The Complete Truth Duet

by Martinez, Aly

  Numb.

  Broken.

  Ruined.

  And free.

  I couldn’t wrap my mind around why Penn, Marcos, or Dante had been at the apartment that night. I’d played out at least a hundred different scenarios in my head, but I couldn’t come up with an answer.

  At least not one that brought him back to me.

  He shouldn’t have been there. He’d been in bed. Safe. Breathing. Holding me. And now…

  I was sitting in the back of a police car, wrapped in a blanket and fileted open, my heart having been torn from my chest one last time by the Guerreros.

  Numb.

  Broken.

  Ruined.

  Finally free, but more trapped than ever.

  “Cora,” Drew said, squatting in the open doorway, a cigarette dangling between his fingers. “River’s ready to go.”

  I glanced up to find her leaning against the hood of the police car. She’d walked away from me the minute the cops had started asking me questions. They’d cornered her next, but she’d kept her distance ever since.

  “They found a few things,” Drew said. “Everything’s wet and covered in soot, but I think some of it’s salvageable. You want to come take a look?”

  “No,” I whispered.

  He stood up and glanced around the parking lot.

  The girls had trickled by all morning, fielding questions from the cops with practiced answers that didn’t include prostitution. Then they’d offered me tight smiles before trickling out. There was only one fire truck left. One cop car. Marcos’s Mercedes. Dante’s BMW.

  And Penn’s truck.

  I was sitting in the back of a police car, wrapped in a blanket.

  Numb.

  Broken.

  Ruined.

  And—

  “Cora, come on,” Drew whispered. “I gotta get out of here before I lose my shit. I’m begging you. Take a look at your stuff and then let’s call a cab and go back to the hotel.”

  He’d just lost his brother. If I’d had the ability to feel anything, I’d have felt bad for him.

  I attempted to swallow, but my mouth was dry. “Yeah. Sure. Let’s go.” Robotically, I climbed out, releasing the blanket before taking his proffered hand.

  He led me to a pile of random odds and ends the firemen had recovered from inside the building. The majority of it wasn’t mine. I picked up a charred photo album, flipping through two pages before dropping it back down. It was Ava’s. I’d let her know it was there.

  A spark of emotion ignited behind my eyes when I saw my small fireproof safe beside the remnants of all of our lives. At least I wasn’t destitute. There should have been a couple thousand dollars in there. Enough for River and me to use on a hotel and to eat for a few weeks while I tried to get back on my feet—if that was even possible anymore.

  After dropping into a squat, I twisted and turned the combination of River’s birthday and my wedding anniversary until the door popped open.

  And then everything stopped.

  The Earth.

  My heart.

  Time.

  There was no money in that safe. No pictures of River when she was a baby. Nor the few I had of Nic and me. The extra keys to the building were missing. So was River’s and my birth certificates and social security cards. The safe was empty except for Penn’s truck keys and a hand-written note that read, One in. One out.

  I swung my head to Drew, but his expression told me he was just as puzzled as I was.

  “What the…” he breathed, reaching around me to pick the keys up.

  My hands trembled as I lifted the scrap of paper in his direction. “What does this mean? Did he put this here?”

  He shook his head, staring at the keys in his hand. “I have no fucking clue.” He took off, jogging to Penn’s truck, and I followed him every step of the way, blood roaring in my ears.

  He snatched the driver’s door open, and I shoved around him. Fantasizing about finding Penn just casually sitting behind the wheel instead of in the body bag he’d been carried off in.

  He wasn’t there and it hit me like a thousand rusty arrows falling from the sky.

  The cab of his truck was clean. Just the way Penn liked it. Not so much as an empty coffee cup in the holder. Just his magical toolbox abandoned on the floorboard.

  And then I saw it.

  A single green glow-in-the-dark star on top.

