“You think I should leave?”
“I think you should trust your instincts this time.”
This time.I’d once confessed to Saylor that I’d said “no” to Ridge on at least twenty occasions before he wore me down.Giving in had seemed like the easiest option.He’d offered me everything I needed—help with probate, support with the insurance claims, a shoulder to cry on.My friends said he was a catch, a charmer, and who wouldn’t want a sugar daddy?Those same friends had melted away after our lavish wedding.I’d declined several invites at Ridge’s behest, and they’d just stopped calling.
Instead, I’d found myself with a country club membership, and when I was due to return to college after my leave of absence, they’d questioned my sanity.Why would I want to waste time with food science when I could stay home and focus on being a wife and mother?
Eager to please and sluggish from antidepressants, I’d believed them.
And then I’d spent five years drowning in quicksand before I managed to claw myself out.
Never again.
Think, Jessie.Think.
Okay, worst-case scenario, Justin was guilty.He wouldn’t murder me in the house, would he?Not with an audience outside.His three ex-fiancées were still alive, and his friends—who knew him better than I did, or the police, or the overly judgmental podcasters—thought he was innocent.
Best-case scenario?Amie showed up alive tomorrow.She could be fine, just in the middle of a breakdown—I understood exactly how that felt—and all this drama was for nothing.
My instincts told me Justin was the man I’d been waiting my whole life to meet.
“I’m going to stay, at least for a while.”
“Make sure you check in with me every day.”
“I will, I promise.”Footsteps sounded in the hallway, the squeak of rubber sneakers on tile.“Justin’s coming.”
“Call me later, okay?”
“Wish me luck.”
“Good luck.You’ve got this, Jessie.”
CHAPTER35
JUSTIN
“You okay?”
Jessie had been crying, that much was obvious, and Justin hated the cops more in that moment than he had when they hauled him over the coals in an interview room.She shook her head, and what was he supposed to do?He’d caused this.Well, not caused it, but the police had come here because of him.
“No, I’m not okay.”
At least she was honest.
“I don’t know whether to offer you a hug or a one-way ticket to Acapulco.”
She choked out a sob.“And I wouldn’t be sure which to accept.They threatened to take Shiro.”
“The police?”
“Who else?”
“Motherfuckers.They won’t, I promise.They found a judge to sign off on some bullshit warrant, but they have no evidence, and my lawyer says it’s only a matter of time before the crowd of fools outside realises that.He’s going to release a statement.”
“Saying what?”
“That I’m concerned for Amie’s welfare, and I hope the police find her quickly, but they’re looking in the wrong place because I sure as hell didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance.Obviously, he’ll say it in a more sympathetic way.”
