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ChapterTwenty-Five
Damon pulled Ariana close. “We should get something to eat.”
She shook her head no, not looking away from the bar and grill, which was now blocked off with yellow tape.
The police had ushered everyone out upon arriving. The four of them had been standing in the parking lot for nearly two hours.
Damon could hardly believe everything Ari and Lia had found in Rita’s office. She was pregnant and her husband had been blackmailing her.
He’d always had a sense that something was off about Boone, but had never guessed his secret was so dark. What was wrong with people like him that they couldn’t just let someone go?
As much as it would kill him if Ariana wanted to leave him, he wouldn’t stop her. He would never dream of blackmailing her into staying. The thing that made their relationship so meaningful was that she freely gave herself to him. Anything less would be tainted. It wouldn’t be love. It would be a betrayal of love.
At least that reassured him his urges to hurt Boone weren’t unfounded. Maybe Damon wasn’t becoming his father after all. He simply had good instincts, and he sensed someone who had more in common with Cal Jones than he himself did.
“Let me see those pictures again,” Charles said.
Lia handed him her phone.
He scrolled muttering in disbelief. “I always knew something was off about that guy. But to treat his wife that way? I can’t even imagine.”
“You and me both,” Damon said. “I keep trying to make sense of it.”
“Don’t bother,” Ariana said. “There’s no point in trying to understand a psychopath.”
She knew from experience. And Damon should’ve known too. But the crazies in her life weren’t her relatives. He had to come to terms with the fact that his own father had enjoyed killing people.
Every time he thought he had accepted it, he proved himself wrong.
It was possible he would never fully come to accept it. Not without changing the way he viewed himself. He wasn’t his dad, but he came from him. They were connected, whether he liked it or not.
“Why don’t we go home?” Charles said. “It’s getting cold, and it isn’t like we’re able to help.”
“We want to watch,” Lia said. “It’s the only thing we can do for Rita.”
“I can order a pizza to be delivered.”
“I’m not hungry,” Lia said.
“And I can’t eat while watching the police take Rita’s things,” Ariana said.
Damon and Charles exchanged worried glances. Their wives were both visibly exhausted, but there was no convincing them to get rest or nourishment. Not that he could blame them.
He found a blanket in his car and spread it out over the hood. “Would you two at least have a seat?”
They did.
Damon and Charles both leaned against the car with their arms around their traumatized wives.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Lia asked.
“She’s strong,” Charles said.
“But she’s also pregnant. What if the father is furious? Or the other guy found out and wants her dead?” Lia shuddered.
“It all makes my head spin,” Ariana said. “I wish she had come to us. We could’ve helped.”
“This might not have anything to do with the pregnancy,” Damon said.
