Scarred: Sins and Secrets Series of Duets

by Willow Winters

  “No secrets,” I tell him. “You promised.”

  Another loud boom from the television distracts me and I reach for the remote without hesitation, bending over Evan and grabbing it as it sits right next to his phone. As soon as the television screen goes black, I toss the remote behind me and into the seat where I was just lying.

  Giving him my full attention I tell him, “I feel like maybe you have something to tell me.” I hold his gaze and his expression gives me nothing.

  I’m so close to snatching his phone from him just to prove him wrong, but before I pull the trigger on that idea he says, “I don’t want to bother you with these things.”

  “You’re my husband. You’re supposed to bother me.” I say it with a little humor, but again, he doesn’t react.

  “Tell me, Evan. I want to know.” I scoot closer to him, just a bit so my leg touches his and I rest a hand on his thigh.

  “It’s something you said. About Samantha having drugs.” He looks away from me at the far wall in the room. “It’s something bad,” he adds.

  “What about it?” I hate that an inkling of jealousy creeps up on me, but it’s quickly followed by a darker realization.

  “The coke that killed Tony was laced with poison. High amounts.” He looks me in the eyes and slowly the pieces come together, one by one.

  A chill flows over my skin. “Did you tell Mason?” I ask him.

  He nods and then confesses, “He thinks he has something concrete.”

  “What?” I ask him, eager for more. I can’t lie that there’s a part of me that’s afraid though.

  “He can’t tell me over the phone,” Evan says as if that’s the end of the discussion.

  “Is it good or bad?” I ask him.

  “Good I think.” Evan nods his head and almost looks teary-eyed. “He said it’s done and to come see him.”

  “It’s done?” I ask him, and my lungs stay perfectly still until Evan nods his head once. I cave into him, holding on to him and not wanting to admit how much fear I held deep inside. “It’s really over?” I ask him and he shrugs although he looks emotional.

  “I have to talk to him.” He turns his attention back to the television and then glances at the remote.

  It takes me a moment to realize that he’s planning on leaving me out of it.

  No. Fucking. Way.

  “So when are you meeting him?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes as I do.

  “When you get in bed,” he tells me pointedly and I shake my head and then get up off the couch.

  “I’m coming with you,” I tell him. My boots are at the front door and I already have socks on.

  I don’t pay attention to him as he stalks over to the door without bothering to grab his coat off the hook.

  “What are you doing?” he asks me as I shove one boot on and then the other.

  “I told you,” I tell him and then stand upright, grabbing my coat. “I’m coming with you.”

  I stand there, praying he doesn’t shut me out. I need to know.

  All of this destroyed me in a way I’ll never forget. It broke me and left me in pieces for him to pick up and put back together. He better not deny me this.

  “You know I love you, right?” he asks as he steps forward and brushes the hair out of my face.

  My eyes flicker from his chest to his eyes as I say, “I do.”

  His lips twitch into a smile and he leans down to kiss me. It’s chaste and quick, but he rests his forehead against mine, his hand still on my jaw.

  “I don’t like this,” he whispers.

  I can’t respond. The words are caught in my throat and I have nothing to give him.

  When he pulls back and looks me in the eyes, he looks like he may object, but he’s a smart man and instead he reaches for his coat without a word and opens the door for us to go.

  Chapter 31

  Evan

  * * *

  I was so sure,

  I thought I knew—

  I thought I knew it all.

  But one slight change,

  And the truth revealed—

  I would have let him take the fall.

  * * *

  Hate and pain,

  Turned to poison—

  Poison in my blood.

  But one slight change,

  And the truth revealed—

  My revenge drowns in the flood.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe it.” My words come out heavy as I stare down at the paper and then look back to Mason. But I’ve known since Kat told me. Samantha’s the reason that coke was laced and it wasn’t meant for me at all. It was James she wanted dead.

  Anger rolls through me like a low tide. Slowly rising and each wave threatening to take more and more.

  “She was fucking him,” Mason says.

  “Fucking who?” Kat asks, still clinging to my side. She insisted on coming and at first I didn’t want her here. I don’t want her involved in this more than I’d already had.

  Now though, knowing she went to Samantha, that she spoke to her, and was inside her apartment, so close to a woman capable of murder, I need her here.

  The anger dies immediately. It’s only gratitude and the still-sharp fear of losing Kat that takes over.