  I dove in after it, tears springing to my eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was one of Nic’s from my ceiling. There were no defining marks. But it had definitely been placed there for me. I turned it in my fingers, examining every angle, searching for a clue or a key that would make this entire nightmare stop. When I came up with nothing, I tucked it in my palm and fumbled with the latch on the toolbox, my fingers so intoxicated with hope that it took several attempts.

  I finally sprang it open and everything stopped all over again.

  The Earth.

  My heart.

  Time.

  My mouth fell open as twin rivers streamed down my face.

  Stars. Nic’s stars. All of them. The tiny balls of adhesive I’d rolled between my fingers still clinging to the backs.

  All of my pictures and paperwork were beneath them, and as I lifted the edge to search through the contents, I discovered that Penn’s toolbox really was magical.

  Stacks of cash.

  My cash, complete with little pink strands of insulation still clinging to the corners.

  I cupped my hands over my mouth, the tears coming harder, the source even deeper within me. “How…how did he know?” I croaked.

  I think Drew answered, but I had no idea what he said because a small, white paper on top of one of my papers caught my eye. It was a white rectangle banking slip dated a week ago, the words cash withdrawal typed in black letters across the top.

  The amount at the bottom was one million, one hundred thousand, six hundred, eighty-four dollars…

  And ninety-nine cents.

  “Oh fuck. Fucking fuck fuck fuck,” Drew muttered, drawing my attention his way.

  I leaned over the front seat and followed his gaze down to two massive black duffel bags wedged into the floorboard. They’d been covered by a sleeping bag, but when he unzipped the one closest to him, it revealed a mountain of neatly packed stacks of crisp hundred-dollar bills.

  But it was three quarters, two dimes, and four pennies that shredded me.

  “What would it take to make you free, Cora?”

  Oh God.

  “So you’re telling me, if someone comes in here and offers you a life raft, you’re going to refuse it because it won’t fit thirty-plus women?”

  Oh. God.

  He’d done it. It had cost him his life, but he’d done it.

  For me.

  “What is happening right now!” I cried.

  Drew lifted his hands in surrender and told me a truth. “Honest to God, I have no idea.”

  Savannah

  One week later…

  “Girl, you have no idea how good it is to be out of there.” I fought the wind to get a light.

  Kerri continued inspecting her chipping fingernails. “Your dad still a douchebag?”

  “Worse.” I gave the cigarette a deep inhale. The act of my lungs expanding made the bruises on my ribs scream.

  After spending a few days in the hospital recovering, I’d been home five days. Though “home” might have been a bit of a stretch. I was back where Social Services had deemed I needed to be. The very same place I’d traveled to hell to escape.

  Part of me wished they’d have let me die that night. In a lot of ways, it would have been easier.

  For everybody.

  I couldn’t think about it.

  It didn’t matter.

  I blew out a cloud of smoke. “Anyway, my mom said, if I can get her two hundred bucks tonight, she can score us some H.”

  Her mouth gaped as she swung bulging eyes at me. “Two hundred bucks? Where the hell are we gonna get
that kinda cash?”

  I leaned forward, adjusting my boobs to reveal more cleavage, and then shimmied my skirt up another inch. “You think I’m standing on this corner for my health?”

  “Shit, Vannah,” she whispered, shifting her eyes up and down the street. “This place is crawling with cops.”

  “Yeah, but in about fifteen minutes, all the bars are gonna be closing, sending hundreds of drunk, horny men staggering out. Ripe for the pickin’.”

  “Oh hell no. I ain’t sucking no dick. I told you Ronnie and I were getting serious.”

  I twisted my lips and arched an eyebrow at her. “Ronnie got two bills?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nope. But he ain’t got no STD either.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Then go.” I made a shooing motion. “But don’t expect me to share.”

  Her eyes narrowed on me as if she were looking at a stranger. “Girl, you have lost your damn mind. You spent too long living with Mama Prostitute. She done—”

  “Shut your fucking mouth!” I shoved a finger in her face. “You don’t get to say a goddamn word about her. Do you hear me? Nothing. Ever.” I couldn’t even think about Cora or River without becoming physically ill.

