Page 161 of The Complete Truth Duet
The end.
With Manuel’s capture and confession, there wasn’t a lot of whodunit police work happening. The whys, though, were definitely in play, especially when they realized that Catalina and her daughter had been declared missing persons for four years.
But, like she’d promised, she had more than enough dirt on Thomas to put him away for life. In this case, it was shared after his life had ended, but it was useful nonetheless. All of her allegations were corroborated with a small filing cabinet she’d instructed the police how to find in a storage unit in Wisconsin. In it were countless documents tying Thomas to Guerrero business and videos of him assaulting her and Isabel.
I was the first to be released from police questioning. After all, I was just the innocent, clueless brother-in-law with no motive.
Catalina, Isabel, and Drew were still at the police station, but they had attorneys, and when I’d caught sight of Drew as I’d left, he was smiling in a semicircle with a few cops.
It was good that he was making some friends in uniform, because the moment I saw him, I was going to beat the ever-loving shit out of him. He needed all the protection he could get. That dumbass had told me nothing of his little plan. He’d said that he was too afraid I’d tell Cora, who no doubt would have thrown the brakes on some stupid shit like that.
And, given our new honesty policy, he would have been right, I absolutely would have told her—and then I would have thrown the brakes on some stupid shit like that.
But it had worked.
Thomas was dead.
Manuel was back behind bars.
And I was walking into a fucking hotel room, where my woman and kids were waiting on me.
I knocked softly, and it took her less than a second to open the door. I’d called to tell her that I was on the way up, but I would have much preferred a “who is it” before she pulled it wide.
“Baby, did you even check the peephole?”
She didn’t reply as she threw her arms around my hips, brought her torso flush against me, and then smooshed her face against my chest.
I smiled, smoothing down the back of her hair. “You okay?”
She shook her head.
I walked into the room with her still plastered to my front; my every step forward she matched with one back. “You want to lay down and talk about it?”
The door clicking shut behind us was the only sound in the otherwise silent suite.
She craned her head back, her red-rimmed eyes meeting mine. I hated that she’d spent the rest of the night crying, but the reasons for those tears were fine by me.
“It was too easy,” she whispered.
My eyebrows shot up. “Easy? Are you kidding me? I think I’ve died at least seventeen times tonight alone.”
“Something is going to happen, Penn. I just feel it.”
I scooped her off her feet and carried her to the bedroom, though I paused at a cracked door with one brown eye and one green eye peering out at us. I wanted to check on them, give them a once-over, to reassure them and my own frazzled mind that we’d all made it out unscathed. But, when I shot them a wink, I heard a giggle and then the door quickly shut.
When we got to our room, the bed was unmade like she’d not only been in it already but spent that time tossing and turning rather than resting. I set her on the edge, toed my shoes off, and then crawled in. My overstressed body sagged into the cool, soft sheets. Cora did not delay in assuming her spot at my side, her leg across my hips, her head on my shoulder, and her hand on my chest.
“You’re right,” I told her as soon as we both got comfortable. “Something is going to happen. We’re gonna buy a house in Seattle. I’m going to put a ring on your finger. God willing, a baby in your belly. Savannah is gonna get a homeschool tutor because we are not chancing enrolling her in school. She’s gonna start going back to NA meetings, and we’re going to look into getting her a new addiction specialist. River can have her choice if she wants to go back to school or work with that tutor too. And we’re going to get the kid a dog because that is what families do. And, after we do all that—well, maybe before the ring and baby—I’m going to get a job. You’re going to finish school. And then, one breath at a time, I’m going to figure out how to give you the moon the way I promised River I would.”
Her face got tight, but in the way that told me she was blinking tears back. “You promised River you’d give me the moon?”
