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29
CAMBRIA
Ican’t believe what he just said to me. Helovesme?
I’m completely overwhelmed by everything. So much has happened in the span of thirty minutes that I feel like my head is going to explode. Even though Cole is dead, I can still feel the residual terror of seeing him outside my window, of having to prepare myself to die to keep him away from my baby.
I try to breathe deeply to keep myself from panicking. Will this stress hurt my baby? I could never handle a miscarriage after all that’s happened. It would be too much for me. I’d almost certainly end up in a mental hospital.
Tears stream down my face again. “Why do you love me? Wasn’t I always just one of your dancers? You’re surrounded by beautiful women every day of your life. You don’t have to say any of that just because I’m pregnant.”
He brings me closer, holding me and resting my head on his chest. “None of that means anything to me anymore. You’ve transformed the way I see love. There’s nobody I’d rather have a baby with than you. Can’t you see that?” he says sweetly, stroking my cheek with his thumb.
I lift my head to meet his gaze. “Really? Even after everything Ariella told me about you?”
“Yes, especially after all that. I’m not who I was, not at all.”
I bury my face in his chest again, inhaling the smell that I’ve missed so much every night since I ran away. He smells like home now, and just the thought of him being my home makes me start sobbing again. The pregnancy hormones have been wreaking havoc on every system in my body, and my emotions have not been spared in the slightest.
After fighting so hard not to give in, I finally let myself feel held by him. He hugs me so tight that I feel like I could die in his arms without a complaint, as if our hearts were going to merge into one.
I hug him back, slightly digging my nails into his back just like I did when we would have sex. I’ve craved him, his body, his presence, for too long now. I need every bit of him to be mine.
“We need to get rid of the body,” he states flatly.
That’s right. Cole is still dead, and it’s only a matter of time before someone finds him and calls the police.
I obviously hadn’t considered the ramifications of murdering somebody, even if I had fear beyond a reasonable doubt that he was going to hurt me. He hadn’tactuallydone anything, and the court system had already proven that it was working in his favor for god knows what reason.
“What are we going to do with it?” I ask, feeling more than a little relieved that I knew Abram had disposed of bodies before. How he did it, I’m not sure. But I never forgot that about him, not since the night I snuck out in Marcus’s truck.
Abram sighs, glancing down at Cole’s pathetic corpse with his pasty white belly sticking out of his shirt. “It’s going to be more difficult since I don’t know anybody out here, but it won’t be impossible. I’m pretty sure James has people out here. I’ll have to figure something out with him.”
“What do you usually do?”
He pauses for a moment. “Okay, typically, we would saw the limbs off and place each in a barrel of hydrochloric acid. Then we dump it in the nearest large body of water.”
My stomach churns at the thought of chopping up a body, even if it’s the body of my worst enemy. “Abram, I don’t know if I can do that.”
“I would never, ever make you do something like that. I’m keeping you as far away from the disposal as I can. I don’t need you getting nightmares for the rest of your life, which you would,” he responds, kneeling down to examine Cole’s body further.
Even though I’m a little insulted that Abram thinks I’m that soft, I know he’s right. I might know a little more about the mafia’s inner workings than the average woman, but Marcus was very good about hiding what he did from me. Knowing and seeing aren’t the same thing.
I want to suspend this moment for just a little longer, to keep the sweetness between us before the inevitable cascade of disaster when the gravity of our circumstances crashes over us.
“Abram, I know this is a bad time, but I just need to know,” I say as my voice wavers, kneeling down beside him to look him in the eye.
“Yes, what is it?”
I take a deep breath, considering the fallout of my request for the last time before I cast myself over the edge of the unknown. “I need to know what happened to Marcus. I need all of it. Don’t spare me.”
He looks at me with concern and a bit of trepidation. “You know that once I tell you, you’re going to get the full story. Right? I’m not going to leave anything out if that’s what you’re asking me to do.”
I nod. “I know. No matter how awful it is, I need to know what happened to him. You talk about giving me nightmares, but I haven’t slept one night without dreaming of my brother and all of the horrible ways he could have died. You have the power to take that from me.”
“I know you do. I could hear you calling out for him in your sleep all those nights I stayed with you after surgery. I always wondered how I could possibly help you have peace. You were so restless,” he replies, stroking my cheek lovingly.
“Okay, so let’s hear it. Give me peace.”
