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The door flies open, and I don’t waste a second. Brigid is crying, hanging onto the kitchen table for support as she clutches her face, blood trickling from her lower lip. She tries to tell me to stay back, but there’s no way that’s happening.
As I move forward, I notice Oscar aiming himself blindly at the intruder’s legs, reaching him before I do and latching on.
“You touch my baby, you fucking cock sucking coward, I’ll kill you.” I scream as I launch myself at the stranger, grabbing my phone from my pocket as the first solid weapon that comes to hand.
The thug screeches hysterically as I use it to club him right across the face.
He throws a punch that connects with my arm, but he’s trying harder to avoid Oscar’s attack, dancing around as he tries to free himself from those powerful jaws. He might only have a few teeth, but Oscar knows how to use them.
“Get this fucking mutt away from me or I’ll shoot him!” He draws a gun, but I knock his hand away, and get pistol-whipped across the shoulder for my trouble, my phone skittering across the tabletop right under his nose. “I’m fucking warning you!”
Then he glances at my phone, and it’s like a light goes on in his eyes.
“Oh, you have bigger problems now, sweetheart. Much bigger problems.”
“Getoutof our house!” I scream, pushing him toward the kitchen door. “Out! Go tell your stupid boss we’ll get him his money, but my sister is not going to come work for him.”
Oscar growls but I pull him back as the thug retreats.
“This ain’t fucking over, bitch. I’m going to be back, and next time I won’t be alone—”
He falls silent as Oscar lets out a low bark, then turns and flees for the door. And I go straight to Brigid.
“We shouldn’t have borrowed that money,” she cries. “This is my fault. You and Ruth should go. Get away from here. I—”
“This isn’t your fault, Brigid,” I tell her, grabbing a bag of peas from the freezer and pressing it against her face. “We needed the money. Me, you and Ruth. You did what you thought was best. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s Dad’s. And Greg’s. We had forty grand before they decided to lose it all. And did they stick around to help pick up the pieces?”
She shakes her head, tears trailing down her cheeks.
I kiss her forehead and stand, giving Oscar a fuss behind his ears. “We need to leave. The house foreclosure is in two days, I say we stay until then, enjoy sleeping in a bed while we can, then get in the car and go.”
“Where?”
“Away from here. I don’t know. I don’t care. I’ve got waitressing experience now, I can get a job somewhere and take care of us. But we can’t stay here. That guy will be back and he will want his money. Zeneli won’t let this drop.”
“Did you notice how he changed when he saw your phone?”
I nod, remembering the look he gave. I cross the kitchen and grab the smashed phone from the table where it fell, studying it. There’s nothing there, no messages, no alerts. Just that stupid selfie of me and Dietrich that I haven’t had the heart to delete.
Because despite what I might say, a part of me still loves him. Stupid, I know, after all he’s put me through. If I had any sense, I should be wishing I never met him. My life before was bad, but since Dietrich it’s only gotten worse.
The only light in that darkness is Ruth. And Brigid. We promised to make our own family different from how we grew up, but we’re sort of sucking at it right now.
But still. I loved him. I did, and I can’t change that. Will I ever be able to delete that one and only photograph I have of the father of my child?
I don’t know.
But my time here in Vegas has come to an end.
chapterfifteen
Dietrich
As the privatejet hums around me, approaching Henderson, I have no fear. How many people in the world have survived a plane crash then went down in another one?
The odds are so minuscule I’d lay my bet down on never again.
I rub the spot above my eye where the pain never seems to stop. The rough skin reminds me that not only do I have a new name, I have a new face. Which, doesn’t bother me. I never cared what I looked like.