  I’d woken up at the hospital alone and abandoned. I’d waited for her to show up. Waited for her to sneak me out of there. I didn’t even care about going back to Dante if it meant going back to her.

  My parents had arrived instead.

  “You know what? I don’t have to take your bullshit. I’m out.”

  “See if I give a fuck,” I muttered, watching her blond hair sway as she navigated the cracked sidewalk in a pair of black stilettos. It was no skin off my back if she wanted to go home and ride Ronnie’s pencil dick all night.

  Even if I was jealous that she had somewhere to go.

  No sooner than she disappeared around the corner, a jet-black Audi R8 pulled up in front of me. The dark tinted window rolled down, and a deep baritone rumbled, “You working tonight?”

  I leaned down, squinting to make him out in the light of the dashboard. “Depends on who’s asking.”

  His hand appeared at the open window, five one-hundred-dollar bills fanned out between his fingers.

  That was the right answer.

  “I am now,” I chirped, dropping my cigarette, not even bothering to toe it out before taking the cash and climbing into his car. “So where you taking me tonight?” I asked seductively, tucking the cash in my bra.

  “First?” he growled, locking the doors. “Rehab. Then I’m taking you back to where you belong.”

  My head swung in his direction.

  Furious blue eyes I’d recognize anywhere glared back at me, but just as quickly, they softened. He snaked a hand out and gave the back of my neck a squeeze as he whispered, “God, it’s good to see you breathing again.”

  I gasped, tears filling my vision. “Penn?”

  Penn

  One minute before I lost her…

  A hotel room. That’s where I was leaving Cora.

  A fucking hotel room with shitty commercial carpet that made my skin crawl. Sure, it was a nice place with full-time security, and I’d made sure we were on the top floor, but the idea of leaving her in a goddamn hotel room had turned my blood to sludge.

  It was the only way. I needed her out of that apartment building for a night—and then forever.

  I stared at the side of her face, her lips parted in slumber, and committed each and every curve to memory. Her smooth skin, her long lashes, even that tiny mole below her lip.

  All of it was mine.

  She was mine.

  And in order to save her, I had to let her go.

  I could give her the money. I had enough. But as long as the Guerrero brothers were still sharing the Earth’s oxygen, she’d never be free.

  They would find her, manipulate her, punish her, and I had not one doubt they would ultimately kill her.

  And while I was out exacting revenge for a woman I’d loved but hadn’t been able to save, the cycle would repeat itself.

  We all had choices in life.

  I could have stayed.

  I could have kept Cora.

  I could have taken her and River away, put them up in a fancy house with private security, but they’d always be looking over their shoulders.

  That wasn’t freedom. That was moving them from one prison to another.

  And it would have solved nothing.

  Thomas Lyons, the very man who had ordered my wife’s death, was a part of Cora’s world. From what I could tell, she was helping his wife, Catalina, and his daughter, Isabel, hide from him. One day, he’d find out and come after Cora too.

  My worlds had officially bled together, and Thomas, the city’s beloved district attorney with the perfect record, was the source of the wound.

  So, at the end of the day, I had no choice at all.

  The only thing I could do was keep the blood off her hands.

  Even if that meant stabbing myself in the heart and disappearing from her life altogether.

  She’d be okay.

  She’d recover, move on, make a life of her own.

  I wouldn’t. Not ever. But I’d at least be able to rest at night, knowing she was safely sleeping under the stars.

  One in. One out.

  I closed my eyes, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then filled my lungs with all things Cora Guerrero.

  Her laugh.

  Her smile.

  Her kind heart.

  Her selfless nature.

  The way she loved.

  The way she gave.

  The way she’d brought me back to life.

  “Truth,” I whispered against her temple. “I love you.”

  She didn’t budge as I crawled out of bed.

