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The money spat out of the machine, and I plucked an envelope from the open slot and slipped all the bills inside. My breathing became rampant, and my stomach churned with unease.
Kate’s eyes widened beside me, at the amount of cash I held within my fingertips.
This is the last time.
The last time I hurt them. I swore it.
She yanked the envelope from me, shoved at my side with the gun in her pocket, and tipped her chin toward the car.
After I slipped back in the passenger seat, she opened the envelope and started counting the money inside. The gun stayed planted on her lap. I eyed it and debated if I could grab it and make a run for it.
My life was inevitably going to end in tragedy. It was as though my cards had already been written when I was born to a deadbeat mother like Kate Summers. Why couldn’t it have played differently for me? I stared at her profile, the line of her jaw and nose, the green in her eyes that I’d inherited.
A raw and primitive grief overwhelmed me at the lack of a mother figure that I had. When I had been younger, when I’d been in bed, crying at the circumstance of my situation, at another night with my mother not coming home, I’d tell myself that I would be a better mother—that I couldn’t control my own mother, but I could control the kind of mother I wanted to be.
Now, I knew I’d never get that chance.
“Good job, baby girl,” she uttered with a sick sort of pride. She stuffed the envelope in her right pocket.
She hadn’t called me baby girl since I was a teenager. The endearment was like tiny spiders crawling up my skin.
When she placed the car in drive, I turned to face her fully. “Where are we going?” I had tapped the cash advance on the credit card. Where else could she take me where I could charge and she could flip the product and get cash back?
She smirked. “We’re going to buy some jewelry.”
I frowned at her. Everything was closed right now. It was nine in the evening. “Where?”
“The pawn shop.”
I rubbed at my brow, irritation prickling my skin.When will this nightmare be over?I’d given her everything she needed. Now, I had to make my escape.
“This is it,” I said, my voice defeated. “This is the last time, Kate.”
“Yeah, yeah. For sure. I’m not greedy.”
I didn’t know if that was meant to be sarcastic or if she really believed that. I didn’t want to overanalyze this woman I would no longer see, so I stared out the window instead, hoping and wishing that Mary was okay—that she was safely in Charles’s arms right now, tucked securely in her bed.
I closed my eyes, resting my head against the window, wishing so hard for it to be true. I pictured her bedroom, her glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, and I drowned in the memories of Charles and me in that bed, as bread to the Mary sandwich. Agony and an acute sense of loss flooded my senses, and I squeezed my eyes tighter to prevent full-blown emotional tears to fall.
Not only did I wish that Mary were soundly sleeping in her bed, but I also wished that Charles were right next to her. I wished he could move on from this, from me, even though I knew in my heart that I would never move on from him.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, we were in front of Al’s Jewelry and Pawn. Reluctantly, I got out of the car. The sooner this was done and over, the sooner I could close in on my plan to get this woman in jail.
The door chimed as we entered, and I took in a row of televisions against the far wall. Guitars hung from the ceiling. PlayStations and radios sat on shelves.
In the center were large display cases, holding everything from watches to rings to necklaces.
My shoulders slumped, and exhaustion hit me straight in the face, but I trekked through, forcing myself to relive the past few hours, which only emboldened my purpose—to make sure Kate would go to a place she could not hurt other people.
“Hey, lovely ladies.” A taller male with a darkish blond buzz cut emerged from behind the bulletproof glass. “How are you guys doing?”
I swayed a little and then rested one hand on the glass to steady myself. I hadn’t eaten anything or drunk anything in hours, and the adrenaline and emotional overload were making me light-headed.
“Looking for anything in particular? My name is Ben. Just let me know if you need anything.”
Kate ran one hand through her hair and smiled at the younger male who was half her age. “We’re looking for earrings or rings or anything big you got.”
