Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Well, that won’t be happening because I don’t plan on falling in love with anyone else. What a fucking mess. But my relief? I should have trusted Danny and James. Trusted they would hear me. And he knew. “I need to speak to her,” I say, backing out of the changing rooms.
“You need to get her to talk,” James says.
Except she’s mute right now. I need to get my head on straight and start figuring some shit out. I leave them and go back to Pearl, sitting opposite her, placing both of my hands on the table. She studies them for a moment before she looks up at me, her eyes full of tears. And past the tears, fear. And past the fear? Resignation. She’s sat here doubting me. And I deserve it. Doesn’t lessen the pain, though. “I know Bernard King sold you to the Polish,” I say. “I know virgins get higher prices, and I know he hasn’t been paid because we took you from Winstable.” She just stares at me. “Pearl, please, fill in the blanks for me.”
“Are you going to send me back?”
“God, no. No, never. Do you think I would? Is that why you ran?”
“I realize it’s not only you in this family, Brad. I’m just little me and all your problems will be solved if you send me back.”
“They wouldn’t be solved, Pearl, because if I send you back, I lose you. And that is not an option.”
Her lip wobbles. I can’t stand seeing her like this. It’s the young woman I found on the dirty mattress all those months ago. But more scared. More vulnerable. I stand, moving around the table, and pull her up from the chair, cocooning her in my arms. Her heart pulses into my chest. “I knew I had to leave here,” she says into my shirt. “But I didn’t want to leave you.”
“You should have trusted me. Talked to me.” I kiss her hair, clenching my eyes closed, knowing I’m going to hear things I’m not sure I can deal with.
“I was going to tell you at dinner. But then he followed me and Fury, and I was so scared. I know he just wants me, his money, his deal, so I-I—”
“Shhhh,” I say.
“I thought if I left it would solve the problem.”
I pull her away and hold her by the tops of her arms. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“But . . .” she whispers.
“Over my dead body,” I grate as she stares at me, her face an unbearable picture of anxiety. “You need to talk to me, Pearl. Tell me everything.” I don’t know much right now. But I do know that Bernard King is going to die a long, ugly, painful death.
53
DANNY
* * *
“That was really fucked up,” James says.
“Quit complaining.” I know Brad. He’s his own worst enemy. I got the information we needed. My God, this day, though? “I need another beer. And a smoke.” And when I get home, a really big cuddle. My phone rings, reminding me that my wife isn’t at home waiting for me. Of course she isn’t at home waiting for me. “Alan?” I answer in question.
“Yeah, hi, Danny.” He sounds tentative. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”
I roll my eyes. “What’s she up to now?” God love that woman, she’s a trier.
“The spa just blew up.”
My smoke stops halfway to my mouth, and I feel the blood physically drain from my face. “What?”
“I just got here. Hardly had one foot out of the car. I’m telling you, the explosion knocked me back ten feet.”
“Alan.” My Marlboro drops from my fingers, my collar tight around my neck. “Can you see Tank’s car in the parking lot?”
“I haven’t looked.”
“Then fucking look!” I bellow, raking a stressed hand through my hair.
James is up in my face like a shot, his psycho eyes demanding answers. “The salon just blew up.”
“Fuck, no,” he breathes. “No!” He rushes out of the café and down the steps, and I follow, my heart beating frantically.
“Baby?”
I skid to a stop.
Turn.
See Rose on the shore, Maggie held to her front. She looks me up and down. “We’re paddling,” she says quietly.
I see Beau beyond, up to her knees in the water, her face worried. “What’s going on?” she asks.
“Oh my God.” My phone slips from my hand, my legs failing me, and I fold to the floor in a heap of relief as James wades into the water and claims Beau, taking her in his fierce hold. My head hangs. My skin is cold. “Fuck,” I whisper, trying to calm my shakes. I should have manhandled her onto the fucking jet.
I eventually look up at Rose. She’s staring at me with an expression that I hate on my wife. Knowing. Preparation. She pulls Maggie in closer and kisses her head, eyes on me. A silent message.