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Ashley sucks in a deep breath. “God…”
“I hid the money. I knew the next thing your father would do would be to come after me, finish me next, as soon as he had his hands on that cash. It was the only leverage I had. So, once I hid it, I went to the safest place I could think of.” I shrug a little, half a sardonic smile coming to my mouth. “Then I turned myself in. Turned myself in, and I told the cops that Eric’s family was in danger, and they should move them to a safe place, which they’ve done.”
“Damon…” Ashley reaches up to cup my cheek. Her palm feels soft against the rough stubble of my cheek. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea…my father said you’d killed all three of them.”
I shake my head. Tilt my forehead against hers again. “It’s my own fault. I knew the risks when I agreed to work for your father. But you, you don’t deserve this, Ashley. You don’t deserve to be trapped with a man like him as your family. I’ll tell you where the money is hidden, but just promise me that you’ll use it to get yourself away from him.” I reach up to cup her face between my palms, draw her closer to me, desperate. “Run. Somewhere, anywhere, far away from his schemes and his lies. He’s a terrible person, and it’s only a matter of time before he drags you deeper into his mess. You deserve a better life than this.”
“But you don’t deserve this,” she whispers, reaching up to wrap her arms around my neck. “You don’t deserve to be trapped here, imprisoned for a murder you didn’t commit. You should never have taken the blame for that. Talk to your lawyer, see about getting an appeal, Damon.”
I laugh a little. “For the daughter of a mobster, Ashley, you can be so innocent.” The laugh dies away. “I took a plea deal already. That means no hope of parole or further appeals. I admitted guilt, because, like my crappy state-appointed lawyer told me, there wasn’t any proof I didn’t kill Eric, and besides, I robbed the bank, there’s camera footage of me in the vault. Only me. For all anyone else knows, I did this alone. And it doesn’t help that I didn’t give up the money.”
“So give it up and tell the truth.”
“I don’t care about the truth,” I say, louder than I intend to, my hands tightening on Ashley’s shoulders. She freezes, eyes wide with disbelief. “I don’t,” I repeat, softer now. “The truth never saved me before, and it won’t save me now. All that matters is that Eric’s wife and daughter are safe. That, and I can keep hiding the cash from your father. If at least, after all this, that’s the only small vengeance I can get from this mess, well, I’ve made my peace with that. I only wish I could get the money to Eric’s family, but, of course, no way to do that without tipping off your father too…”
“I’ll do it,” she says.
Now it’s my turn to stare at her in surprise. “Ashley…”
“No, please, I mean it. It’s the least I can do. Damon, after everything you’ve been through… Let me help you with this. Let me do this one thing, right this one wrong.”
I search her gaze one last time. If Ashley’s lying right now, this could ruin everything. Get her father’s grubby hands on that cash, get me killed, since I won’t have any leverage left to hold over him, any more reasons for him to keep me alive. But if she’s lying right now, then she is the best goddamn actress I’ve ever met. Because I see nothing in her big brown eyes but pain and heartache and… something else.
Maybe… affection?
Ashley leans in and kisses my lips once more, softly. “Let me do this for you,” she whispers against my mouth.
Just then, someone pounds on the door to the room. “Time’s about up, lovebirds!” the guard shouts through the metal door.
Ashley doesn’t move, doesn’t reach for her clothes, even though she’s still stark naked. Hell, so am I. Neither of us cares. Not right now.
“I’m assuming your father knows where I lived?” I whisper.
She nods.
I pull her close, just as keys jimmy in the lock. “Under the floorboards of my bedroom, there’s a key. Take it to the lockers at the bus station. Farthest one at the back. It’s all in there.”
The door swings open, and I reach down to yank the sheets up to cover Ashley, just in time, as the guard elbows his way inside. Walton. I never liked that guy.
“Well, you two certainly don’t waste any precious seconds,” Walton comments. Then he sneers and eyes Ashley’s body beneath the sheet. “Not that I can say I blame you, Tell. What I wouldn’t do to get a piece of that ass…”
“Close the damn door,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
“Your visitation hour is up.”
I shift in bed, so that Ashley can remain lying down, safely covered. Then I shove to my feet and plant myself facing Walton, not bothering to cover anything. I’m at least a head taller than him, and have plenty more muscle to go around, judging by his narrow arms under that drab uniform. “Close the door and let my fiancée get dressed,” I repeat.
He narrows his eyes. “You don’t get any extra time, Tell.”
“I’m not asking for extra time. I just want her to be allowed to dress herself properly, without an audience gawking at her.” I lift a brow, pointed. “Or would you like me to explain to your supervisor what inappropriate terms you were using to address my fiancée?”
His jaw tenses, tightens. I can practically see the tiny cogs churning behind his eyes, as he calculates whether he’d win over me. But then he glances at the bed, probably remembering Ashley’s surname, or the reason we’re in this private room—because her daddy is one of the most powerful men in the state. Without another word, Walton turns around and slams the door behind him.
“Thank you,” Ashley says, as I reach down to hand her her bra.
“Anything for you,” I say, and as the words come out of my mouth, I realize they’re true.
She smiles. Steps up beside me and wraps an arm around my neck. I bend down for one last, long, lingering kiss. I’ll have to savor this one. Have to remember what she tastes like, smells like, feels like, in all the long, lonely years to come.
When we pull apart again, she’s still smiling. “My turn to do you a favor, Damon Tell,” she whispers.
7
“It’s here?” Dad asks.
I pause in the doorway of the room and nod.
“It can’t be,” he says. “We already searched this room. We searched the whole damn house.”
“Do you trust me or not, Dad?” I ask.
He scowls. “I don’t trust Damon Tell, and he’s the one whose information we’re working with.”
“No. We’re working with my information now,” I reply. That, at least, is true. After all, I already came here ahead of time, got the key, which was exactly where Damon told me it would be, underneath the floorboards of his bedroom. I went to the locker in the bus station, retrieved the bag, counted every penny. It was all there.
Then I dropped it off where it needed to go. To the people who truly deserved it: Mrs. Brown and her daughter. I gave it to them to help them start their new life, far away from here.
But Dad doesn’t need to know that. Not yet.
I step closer to him. “Damon actually talked quite a lot, you know, once I started asking the right questions.”
Dad’s eyebrows rise. “Good, you’re learning. Now where in this room did he say the money would be? Is there a secret panel, a hidden door?”
“A loose floorboard, believe it or not,” I say, a slow smile beginning on my face. Dad’s eyes light up, greed evident behind that shark-like grin. How did I never see it before? How did I never realize what a monster he was? I knew he was a bad person. Knew he had his rages, his fits of anger. I knew he did bad things, stole and lied and cheated people. But not this. Nothing like this.
I should have seen it sooner.
Dad reaches for the floorboards. I plant a stiletto heel on the ground, just over the loose board. “Not so fast, Dad,” I say.
His eyes narrow. “Ashley…”
“I just want to clear one thing up first. Then we?
?ll get the money squared away.” I lift an eyebrow as I say that.
“Ashley, we don’t have time for this.”
“Trust me, you’re going to want to make time for this.” I catch his eye and hold it, my own gaze steady as steel. “Someone is on to us, Dad.”
