Framing my face in his hands, he edged back, confusion a flash across those striking features. “What are you talking about, baby?”
A car engine churned to life from across the street. A reminder of who we were and what we were battling.
I could hear the car crunch on gravel as it backed up, accelerate when it took to the street.
Janel. I knew it was her. It only made me cry harder.
“Janel,” I hiccupped over her name.
He looked over his shoulder. “I’ve been outside pacing your lot for the last hour. I came home tonight, thinking that was the only thing I could do. Condemn myself. Walk away from you and pretend like this thing we’ve got doesn’t matter. I almost gave in because I thought it might be the right thing to do. But it’s not, Rynna. It’s not, because you and me? We’re what’s right. I’m not willing to settle or turn my back or act like I’m not dying for you. I walked out on her and right to you. And this whole time, I’ve been trying to get up the courage. Trying to find the words to convince you that we’re what’s right. Please, Rynna. Please put me out of this misery. I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you, too.”
“Janel.” Another whimper, and I knew I wasn’t making any sense, because none of this situation did.
“She doesn’t matter to me, Rynna. I promise you. Yes, I was waiting for her all those years. Stayed loyal because I had some messed-up notion that one day she was going to come back, and it was on me to keep our family intact. And then there you were, Rynna. My second chance. You changed everything. You became my loyalty. My heart. You and my Frankie. That’s all I need.”
“Janel hated me, Rex. She hated me so much. And what she did . . . I don’t know how to get past it. Forgive her and move on, because I know she’s going to be a part of Frankie’s life.”
He jerked back, holding my face tighter. “What?”
A ramble of incoherent words slid free. “Janel . . . she was the one who hated me so much. I think I pushed you away, clung to your omission, because of her. Not sure how I could handle the fact that the two of you had been together. So I tried . . . tried to hope that she’d changed. For your sake. For Frankie’s sake. But I don’t—”
“What did you just say?” Rex’s words were a growl, menacing and fierce. His demeanor shifted in a flash. From pleading to completely on edge.
“Janel. Janel’s the one who’s responsible for what happened to me. She set the whole thing up. She had Aaron pretend like he wanted to date me. I didn’t know she was your wife, Frankie’s mom. I didn’t know until I opened that door.”
Rex blew back like he’d been struck by a bomb. “Aaron? Aaron who?”
I blinked at him. Aaron didn’t matter in the end. “Aaron Reed.”
Shock blanketed his face before it turned into panic. He began to pace, back and forth, ripping at handfuls of hair. “Fuck. I knew it. I fucking knew it. I knew it.”
I reached for him, his frenzy breaking into mine. “Calm down, Rex. What’s wrong?”
“Aaron Reed used to be my business partner.” His head shook through his stupor. “He and Janel . . . they acted like they didn’t know each other. But he was at the bar with me across town the night I met her. He was the one who’d suggested that bar to meet up at after work. He was the one who noticed her . . .” Rex whipped around, grabbing me by the arms. I wasn’t sure who he was steadying—me or himself. “He pushed me toward her. Told me to go for it. That she looked exactly like my type. And Janel . . . she was instantly all over me. Like . . . she’d been expecting me.”
He pulled away, back to gripping fistfuls of hair. “They were together the whole time, weren’t they?”
Rex punched an aimless fist into the air. “Fuck. They were together the whole goddamned time, and I didn’t have the first clue. Or maybe I did.”
His gaze dropped to the floor, his head shaking as if he were adding it all up. “When Aaron was arrested for embezzling from the company, there was something off. I got this feeling . . . this feeling that there was something more to the whole thing. That he couldn’t have been acting alone. All those documents that had been tampered with. The money that had gone missing.”
“Oh God.” I pressed my hand over my mouth.
Rex looked at me. Panic streaked through his expression. “She left the day before he went to jail, Rynna. He got his sentence, and I thought things were finally going to be okay, and then I got home to find Janel leaving me.”
“Oh God,” I said again. “Aaron . . . he was outside the diner this evening. About a week ago, too. He said something about me getting in Janel’s way.”
Rex stared at me for a beat before his eyes went wide. Then he was bolting out the door and flying across the street.
38
Rex
I sprinted across the street, taking the porch steps in two bounding leaps. I barreled through the front door. I had no clue what I was even searching for, but an overwhelming anxiety pushed me forward.
I’d felt nothing but relief when I’d heard her car taking off ten or fifteen minutes ago. But right then? Nothing made sense. Everything I’d thought I’d known as truth had only been some kind of twisted fabrication. All these years, and I’d fucking thought I’d done something wrong. Neglected Janel. Didn’t treat her well enough. Didn’t give her enough time. Made her feel less than worthy. Because in truth, in my heart, she’d never been.
Had every second of it been a set up?
My eyes darted around the room, hunting for anything that might be amiss. Dishes littered the kitchen from the dinner Janel had been preparing, the trash bin out in the middle of the floor, pork chops dumped inside. Like she was pissed at me for suddenly sending her away.
That, I understood.
The idea that she might have been an accomplice to the bullshit Aaron had pulled all those years ago I did not.
I couldn’t grasp it. Accept it. But the truth of it rang out in my consciousness. A promise she was guilty. That she’d been using me all along.
Anger spiraled, and I clenched my teeth, turning to head down the hall, going directly for my room.
It was just like I’d expected. It was torn apart. Ransacked. The contents of all the drawers were dumped out onto the floor in a mad search for anything of value.
Blankets pulled from the bed, mattress shoved to the side, the small safe hidden under the bed gone.
“Bitch,” I seethed.
I should have known.
I should have known better than to let her back into my damn house. Into our lives so she could just turn around and make another mess of it. But honestly, the only thing that mattered right then was the fact she was gone. I’d gladly accept the loss of the bit of cash in that safe if it meant Janel was eradicated from our lives.
A plague eliminated.
Extinguished.
“Rex!” Rynna’s scream flooded my ears. I pushed back out of my room and into the hall.
She was at Frankie’s door, her hand pressed to her mouth, the girl staring inside.
For a beat, I froze in terror.
Frankie.
I sprang into action. Rynna stumbled out of my way when I rounded the doorway. I jerked to a stop in my daughter’s room.
In a fleeting glance, you’d think nothing was out of order, her bed made and her stuffed animals still lined against her pillows.
But the closet—clothes were pulled from the hangers and some of her shoes were gone. Frantic, I rushed for Frankie’s dresser. The drawers . . . they were empty.
The worst kind of terror took hold of me.
All the fears I’d ever had of losing my child rose to the surface.
Rising above.
Pulling me under.
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
My hands were shaking when I dug into my pocket for my phone. It was already ringing before I had the chance to dial, my mom’s name lit on the screen.
I answered it, and every part of me twisted in two.
My mother . . . she was screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming. “She’s gone. I don’t know where she is, Rex. She’s not here. Frankie’s gone.”
39
Rynna
Jenny Gunner’s cries poured through the phone. Begging and screaming and weeping.