Page 64 of Justice II

“I’ll stay away from her. But where are you staying these days?”

“I’m with Auntie Aubrey.”

“Tell her I miss her. Jodi and Chrissy too. And Uncle Chase.”

“I will.”

I had been hoping I could get him away without doing anything that would send me back to prison. Sitting beside him, looking at his eye, I couldn’t imagine Roman agreeing to leave us alone.

I wished I could kill Roman. Storie too for that matter. She was going to destroy Justice’s family and he hadn’t realized it yet.

“What’s it like with them? I want to help you get out of there. I want us to be together,” I said to him.

“You forgive me?” he asked, staring down at his lap.

“For Golden? I never faulted you. I knew it was an accident. I knew that your father set it up. He unlocked my gun safe and encouraged you to play with guns. You were just a child,” I comforted him.

Naturally I faulted my son but he couldn’t know that. I had let that go shortly after Golden’s death. I knew ultimately he was a pawn in Roman’s war against me. A war that I lost.

“I think about her every day. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself. I miss her so much and Daddy won’t let me talk about her. Aria won’t either.”

Of course they wouldn’t. They wanted to bury the past but it needed to be dealt with. My son needed intense therapy which I’m sure he never received.

“I know you feel guilty but trust me it wasn’t your fault. I think about her all the time too and that’s why I want to get you away from them.”

“Pops goes out of town for business a lot. He’s gone now. Can you take me now?”

I had half a mind to go there and confront Aria. Snatch my son and get him away. But it would be short-lived since I had nowhere to go. Aria was a pick-me through and through.

She stood by him through everything. I had no reason to think seeing me would suddenly remind her we were sisters. By the time that I would’ve made it back to Aubrey’s, Roman would know I had found Keenan.

I opened my purse.

“I brought you something.”

His eyes dropped to the Tracfone I handed to him.

“I can’t take you out of there just yet. I have a few more things to handle but we can stay in touch.”

He slid the phone in his backpack and nodded. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t find it.”

“Good. We have to be very careful. Know that you can call or text me whenever. No matter the time. I will respond.”

“I understand.”

“I’m gonna get off at this next stop because you have two more before you get near the house. I don’t want Aria to see me. Not yet,” I announced.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“Because I love you.”

We hugged goodbye and I asked him to text me about Aria’s whereabouts over the next few days. I needed to speak to her but not at the house. They probably had a Ring camera that Roman surveilled all day.

I hopped off the bus and took an Uber back to my car which was still outside of the school. Once inside my car, I broke down in tears. I had no real way of saving my son. And there was no way in hell I could have this baby.

As the tears trickled down my face, I picked up my phone and scheduled a termination.

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