Christian’s eyes grew cold though Elaine wasn’t looking into them. She was staring at his chest, her hand possessively on his arm.
“Leave Hope out of this. She’s mine, and it’s going to stay that way. I’ll take care of the authorities. You know how this works. We’ll close up this operation if it gets too hot. It’s already netted several million. I can’t get out of here just yet. I made a deal with certain people to get them information.”
“I know what Jerry does. I’m not stupid. He’s fleecing people out of credit card numbers, and you’re selling them to the fucking mob. Hope will love that.”
Hope didn’t love anything about this conversation. Rage was churning in her gut. Used. She’d been so used. Her anger was directed at anyone and everyone, including herself. How long had Christian and Elaine been partners? She wasn’t sure who she was more angry at, Christian for being a duplicitous snake, or Elaine for making her think she was Hope’s friend. Or herself for being the idiot who believed it all.
“And what about all these followers, Christian?” Elaine asked. “Some of them know too much.”
Christian stepped back and shrugged as he opened a drawer of his desk. “I have a list of people to get rid of when we leave town. We’ve been careful. Most of the idiots on the farm don’t have anyone looking for them. When they disappear, no one will care.”
“Yes, I believe that’s why we selected Hope.”
“And if I have to dispose of my wife, I will.” Christian’s cold words broke through Hope’s anger. He would kill her. God, he was talking about killing all of her friends. He couldn’t really do that. He wouldn’t do that. No way. Christian might be a criminal, but he wasn’t a killer. She had to know him well enough to know he wasn’t a killer. She had to.
He walked back to Elaine with a deep sigh.
Hope stood there unable to move. She needed to get away, but she couldn’t force her feet to work. She felt frozen, as though she had to see this scene play out or it wouldn’t be real to her. Christian had one hand at his side, but the other came out to caress Elaine’s cheek. A sweet gesture he’d performed for Hope a million times.
“I will handle everything, El. I always do. I always clean up my loose ends. You should know that by now.”
He turned her in his arms, her back to his chest. Elaine’s eyes closed, and a dreamy look came over her face.
“I love you, Christian. I’ve loved you so much longer than that stupid twit. Let’s get rid of her and take the money and run.” Elaine’s hand disappeared around Christian’s backside.
Christian’s hands tightened, and his left arm came up. A flash of silver caught Hope’s eye, and Christian pulled a knife across his mistress’s throat. Her white neck split, gaping open before a waterfall of life began to gush from her.
There was a terrible gagging sound and then a thump as Elaine hit the floor.
A scream curdled inside Hope. She swallowed it down, backing up until she couldn’t see anymore.
“Yeah, it’s Chris. Jerry, I don’t give a fuck about that. I just killed Elaine. Because the bitch was going to tell my wife everything. I can’t have that. Get someone here to clean up. Now. Bitch bled all over my rug.”
Hope’s hands were shaking as she backed up, desperate to not make a sound. He couldn’t find her. She would go the same way Elaine had. Tears made the world a watery mess as she hurried down the hall and back out into the night. She was supposed to be at a friend’s house, but she’d walked back up the hill to get her sweater. She ignored the cool air and braced herself.
She hid behind a shed as Jerry and his men walked by. There were three of them. Men who had laughed with her, worked with her. Men who claimed to be her friends. They were going to clean up after Christian’s crime. They would dispose of Elaine’s body, and then come tomorrow they would smile and laugh with her again.
All lies.
When she was alone, she calmed, forcing a placid smile on her face. Hope walked back to her friend’s house, wondering all the while if the devil she’d married was watching her, planning her own death.
Chapter Fifteen
Hope forced herself back to reality. She could almost feel the Atlanta night around her, but she was here in Bliss. She wasn’t the same girl Christian had fooled. Not by half.
“Let me get this straight,” James began. Hope finally turned to look at him, and sure enough, there was anger on his face. “You watched him kill someone, and then you went back to him?”
“What was I supposed to do?” Hope sniffled, trying hard not to cry. She’d expected his anger. Noah was just sitting and listening, but he hadn’t moved from the couch. He wasn’t jumping up to hold her. They were in their corners, and she was in hers. “If I had left, he would have searched for me. I had planned to gather some money and go to the police, but something happened that night.”
“Did you kill him?” Noah asked, his voice steady and even.
Hope swallowed before answering, the affirmation of her crime stuck in her throat. “Yes. I tried. I suppose it was more of a case of I didn’t try to save him. It was chilly that night, and Christian couldn’t stand the cold. He also had trouble sleeping. He’d taken a pill when he came to bed.”
“You fucking slept with him again?” The question tore from James’s mouth.
James’s vitriol was going to be worse than Christian’s. She forced herself not to cry. “No. I claimed my period was coming. Christian wouldn’t touch me when that happened. He went to sleep after turning on the space heater. I got up in the night and got dressed. I stole money from the safe after I found the code. My birthday. As I was leaving, I stumbled over the heater. It was so dark. I was terrified, but Christian didn’t stir. Not even when the curtains caught fire.”
She’d watched them light up. The frail, filmy curtains had caught fire quickly, orange-and-red flames blooming and bouncing around. It had been like a dance. She’d thought for a moment that she should stay and watch. The world had been so cruel.
But something stronger had taken over. The world had been cruel because she’d allowed it.
“I walked out. I didn’t wake Christian. I just walked away and didn’t look back. I took the car and exchanged it for another one outside of Little Rock. And then I wandered for years until I came here.”
“What did you do with the money, Hope?” Noah asked.
James had gotten up. He started to pace, his hands on his hips.
God, she didn’t want to get into this, but she’d promised honesty. Trev’s words came back to her. He’d been right, of course. Words had power and holding the story deep inside herself had taken her to the brink this time. The only way to get herself back was to tell the truth, to let the poison out even though it would cost her their love. She’d never really had it in the first place. They hadn’t known her.
“I drank most of it. I stayed in motels and I drank because it seemed like a good thing to do. I had never had so much as a glass of wine until the night after I left Christian. I was only twenty, but I managed to get into a bar and some man bought me a drink and then two, and then I wasn’t seeing Elaine anymore. I wasn’t seeing Christian. I woke up the next morning in a strange bed, and I ran to the next town.”
“Fuck all, Hope, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” James asked, his eyes narrowed.
She shrugged. James, it seemed, was beginning to get the picture. “I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything. I thought the cops would find me. I thought Jerry might figure out how much money I had taken and come after me. But mostly I just wanted to erase that picture in my head. I wanted to erase me.”