  She didn’t budge as I waged war with my body in order to force my legs to carry me away from her.

  And she didn’t budge when the flames of hell finally devoured me as I stepped into the hall and silently pulled the door shut.

  “You ready?” Drew asked.

  I’d texted him the minute her breathing had evened out. Though I’d probably kept him waiting longer than I should have.

  I ground my teeth to cover the emotion. “Swear to me you will take care of her.”

  His fierce, brown eyes locked on my blues. “Swear to me you will kill those motherfuckers and then come back alive.”

  I extended a hand in his direction. “Done.”

  He grinned, clapping his hand with mine. “Then you have my word.”

  We started toward the elevator on the same foot, my entire body screaming as I left her there. I had known that it was wrong the minute I’d decided to do it. But my back was against the wall.

  “I don’t feel right about letting her think I was stealing the money,” I told him.

  His hand snaked out, catching my bicep, stopping me mid-step. “You have to do that. Do you hear me? You are not another man she needs to spend thirteen years pining after. You get her money, put it in your toolbox, and make it look like Dante and Marcos just happened to show up as you were taking off with it.”

  “She won’t believe that, Drew. She’s gonna see straight through this.”

  He stepped in front of me, his eyebrows furrowed, and stabbed a finger in my chest. “Then make her believe it. I’ll help on my end, planting that seed as best I can if she doesn’t jump to the conclusion on her own, but I’m not about to spend the next six months consoling a woman who thinks her poor, sweet boyfriend was torched while trying to protect her honor. She will not recover from that, Penn. She will spend the rest of her life blaming herself for getting an innocent man killed and you know it.” He poked at my chest, punctuating every sentence. “Be the bad guy. Take the fall. Let her get pissed. Break her fucking heart. And help her let you go.”

  The problem was I didn’t want her to let me go. But I couldn’t take her with me. For a myriad of reasons, I needed to put as much distance as I could between
Cora Guerrero and Thomas Lyons. The biggest being that, if and when my true identity was linked to Penn Walker, she would be either his next target or a suspect in his murder. So far, I—Shane Pennington—was free and clear. Those hundreds of thousands of dollars I’d spent buying a new identity had paid off. For her sake, I needed to keep it that way. But I couldn’t leave until I was positive she was as far removed from this entire clusterfuck as I could get her.

  Or, as it turned out, as far away as Drew could get her.

  I clipped him with my shoulder as I marched past him to the elevator and then jabbed the button.

  Drew wasn’t done with his lecture yet. “I swear to God, if you try to stray from the plan, I will find you and kill you myself. You are not the good guy anymore. She is going to be a wreck when you die either way, but hating you will be easier. She knows how to deal with shit situations, Penn.”

  “But that’s just it. That’s all she’s ever been given. Shit, shit, and more shit. And, now, I’m adding to that shit.”

  Suddenly, he was in my face. “I’m not going to be there to save your ass if this goes south. You get the money, put it in your toolbox, and then you leave it on the seat of the truck. The cops shouldn’t search it since it’s in my name, but if they do, I’ll produce the bank records where Shane Pennington gave his best friend who just got out of jail a loan. Cora won’t have to know about that. And if she finds out, I’ll lie and say my money burned up in the fire. We have thought out every possible angle to put her at the least amount of risk. Do not go off script now. This is not one of those times you can play loose. You gotta stop obsessing over the shit you can’t change and focus on actually surviving this bullshit. Taking down not one, but two Guerreros is not going to be easy.”

  My bones ached like they were being snapped in two. “I promise you it’ll be easier than leaving her.”

  “Probably. But I’d prefer to hear you crying about a woman any day of the week over putting you in the ground. So I’ll repeat: Focus. There is plenty of time to cry into your cornflakes later.”

  I shot him a scowl, but the levity did start to ease the pressure in my chest. “Right.”

  “Now. Are you sure I can’t go with you? I’ve been jonesing to throw a match at Dante’s feet for quite a while.”