and intimate that I find myself praying it’s all a misunderstanding.
And then I see them.
Heads tilted too close. Adam smiles at something Michelle says, fingers trailing across the table. I can’t see exactly what he’s touching; maybe it’s innocent. Work-related.
Who am I kidding?
The bitter taste of jealousy rises in the back of my throat.
When I asked him if he wanted to give us another chance, he said he needed time.
I guess I have my answer now.
Whatever we had, that fragile bond I so desperately wanted to save…We’ll never be able to mend what I broke. No matter how much I wanted it, or fantasized about the moment he’d say he forgives me.
“We can go,” I tell the driver, fighting to keep my voice steady.
A single tear rolls down my cheek as I let go of the last fragile thread I was holding on to. So that’s it. That’s what happens when I finally let myself hope.
But this night isn’t about me. I lock everything behind a wall. All my heartbreak and crushed dreams of something more. This is Eliza’s night. She’s been excited about this for weeks. The woman has never even been to a club before.
I won’t ruin it.
The chilly October night cools my cheeks when I step out beneath the club’s black marquee.I’m fine.Everything is under control, as long as I don’t let it affect me. I can do this. Keep it together tonight, and make it back home without breaking down.
Good plan, right?
Pausing at the threshold, I take a deep breath, picking up traces of amber and old wood. As steady as I can muster, I gingerly descend the narrow staircase, fingers grazing the rough brick walls as flickering brass sconces guide the way.I’m fine.
