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“The name Xavier reaaaallly takes me back.” Stella helped Mitch up as well. “Sheesh. You’re naked!” Mitch was unperturbed as she slammed into Vanessa’s arms. The pain in her right side was worth it to finally have her partner touching her, safe. “Someone get me a blanket! Or a jacket! Who has a spare jacket?” Stella’s fists ended up on her hips as she realized nobody was paying attention to her. “Fine! Have mine!”
“Are you all right?” Vanessa smoothed back Mitch’s hair, determined to see the light in her eyes. “Oh, I can’t believe you did this.” Tears welled behind Vanessa’s words. “Don’t you fucking ever do this again! I’d die if anything happened to you!”
Mitch clutched her with such ferocity that Vanesa’s ribs threatened to break. Vanessa was fine with that. Let the best woman in the world finish what the worst started.
“I’m sorry…” Mitch buried her face in Vanessa’s sweater. As Stella’s jacket wrapped around them, Mitch said, “I would have killed her myself if I could get out of that thing!”
Vanessa pulled back Mitch’s head and kissed her for all they were worth. More FBI agents streamed into the basement, searching for other kidnappees and the disenfranchised trapped beneath Candace’s thumb. Agent James’s voice boomed through the fantastic acoustics of Candace’s private dungeon. She was telling off some of the junior agents on the scene, including,“I don’t think you’re going to find anybodiesin that chest, agent!”
The whole scene was utterly absurd, and Vanessa didn’t care. She tasted blood in her mouth and didn’t know if it came from her or Mitch. It only meant they were alive.
They were required to stay behind to be evaluated by a medic, who would determine if either of them should be forwarded to a hospital. Candace was held in the foyer, surrounded by three armed agents while the others filed in from the field office and began the arduous process of filtering through her crimes. One by one, women were brought out from the far corners of the manor, some of them in their pajamas, some in maid uniforms, and even more dressed for a night out on the town. For every victim expressing their fear that this was a new hell about to open beneath their feet, there was another who stared into the void before them, neither here nor there.
Vanessa and Mitch sat on a bench in the foyer after they were cleared by the medic. Vanessa had bruising of the ribs, but she was not a priority.I’ll take myself to the ER later.She would want X-rays to be sure, but right now, all that mattered was staying by Mitch’s side and ensuring they both went home that night free women.
“Michelle!” Candace continued to scream across the foyer while agents reminded her she was at risk of implicating herself. “Call my lawyer! Protect the assets!”
Mitch pulled an oversized FBI field jacket closer to her torso. “Somebody shut her up.”
“Michelle!” When Mitch still refused to answer, Candace loudly announced, “She doesn’t have to answer any of your questions! We have spousal privilege! Go on, check our license! It’s completely legal! Where’s my lawyer?”
I’ve had enough of this.
“Riiight,” Agent James said as she wrote something down on a notepad. Vanessa came up behind them, Mitch nipping her heels. “You know, she can still tell us whatever she wants. Spousal privilege can be waived.”
“Michelle would not do such a thing.” Crazed eyes implored Mitch to step out from behind Vanessa and acknowledge Candace. “Remember, you don’t have to tell them anything! I’ll make sure you’re taken care of! Whatever happens!”
Mitch kept her mouth shut. It was up to Vanessa to clear this up.
“I think there’s been an incredible misunderstanding.” Vanessa ignored the agents when she marched forward and towered over Candace, who strained against her handcuffs. “You seem to be under the impression that you’re married tomypartner.”
“Does it boil you, Richards?” Candace was a dangerous dog tied to a post, and she wasn’t afraid of the armed agents around her. “Knowing that I locked that down the moment I had the chance? I asked Michelle to show me allegiance, and she didn’t hesitate. Not for a moment!”
“Yes, she’s like that. Terribly impulsive when a confident woman tells her what to do.”
“So? Do you think she’s going to annul our marriage or divorce me because you tell her to? Everything was legal!”
“You certainly seem to think so.” Vanessa took Mitch’s hand behind her, squeezing it. “You’re so crazy for her that you didn’t even ask the right questions. Nor did you do your research. I’m honestly disappointed in you, Lister. There was so much you could have learned if you had hired a competent private investigator.”
“Like me!” Stella shouted from the other side of the room. She was loving every moment of this. “Ooh, pick me! I know the answer to this!”
“What are youtalkingabout?” Candace demanded. “Michelle, you come out from behind her right now!”
Mitch lightly pinched the back of Vanessa’s arm. This was her show.
“I think you’ll discover,” Vanessa announced, stomping forward toward a woman about to have her whole world wrecked, “thatMichelleis already married. To me!”
Candace was stunned silent. Some of the agents snickered. Stella thought this the funniest thing in the world, and Agent James was prompted to step forward after overhearing that.
“That’s right,” Vanessa said, enjoying every second of this. “Just because I didn’t shout it from every rooftop when we eloped two years ago, doesn’t mean it’s any less true. Mitch is my wife. I told you, she’smine.Who the fuck are you to jet off to Hawaii withmy wifeand try to marry her too? Get your own!”
“That’s…” Candace blew the frazzled bangs out of her face. “Bigamy! She committed bigamy! Arrest her!”
“You let us worry about that,” Agent James said. “Somebody please slap a gag on that woman.Please.”
Mitch took Vanessa’s hand. “Come on,” she gently urged. “Let’s go. I want to get out of here as soon as they let us.”
“You have a lot to answer, my dear,” Vanessa said with a lump in her throat. “I’ve run the gamut of emotions tonight. I almost thought I lost you. For a whole day…”
