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“What is this about?” he asked as Jacintha sat on the loveseat on the side of the couch he was seated on.
“I wanted you to hear this from me.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “I reached out to Henry—”
“Henry? That’s the mothafucka’s name?”
Jacintha nodded, dropping her head as she smiled. “Yes. I reached out to him and recorded him admitting to what he did to me. This morning, I took it to the detective that was over my case and he’s working on getting the charges dropped against you now.”
“And what about that nigga?”
“Well… They don’t have anything to find him now, but when that changes, they will issue a warrant. I don’t know his last name or where he lives because we only met at hotels. And apparently the number he gave me was one of those random Google numbers. They are going to try to track him with that. We did text a lot, though, and the detective mentioned something about that being saved to his Google Drive, so they are going to try to track that. If they can’t find him…”
“If they can’t, you will call him again and tell him you want to meet up, then I will handle it.”
“How long will you give them?”
“Three days. Then it’s on me.” His head shook. “Nah. I can’t even wait that long. Call his ass now.”
“Elite,” she called softly. “You don’t have to hurt him because of me and my…” Her hand lowered to her stomach as her brows wrinkled and eyes watered. “I appreciate you trying to protect and defend me, but I don’t deserve it.”
“At the moment, you’re still my wife.”
Her eyes closed and she squeezed them tightly as her chin trembled. Swallowing hard, Jacintha tugged her hair gently.
“I’m so sorry I ruined us.”
“It’s not just on you,” Elite replied, trying his hardest not to get up and comfort her.
“I shouldn’t have put my hands on you in any way. What I did wasn’t nearly as bad as what he did, but still, you didn’t deserve that. If I wouldn’t have choked you and pushed you…”
“It doesn’t matter.” She chuckled. “It was wrong, for sure, but that doesn’t justify what I did in response. I felt alone and violated in more ways than one, and I’m finally able to take accountability and admit it was because of my choice to cheat. So yeah, you were wrong as hell for what you did, but so was I. And I’m more than willing to forgive you because I need you to forgive me too.”
“I uh…” Elite’s head shook. This wasn’t what he thought Jacintha was going to say when he arrived, and he honestly didn’t know how to reply. “I’ll forgive you with time. It’s still raw for me right now. I can’t lie, but I will forgive you, Jacintha. No doubt.”
She brushed away her fallen tears. “Also, I posted a video on Facebook admitting that I lied and you weren’t responsible. There are some people offering to help find Henry; yet others are telling me I’m a horrible bitch and I deserved what he did and more.” She clutched her throat as her tears fell more rapidly. “I’m going to delete my pages eventually, but I wanted to give it enough time to be circulated so it would help clear your name. I know a lot of damage has already been done, but hopefully this will help you find some peace.”
“Thank you,” Elite muttered, almost speechless.
“I’m just sorry it took me so long to do this.”
Their eyes remained locked, and Elite felt something shift inside of him. Something that softened his heart toward her. Something that made his heart feel as if it wanted to magnetically connect with hers—every broken piece.
“I’ma head out,” he announced as he stood.
“Okay. Thanks for stopping by. I didn’t want to say all of that over the phone.”
“It’s cool. I appreciate you wanting to tell me face to face. How are the twins?”
Jacintha smiled as she walked him to the door. “Good. They are loving Washington. They say it’s more fun. I don’t think they are going to want to come back home.”
“Not even for your mom’s cooking?”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Nope. Not even for my mom’s cooking.”
Their eyes locked again briefly. The vulnerability of the moment made it difficult for Jacintha to do anything but look away.
“I may look into moving there. That way, they’ll be closer to their dad and siblings, and it’ll be like a fresh start for me.”
Elite nodded, wondering why in the hell the thought of Jacintha leaving Memphis made him sad.
