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Disbelief warred with the anger simmering under my skin. How the hell could she think I’d be capable of that shit?
“I know you weren’t, Jude. Because I went through a terrifying pregnancy by myself, and for the last seven years I’ve raised my sonby myself,” she snarled.
“He’s my son too!” I spat in an angry whisper.
“Then you should’ve acted like it!”
“Never in my life would I have thought you could be so spiteful. So because I was in the army, I couldn’t be there for you? Forgive me if I deployed for over a year after I saw you last! It’s not like I was away by choice. Then when I came back to Ankeny, you were gone. Your father had moved. Was I supposed to be clairvoyant and known that you were pregnant? Sorry, honey, but that isn’t my gift, as you well know.” By the time I finished my tirade, my chest was heaving and I was trembling in anger. Her mouth hung open in shock, and I experienced a moment’s remorse for being so harsh.
“You said you were going to be gone a while. I thought you meant just in the army. I didn’t know you deployed after you left. I wrote you a letter. I gave you every possible way to contact me. A week later, you emailed me. Told me you didn’t want to be saddled with a child. That it was probably unlikely you were even the father. To never contact you again. If anyone’s heart was broken, Jude, it was mine,” she lashed out as she banged her fist against her chest and an angry tear trailed down her cheek.
“Korrie, I never emailed you,” I said softly.
“You certainly did!” She dug out her phone and furiously typed into it before she thrust it at me. “Take it! I kept it in case you ever came back and tried to take him,” she rasped out when I looked at it warily.
Heart pounding, a second sense told me what I was going to see would change everything. Stretching across the bed, I took it from her, careful not to make contact with her fingers.
My brow furrowed as I read the email. Then I looked up at her in confusion, with more than a little nausea swirling in my guts. “I didn’t write this. This isn’t even my email.”
“What?” she gasped in a disbelieving whisper.
Before we could discuss it further, there was a soft knock on the doorframe. We both looked that way to find Ghost standing there.
“We need to go,” he said in a low voice.
I nodded. “Let me take a quick shower.”
Then I returned my gaze to Korrie. “You and Trace are coming with us. Pack a bag for each of you. Make sure you have all your important papers—birth certificates, social security cards, passports if you have them.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The surprised question came from both her and Ghost at the same time.
“You heard me,” I said, trying to rein my temper in.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind? If I leave, I look guilty when Lester shows up dead,” she shouted, then realized Trace was lying right there. I could’ve told her he wasn’t hearing a word we said. He’d be knocked out for another good hour or so.
“No one will ever know he’s dead.”
“Uh, when he doesn’t contact anyone or show up for city council meetings, I think someone is bound to figure it out,” she said with an incredulous gaping stare.
“This is the only time I’m going to say this. Lester didn’t die tonight. He embezzled from the city, conned several prominent members of Louisville society, and has skipped the country to live on the sandy beaches of Mexico and South America. Trust me when I tell you, he left a blazing trail. Now, I’m gonna use your shower.” I turned and went into her connected bathroom.
The hot water ran over me as I braced my hands on the tiled wall, leaving a rusty puddle on the floor of the shower. I didn’t want her to know how weak I was. Head hanging, I prayed there were no further snags, because I’d be useless. A transfusion should’ve been a part of my recuperation, but I didn’t want to linger here to see if Coy had a contact for that.
Once I was clean, I stepped out of the shower and dried off with a towel I found in her cabinet. Wrapping it around my waist, I returned to the bedroom.
Ghost dropped my bag on the bed in front of me. I dug out a clean Henley and looked up in time to catch Korrie staring at my abs and chest like she wanted to eat me alive.
Hiding my smirk, I tugged my shirt over my head. If my son wasn’t lying there, I’d have let the towel drop. Not that he’d know, but it would be weird.
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” she tried to reason as I pulled on a clean pair of jeans. I shoved my bloody clothes in a bag that Ghost took out of the room. Coy’s boys would make sure they never resurfaced.
“I’m not worried that you will, because you’re coming with us. Was I not clear when I said pack your shit?” With my arms crossed over my chest, I raised a questioning brow.
“Jude, you can’t be serious,” she continued in a baffled tone.
“Oh, but I can. Because Lester sent you an email terminating your employment.”
“What the hell? That’s impossible.” She scoffed.
