Page 88 of The Complete Truth Duet
My heart seized, chills exploding across my skin. I didn’t realize I’d dropped the phone. I hadn’t actually formed a full thought before I found myself standing in the hall, pounding on the door on the other side of us.
Drew opened the door with a hand raised to block out the bright light of the hallway. “Jesus, woman.”
“Where’s your brother?” I shrieked.
His hand fell, alarm hitting his face. “With you?”
Fear slammed into me like a runaway train. I threw a hand out to catch myself when my knees threatened to buckle.
“Mom?” River squeaked, diving toward me.
Drew swooped in, hooking me around the waist before I hit the floor.
“Oh God.” My stomach rolled, threatening to revolt as the panic overtook me.
Dante’s words from the day before echoed in my mind, slicing me deeper each time. “Lies have consequences, Cora.”
This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t possible.
First, Savannah. Now, Penn.
No.
Penn was going to walk up any second, pull me into his arms, and tell me there was nothing to worry about.
He had to.
“Cora, say something,” Drew urged.
“There was a fire at the building,” I whispered. “Penn’s truck is there.” I didn’t want to say it.
I didn’t want it to be true.
I needed it to be a lie.
“So are Dante and Marcos’s cars.”
River gasped.
Drew let out a string of curse words, but his only reply was, “Let me get my boots.”
I stood on my own, shaking, propped against the wall, as they both dashed into action.
I vaguely remember River dropping my flip-flops in front of me. I must have put them on, because I was wearing shoes when Drew guided us into the back of a cab.
“’Cause you remember exactly how much you have to lose, right?”
Numb and unable to focus, I clung to the star around my neck, pleading to God, Nic, and the entire universe that I was wrong.
River held my hand, whispering reassurances as we drove, while Drew sat beside me, his thigh flush with mine as he silently stared out the window.
The moon was still high in the sky when we pulled into that dirt parking lot. Hope that it wasn’t as bad as Brittany had made it out to be sprang inside me as I saw the tall silhouette of the building, but the flashing red-and-blue lights of fire trucks and police cars painted the true story.
It was gone, only the stairwells and a mountain of burned debris remaining.
I climbed out of that cab faster than I’d ever moved before, running toward the building like I could stop it from being real.
“Ma’am. Ma’am. Ma’am!” a cop called, rushing toward me as I ducked under the caution tape roping the area off.
“Penn!” I yelled, the lingering smoke in the air choking me. I coughed, gasping for air through my panic.
The officer stepped in front of me with his arms stretched wide, blocking my path, but I fought to get around him.
“Miss, calm down. Do you live here?”
“Did you find any people in there? My…my boyfriend. I think he’s inside. You have to help him.” I gripped the front of his uniform. “Please. Please. I’m begging you. You have to save him.”
His eyes flicked to a firefighter who almost imperceptibly shook his head.
Agony erupted like a volcano inside me. “No!”
Drew appeared at my side, a ghastly look on his face matching my own. “Cora, come here.” He grabbed the back of my neck the same way Penn had done so many times before and curled me into his front.
And I cried, tears soaking the front of his shirt. “He’s out for a run. I know it, Drew. He’s just out for a run. He’ll be right back. He’ll be right back.”
Lies—I needed them more than oxygen.
I was never going to be able to survive the truth.
Not again.
Not. Again.
“Okay, Ms. Guerrero. You’re free to go whenever you’d like. This will remain an active investigation, but given what we were able to pull off Mr. Walker’s security camera, this seems pretty clear-cut.”
I stared at the officer. Looking right at him, but not seeing him.
Penn had security cameras. Good to know.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
I was sitting in the back of a police car, wrapped in a blanket.
Numb.
Broken.
Ruined.
And free.
The bodies of Marcos and Dante Guerrero had been recovered from the ashes, along with the body of another male, his arms and legs still bound to a chair when they’d found him.
I couldn’t look. I couldn’t see him like that. I couldn’t remember him the way I remembered Nic every night when I closed my eyes: dead.
Drew identified his body.
And I sat there, in the back of a police car, wrapped in a blanket.
Numb.
Broken.
Ruined.
And free.
Miraculously, all the girls had made it out. Only Jennifer had been off work that night, and thankfully, she’d been out at the club, dancing and having fun.
The money in my wall was gone. According to the fire inspector, the flames had originated on the third floor, more than likely my apartment. Five years of secrets, scrimping, and risking my life to swindle money from the Guerreros’ monthly accounts was just poof—up in flames.
