As a grown man, he’d wanted the same thing.
But being an adult was a lot different than being a child, he’d quickly come to realise.
He stepped into the elevator and pressed the lobby button. He needed to make some business calls and grab something to eat. This whole thing with Delores was tiring. More so than he’d first imagined. Everything had been going to plan until she’d gotten involved with that cop.
Michael gritted his teeth at the thought.
That smug cop and his wife, fucking in his bed. In his damned house.
He couldn’t wait to wipe that smug smile from his face.
No one took what was his. Not even a cop.
The doors pinged opened and Michael stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby before heading outside. The day was too damn hot for his liking. He really had no clue why she’d driven all this way to kill herself. He’d given her very simple instructions. Drive away from here, go somewhere private and take the pills. It wasn’t rocket science, but somehow she’d managed to screw even that up.
Damned woman had been doing that since the day he’d married her.
He unlocked his car and climbed inside, immediately starting the engine and turning the air-con on. He’d been glad to get it back after letting Delores take it.
He looked at the digital clock and as the minute clicked over to two o’clock exactly, his cell phone blared to life in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out and answered it.
“Chrissy, right on time.” He smiled and looked out of his window. She really was something else. So like his poor wife, and yet better. Set to inherit her mom’s deli when the old broad passed, and easily manageable without drugs. It was all too perfect.
“I’m scared, Michael,” she said without even a hello first. He sighed as he listened to her rambling on about her mother and how she knew something wasn’t right and how she felt guilty for everything.
Maybe she wasn’t so easy to manage after all, he thought bitterly.
“Calm down, Chrissy. Everything’s going to plan. A small bump in the road, but I’ve got it all handled. Just keep your mouth shut and everything will be fine.”
“You said we’d be together,” she sobbed.
“And we will,” he assured.
“But the police were here; they’re looking into the break-ins. Michael, I think they know I had something to do with it! If they know that, what else do they know? I don’t want to go to prison. I just want to be with you.” She was full on crying now and Michael used everything he had to keep his temper in check.
He couldn’t stand emotional women. Though he couldn’t deny the usefulness of women like Chrissy and Delores. Weak-minded, low self-esteem. They may be emotional, but they were also easily controlled and manipulated. And he needed that.
His business had been failing for a long time. Losing money quicker than he could make it. This side business was the only thing keeping everything afloat. He just needed to keep things going for a little longer; to make enough to get back on top. Then once Chrissy’s mom passed, with a little shove from him, he could sell her business and everything would be fine.
But first things first.
“I’ll be home in a couple of days. Just keep your head down, don’t say anything. I’ll have sorted Del’ out by then and we can be together properly.”
“Promise?” she said with a hiccup down the phone.
“Of course,” he replied.
“I love you, Michael. I just want us to be happy together.”
He looked at his reflection in the rear-view mirror and smiled. “I know, I love you too. Just hang on a little longer. I’ve got it all under control,” he sneered.
Chapter Thirty-Five.
Delores
Delores dreamed of the Grand Canyon.
She dreamed that she were still there, sitting, looking out over its great vastness and beauty. The sun an orange and yellow haze hanging low in the sky, warming her soul. The silence was what was the most beguiling to her. The all-encompassing silence. For the brief moment, the voices were sleeping, or at least in awe of the natural beauty before them. They too stared in open-mouthed wonder.
