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“Yeah. I know.”
“You knew?” I step around my desk and glare down at her. “And you didn’t stop her?”
“Nope.” She shrugs. “She was with her brother. She’s safe. Have you never heard the whole ‘if you love something, let it go’ thing?”
“Della.” I’ve never wanted to hurt Della. Not once. But right this second? I’m contemplating all sorts of violence. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Listen, if you want her, you have to win her. Not keep her captive. If you hadn’t let her go, she wouldn’t have stayed. Eventually, she’d have learned the truth about how she came to be here in the first place, and then where would you be?” She taps the side of her nose. “You’d be right where you are now. Alone. At least this way, you can explain it to her and give her a chance to choose you. Not chooseforher. Understand?”
“You let her go.” I keep trying to breathe, to remember that Della is the closest thing I have to a big sister.
“I just said that.” She crunches some more popcorn. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t chase her.” She waggles her eyebrows. “How do you think I landed Esmeralda? Just sitting around and let her run off? No, I chased her. Told her my truths and let her judge for herself.”
I try to listen to her, but all I feel is the yawning pit in my chest. My priceless Laura is gone, the most precious gift I’ve ever … stolen. I take a deep breath. Laura is a gift, and I didn’t receive it, Itookit. But that’s who I am. I take what I want. But then, how can Laura choose me? How can it be real if she doesn’t have a choice? I rub my temples.
“I see I’m getting through to you for once.” She smiles, her eyes just as kind as they’ve always been. “Go get her, Xavier. Show her you can be a good man.”
“Only for her.” I drop my hands.
She shrugs. “Of course. Be bad to your enemies, but good to your bride.” She turns to leave, then holds up a finger. “Speaking of that, what are we doing with the stiff in the basement?”
“Cain’s taking care of it. It’s his mess.” I rush back to my desk and grab my keys.
“Good. I hate all the work it takes to get rid of a body.” She wrinkles her nose. “Hurts my back.”
“I’m going to get her.” I hurry past her and into the hall.
“Bring her back.” Della grins and reaches down to pet Sue. “Bring her back to all of us.”
21
LAURA
“You’re scaring me.”
I turn to look at Scott. I have no idea how long we've been driving. It’s all been a blur. I feel numb. I try to force a small smile, because I can see the worry etched into his face. I wish life could’ve been different for him. Scott means well, but he’s always getting himself into trouble, and I know it’s turning him inside out that this time his mess touched me. I can only hope this has made him think about his ways and makes him really change.
“I’m fine. It’s a lot to take in.” My emotions are all over the place. The sadness that I’m feeling threatens to escape me, but I hold it together.
He reaches out and grabs my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine. “You’re freezing. Why didn’t you say something?” He flips on the heat.
“This is Vegas. It’s never freezing.” He’s right. Could I really be in shock? After all I’ve gone through this week, I can’t believe this is what shocks me.
“Where are we going?” I ask. Does it really matter?
“I don’t know, to be honest.” He suddenly presses on the gas, speeding up.
I glance in the mirror thinking maybe he saw something. His phone starts to ring, drawing my attention back to him. He pulls it out and looks at the number before powering it off altogether.
“You’re tired.” I can see the exhaustion under his eyes.
“And you can’t drive a stick.”
“We can drive off the road a bit and park somewhere. You can sleep for a while, and then once you’re rested we’ll figure this out.”
“We need to get out of Vegas. I’ll drive for a few hours, and then we’ll stop.”
I nod, a knot forming in my throat at the thought of us essentially being on the run. I can tell Scott’s whole body is filled with tension and worry.
