Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Ghost nodded.
“And she’s going to turn them in. I made sure of it.”
“How?” Ellen asked.
“By giving her no other choice,” he said. “I’m fucking tired of it. We all got problems of our own, and you don’t need her adding to your shit.”
“What did you say to her to get her to agree to this?”
His grin was evil.
“Better you don’t know that.” He stood up. “She’s got until tomorrow to do it, or I fuck up her life worse than she’s ever done on her own.”
With that he left, not waiting another minute for us to argue.
“I don’t know what to say,” Ellen whispered. “I feel hope, but I also feel, I don’t know, maybe a weird sort of pity that I can’t quite make go away.”
I stood up and walked over to the back door, whistling for Achilles so he could go outside.
He came barreling down the hall, and I assumed that he’d been outside Linc’s door, which was where he stayed if Linc was in the house.
“Don’t feel pity for her,” I said softly. “This is the best place for her, or at least, the best place that doesn’t actually involve a grave.”
Her brows rose.
“Not to mention that it’ll give that kid of hers a chance to be born healthy if she’s actually getting proper care to ensure that.” I paused. “And my kid’s safe, you’re safe, I’m safe. We’re getting a break from dealing with her and her shit. I can’t find a single fucking thing wrong with whatever he had to do to get her into that place.”
With that I walked outside and didn’t come back in until I was sure that Ellen had gone to bed.
That night, as I laid beside her, I went through a riot of emotions.
One thing I wasn’t feeling, though, was pity or compassion for the woman whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to wreak as much havoc on mine as she could.
It hit me then. What I was feeling so intensely was free. I was free, and the relief that came with that realization would have brought me to my knees had I not already been lying down.
For the first time in sixteen years, I was free to live my life without looking over my shoulder for her to ruin whatever good that I’d managed to make or find for myself.
And in feeling it for the first time as an adult, I realized that I would be willing to do just about anything to ensure that I continued to have this feeling for the rest of my life. Even if I had to go to hell to accomplish it.
Chapter 21
I’m a lady in the streets, and asleep in the sheets.
-Meme
Jessie
Life went pretty much back to normal once Margot was admitted, with Ghost’s help, for psychiatric treatment. Of course, the doctors and nurses didn’t know that she wasn’t there of her own free will, but I didn’t care.
After all that she’d done to us, I was fine with it and thought it was a perfect time for her to go away and not come back. I just wished that she didn’t have a kid on the way—my son’s half sibling—that I was constantly worrying about.
But since there was nothing I could do about that until the baby was born, I went about living my life.
And I enjoyed the hell out of it. For six days.
Life wasn’t all roses and rainbows, but I was really hoping for a longer reprieve before the next problem came up.
“You’re what?” I repeated.
“I’m at Linc’s school. I need you to come down here,” Ellen repeated for a third time.
“Why?” I asked again.
I’d asked ‘why’ and ‘you’re what’ three times now, and her answer had been the same each time. If it had been something serious, they would have called me, right?
I pulled the phone away from my face and flipped through the call log, quickly realizing with horror that they had called me. Five times, in fact.
When they weren’t able to get me, they must’ve called Ellen, who’d been Linc’s emergency contact.
A blissful time where nothing had happened. No near kidnappings. No problems of any fucking kind.
Nada.
Until this.
“Just come,” Ellen growled out of the speaker. “And try to do some meditation on your way.”
With that cryptic comment, she hung up, and I was left staring at my phone.
“Feisty,” Big Papa said. “I like it.”
I let my eyes trail over to him.
“Apparently, I need one of those fancy Bluetooth helmets because I can’t be missing calls like that,” I grumbled.
Big Papa grinned. “I’ll ride with you. I gotta split off when we get to the road for the school, though.”
My brows rose as I shoved the phone into my pocket.
“The woman again?” I asked.
He shrugged. “She passes the time.”
I snorted.
“Whatever you say, boss,” I laughed.
His grin was hard.