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Carina
After a shower and change of clothes, I’m sitting in the living room, surrounded by cats and men. Emery followed us home, likely to figure out what we’ve been up to the last couple of weeks that led us to saving his life.
And boy, what a journey it was.
“So, don’t leave any details out,” Emery says, a forced laugh coming out of him.
“I was followingRykerfor an unrelated job. And while I was doing so, I found he was following not only you, but sitting on Carina’s house. He had houses near your house and hers. Not only that, but his true house was hours from here. I knew he wasn’t who he said he was, so we started down the path of finding out who he was.”
“I actually found an old yearbook of ours buried in my closet, and I was showing Gage some photos and we stumbled upon Wes’ picture. He does look like he used to in some respects,” I tell Emery. ”But in others, he didn’t. It didn’t make sense.”
“Not until I dug up medical files on him. He’d had some face altering surgeries done. Now, as to why he was following you both, and what his plans were, we’ll never know. What I do know is that your father had been paying him handsomely until his death. After which, the money stopped going into his account. So, likely he was scheming a way to get his cash flow back,” Gage tells Emery.
Emery sits back, a look of disbelief washing over his face. “So, he was going to figure out a way to get more money? What the fuck?”
“He was a piece of shit. He did become an officer but was let go when he was accused of raping one of his fellow officers. It was dropped and swept under the rug, so the department didn’t take the heat for it, but I don’t think he’s ever stopped hurting people.” Emery looks at me with pity in his eyes, and I don’t fight it.
I don’t have the energy.
“Are you alright?”
No, I killed a man.
Still, I nod.
This will be my burden to bear. But I don’t feel guilty for what I did. He’d have never gotten what he should’ve. It’s been too long since he hurt me, and they already hid his other rape. He would’ve walked. And Gage already looked over Conner’s case, he framed it too well.
We found women who were silenced while he was an officer, and women who have since put in reports on him. He was a fucking predator. Now, he’s hopefully at the bottom of some river, with cement shoes.
I know it’s going to take me a long time to be okay with what I did. But I will eventually be alright. Because he will never harm another.
The plan was to call the cops. For me to call when I got my answers, while Gage kept him hostage. But once he’d said the words that he said to me all those years ago—once my memory fully unlocked and the floodgates were opened—it was like I snapped.
In that moment, I wasn’t just Carina, seeking justice. No, I was all his victims. We all held the gun together; we all got our revenge together.
“So, Trevor is your man, huh?” Emery asks Gage, shifting the conversation, and I’m forever thankful.
Gage grins. “Yeah, he is.”
“You should work on his timing. It’s kind of shit.”
Gage laughs. “Will do. Though, he’s overstretched himself, to be fair. I think I’ll put a different man on you from now on and start actually charging clients.”
“Oh, you don’t have to protect me…”
“Yes, he does,” I bite.
Even if Emery doesn’t want protection, I need to know he’s okay. Once we get past our combined pasts, I know we’re going to be good friends. And the world is a sick and fucked up place.
“Well, alright then,” Emery concedes. “I’m glad you all were there tonight. But why didn’t you loop me in?”
“You mean during the funeral proceedings, or while you were drinking yourself stupid? You had enough going on. Plus, we needed it to be believable when he moved on you,” Gage says nonchalantly.
“Wait, you used me as bait?”
“I mean, in not so many words. But we always had your six,” Gage replies, and I giggle.
I’d tried to get him to tell Emery, but I think Gage had been right all along, he was too far into his grief to handle having to go through something like this on top of it.
