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The tang of iron hit my tongue, and I belatedly realized I’d bitten down too hard. I didn’t care.
He was admitting to having a hand in someone’s murder, and was casual enough about it to allude that he’d done it many times before.
I even knew the property he was talking about. We’d gone there for a vacation half a year ago-.
Everything came to a screeching halt as sick realization dawned.
He’d said he had business to attend to, and he figured I’d like to see the property. A crate had arrived while we were there, and he’d strictly told me not to open it because that was the business portion of his trip and he would get in a lot of trouble if I did.
My lungs pinched as I leaned back against the closet, tumbling inside it as my knees gave out underneath me. The hanging coats hid me among the shadows as I came to terms with justwhat hadbeen in that crate.
A person.
Abody.
Harvey wasn’t the Harvey I thought I’d known; he’d confessed it all himself, and there was no misinterpreting this. I’d almost married someone who could coldly plan out someone’s disposal.
My stomach rolled, and I barely stopped myself from heaving up its contents in the closet. Survival instinct screamed to stay very still and make no noise, lest he hear me and killmenext.
He’d always been particular about me not interfering or digging into his work. Without a doubt, he would kill me if he learned that I knew of this.
The study door opened, and I jerked my head up, scrambling to mostly shut the closet door so he wouldn’t see me. I watched through the crack as he put his phone away and grumbled.
“Pain in my ass wedding. I knew I should have just pushed to get a certificate and skip the damn thing.”
The light illuminated his short, blond hair. It was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place, and his sharp blue eyes swept over the hallway. When he got to the closet, I held my breath, praying to anyone who would listen that he wouldn’t see me.
Apparently, someone heard my prayers because he huffed, rubbing a hand through his hair before returning to his room. Once I heard his door shut, I finally let the silent sobs go.
Everything I knew about him was a lie, a lie crafted to getmoney. Would he have killed me, too? Bile crawled up my throat, and I swallowed it with difficulty.
I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
Standing on shaky legs, I used the wall for support and moved for my room.
I wouldn’t be able to take a lot with me, just the necessities. I’d also have to choose somewhere to hide. I couldn’t go to the police here. I knew for a fact that Harvey had friends on the force, and I wasn’t about to risk corruption making this entire thing get swept under the rug.
No, I needed somewhere to hide that was small, off the radar. Somewhere that Harvey would never think to look for me.
I wracked my brain as I threw clothes into a duffel bag, trying to remember anywhere I’d been that hehadn’t.
For the most part, we always traveled together, but when I thought further back to my school years, it hit.
There was a tiny town I’d passed through once. My friends and I had been on a road trip, and it’d been one of our stops to gas up. It hadn’t appeared on any GPS or maps, and I’d been able to see one end of town from the other.
Perfect. There were no ties for Harvey to link me back to it.
Zipping up my duffle bag, I paused when my ring caught on the material and tugged. Staring down at it, the stone twinkling under the moonlight, I struggled to breathe.
I needed to come up with something to throw Harvey off. Maybe I could say I got cold feet and ran? He didn’t know I’d overheard him, and if I wasverylucky, he’d buy it. It would give me time to get away and make a new life somewhere else.
Once I was safely away from him, I could bring everything to the police. I didn’t have any proof aside from my witness account, but Ididhave the address to the Louisiana property. I could tell them to check it for bodies.
I didn’t know what I’d do after that, but at least it was a start.
The dress still hung from the door, but now it didn’t inspire the same giddy happiness as before. No, now it inspired something sharper.
Anger.
