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She narrows her brows and takes a sip of the water that’s set down in front of us. The restaurant isn’t fancy by any means, but still we look out of place here. It’s not necessarily our clothes, but our vibe. It just doesn’t mesh with the rich tourists that pay for expensive crab and waterfront views, but the guys thought if Kemp’s wife were to find us, she wouldn’t make a scene at the wharf.
“What do you mean you’re going away? Where are you going?” my mother asks, setting the glass back on the table.
“I don’t think I can tell you. It’s complicated and—”
“What did you do? Are you in trouble? Did someone hurt you?” Her questions fly like bullets from a gun and my heart begins to race. Do I tell her I’m pregnant? Do I tell her about the island? Do I tell her about Kemp?
I shake my head. “No one hurt me, Mom. It’s just…” I close my eyes and suck in a deep breath, chugging down a few gulps of water. “How are things with your new guy? Isn’t his name Todd?”
She looks down at the table and adjusts the silverware to the side of the plate then gazes up toward me, reaching for my hand across the table. It’s more emotional than she’s been in a long while. “I’m sorry about Todd,” she says. “I’m sorry about Todd, Jeremy, and Ty. I’m sorry about all of them.” She sighs. “I am sorry that I was always disappointing you.” A tear drops onto her cheek and I’m not sure how to take it. She’s gone on swings like this before between boyfriends where she’ll be overly emotional andsorryfor her behavior only to repeat the pattern again in a month’s time. Though, this might be the first time in twenty-two years I’ve seen her cry.
“Are you messing around with a congresswoman’s husband? I got a call from her camp last week asking about you and… Sara… you’re getting messed up with the wrong people.”
I fixate on a packet of sugar, sliding the grains back and forth in the packet before finally looking up at my mother. She’s spent a lifetime disappointing me, but right now, I can see the worry on her face and for some reason, I’m genuinely afraid to disappoint her.
“I made a mistake, Mom,” I say, tears suddenly flooding from my eyes. “I was going to get kicked out of school and… I’m pregnant.”
Her glare softens, and she reaches her hand out for mine, gripping me tight. “Is it his? The husband’s?”
I nod, wiping away another set of tears. “Mom, I’m scared. There have been threats from them that they would take the baby, once even at knife point. You shouldn’t tell them anything.”
She looks out the window toward a bench where Colin, Brad, and Zane are sitting. They don’t look like they belong here either. I’m two hundred feet away and I can sense the energy that’s building within them. I need to get out of here.
“Anyway,” I say, “I just wanted you to know I was okay, but you might not hear from me for a while. I have to lie low until this whole thing is over.” I keep the island and Kemp’s death to myself because it only makes the truth that much harsher.
“You better get going then. Are those guys with you?” She nods out the window toward my men who have now taken to pacing.
I nod. “It’s a long story. I’ll have to tell you all about it someday, but they’re good ones.”
Part of me expects her to ask more questions, but she doesn’t. She stands from the table and reaches for me, wrapping me up in her arms the way she had that day in the park. “You’re a strong girl,” she says with a soft smile as she brushes my hair off my shoulder. “Stronger than I ever was. You’re going to be a great mother.”
I suck in a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning away toward the guys, but as I pull open the door, there’s a woman standing in my way. She’s wearing a trench coat and a large hat, but her lipstick is bright red and I know without a shadow of a doubt who is staring back at me.
Chapter Nineteen
Sara
Damn, the congresswoman is beautiful. When I’d seen her in Kemp’s office, I was too shocked to really study her, and though I searched her on the internet a few times, I never lingered on her looks. Now I wonder why, but I assume I was panicked. Here though, in the bright morning sun with the ocean breeze passing between us I’m able to see her up close. She has striking glass blue eyes, a perfectly symmetrical face, and an incredible figure. If she weren’t trying to steal my baby, I would even be enticed to vote for her on looks alone. What is it about eye set and nose structure that make people so trusting of others? It’s a trick, nature’s most dangerous ploy.
“I haven’t been able to see what he found so attractive in you,” she says, leaning up against the brick wall of the restaurant. “You’re so plain.”
“We were just leaving,” Zane says from behind me. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the guys came over, but I’m sure she knew that as well. I’m sure she has people all over the wharf, though I’m not sure what she’d do with them in broad daylight.
“Oh, the man who killed my husband. How glorious it is to see you,” she says, pulling her hat down off her head, exposing golden blonde curls.
“Your husband killed himself when he went after that gun. You—”
“You believe that, but the footage shows you enticing him, fighting with him, and hurting him. He believed he was in danger. You’re not going to convince the authorities here—”
Brad and Colin join the circle and while I feel protected, I’m not so sure they do. The congresswoman is saying everything I’ve been afraid of all along. The Antiguan police talked to the entire crew and came to the conclusion really fast that none of us were to blame. But here, in America, it will never be that straightforward. There are so many legal avenues to make sure Zane was liable for Kemp’s murder.
“What do you want? I’m not giving you the baby.”
She laughs. “You don’t have to give me the baby, because I’ll take it.” The words no more than leave her mouth when a loud pop sounds beside me.
People scream and run away as the four of us stand still, time completely frozen through our ringing ears.
I twist my head to the side to see my mother, in broad daylight, with the gun she keeps tucked in her purse smoking in her hand, its bullet buried in the congresswoman’s chest.
