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Maybe I shouldn’t do this. Maybe I should go back. What about my parents? What will they think?
Nicole studied my crying eyes before saying, “I have two options for you.”
“And what are they?” I whispered.
She opened the SUV, took the bags from me, and threw them into the car before turning to look at me with worried eyes. “You run and don’t say anything. Everyone will think you ran away, and no one will ever have a definitive answer.”
“And option two?” I whispered.
She held the driver’s door open and continued, “We fake your death.”
“What? H-how?”
“I just need your answer,” she demanded.
If I ran, he’d never stop looking for me. He would use my family to get to me. Either way, as a cop, he had resources that would make it easy for him.
But if I faked my death, that’d be it. I’d just be gone to anyone in my life. I’d force them to mourn and feel my death. Doing that to my parents? I didn’t know if I could be responsible for that pain.
But what about the pain Trey would inflict on them if I didn’t? He would think they knew something, that they had helped me get away. He could cover up their deaths, and everyone would pay as much attention to it as they did the abuse he’d inflicted on me.
The answer was easy really. There was only one option that would end Trey’s grasp on me.
“Fake my death,” I declared.
Nicole nodded and held her hand out. “Give me your jewelry, your shirt, and a chunk of your hair.”
I had a sweatshirt over a tank top. I quickly removed the hoodie and handed it to her along with my necklace, earrings, and rings. Sliding the wedding band and engagement ring off of my finger felt like shackles being removed. Like the collar he had around my neck was gone. I wrapped my finger around a chunk of my hair on the back of my neck and yanked hard. I yelped at the sharp sting and handed the hair over to Nicole.
“What are you going to do?” I asked her. “You won’t have my body.”
“I have everything I need. I don’t want you to know anything else. The less you know, the better. As far as anyone will know, you died tonight. Make a new name, a new identity. Find a place to start over. But you need to go.”
“Okay, okay.” I got in the driver’s seat and started the car.
I didn’t get to say good-bye to my parents. I racked my brain for the last thing we had spoken about, and when the memory came, my stomach twisted. They had told me how much they loved Trey and how they couldn’t wait for us to have kids.
They wouldn’t know the monster he was. I couldn’t tell them. I couldn’t say anything to them ever again. The weight on my chest threatened to suffocate me.
Before I could close the door, Nicole said, “Hold on.” She ran away into another room and came back, holding a red wig and sunglasses. “Until you are far gone, wear these.”
She threw her arms around my shoulders in the car, squeezing me gently, and whispered, “Be careful.”
I nodded as tears ran down my cheeks. “I will. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Her eyes were watering when she pulled away. “I’m glad you called me. Don’t thank me. Just take care of yourself. And have a good and quiet life, Morgan Dove.”
She closed my door, and I slipped the wig and sunglasses on as she opened the garage door.
Pulling away, I was overcome with an abundance of feelings. Sadness for everything I was leaving behind. Peace for being rid of Trey. And hope for what was to come.
I needed a new name.
Glancing at the bags next to me, I saw red silk sticking out of the top. No, not silk. It was satin.
The name came to me, flashing in my mind. A name chosen because of the brave woman who had saved me.
Nikki Satinn.