  I wrap my arm around her as I look over Mason’s shoulder and outside of the picture window in his sitting room. I need to feel her. I need to know she’s still here, alive and by my side. Away from any danger.

  “Samantha was fucking Andrew, the dealer. They planned to kill James and it went wrong.”

  “Do you have evidence?” Kat asks and I look down at her. She’s standing there as if she just asked for a receipt for an item she wants to return to Nordstrom, not at all affected in the least.

  “Plenty of it,” Mason answers and I look back at him when I can feel his eyes on me. “Shots of her with Andrew. Pictures of the coke and a sample.”

  “Are you alright?” I ask Kat and she cranes her neck to look me in the eyes.

  “Of course,” she answers easily. Her forehead pinches as she asks, “Why?”

  “It’s just a lot to handle, a lot to deal with,” I tell her, once again questioning myself. I let Samantha manipulate me. I didn’t even think twice about Kat’s safety in Samantha’s apartment, not that I would have let her go if I had known.

  “She could have killed you,” I whisper.

  “She could have tried,” Kat says back, and then holds me tighter. “But I’m here. And now we’ve got her.”

  I nod my head, feeling slight relief, but knowing it’s not over until she’s behind bars.

  “Why would she want James dead?” Kat asks Mason and he’s quick to respond.

  “The divorce would have given her nothing,” he says and I nod my head. Samantha told me that.

  “She’s the one who cheated and according to their prenup we found in James’ office, a divorce would leave her without a damn penny to her name.”

  “Better to kill him than to get divorced,” Kat says under her breath and walks away from me, walking to the far side of the room to pick up the cup of hot tea she left on the side table.

  “What about James?” I ask him. “He really had nothing to do with this?”

  Mason shrugs. “Still a prick, and now he’s onto his wife, but I don’t have shit on him.”

  I break eye contact and wipe a hand down my face. Fuck! I feel like a fool. Guilt and regret swirl together and the mix of emotions makes me numb. I have to remind myself that all I need right now is Kat, just my wife. I’ll cling to her until the dust settles.

  “You were wrong,” Kat says from across the room.

  “I would’ve killed him,” I admit to them, and it hurts to do it. The past few nights I’ve lied awake, thinking about all the ways I considered to murder him. As I stood outside of his house, I knew it’d be easy. I craved to see his body dead on the floor.

  “It’s because of her, she’s the one that fed you lies and made sure you were blaming him,” Ka
t speaks lowly, but her breathing picks up as anger gets the best of her.

  “It’s not hard to focus on revenge,” Mason says as if reading my mind. “It’s not your fault for wanting this over so you could protect your wife.”

  The clink of ceramic on glass gets my attention as Kat sets down her mug and walks back over to me.

  “So what do we do now?” Kat asks and then leans her back against my front.

  Mason smirks at her and then looks between the two of us. “See, this I love,” he says, tapping the folder in his hands.

  “Now we leak it. I don’t want to kill a woman,” Mason says.

  “Leak it?” I ask.

  “You do the same shit to them that’s been done to us,” Kat speaks up. “I want it all over every social media platform they have.”

  “What are you talking about?” Mason asks.

  “You can get onto James’ computer, right?” Kat asks Mason.

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s going to post about how she’s fucking a drug dealer. He’s going to write all about how he found coke and a grab bag of pills in her office and that’s why they’ve split.”

  “Drag her through the fucking mud,” Kat says and emphasizes every word.

  “The cops need to know,” I remind her.

  “They’re itching for something. And this city talks,” Mason answers me, nodding his head at Kat’s suggestion. “I was thinking of leaking to a man on the inside, but Kat’s idea would be easier, less risky.”

  “You have to drop the dealer’s name, both his street and real name.” Kat crosses her arms as she looks Mason dead in the eyes and adds, “Make sure you tag her ass in the tweets.”

  I wish I could joke back to her about being bitter. I wish I felt a sense of relief that this feels like it’s finally coming to an end. But I can’t and I don’t.

  “You’re a pretty vindictive woman, you know that?” Mason says, obviously amused.

  “I just don’t like it when a bitch almost kills someone I love. I really don’t like her talking in his ear either,” she adds and then shrugs. “I can be a little jealous.”

  I can’t force a smile to my lips, although I do love it. I love how possessive she is of me and how she’s showing it every chance she can get.

  “Is Kat safe?” I ask Mason. “If we intervene and do this, are they going to know?”

  “They won’t know shit. James will be relieved more than anything else. He’s a time bomb of paranoia waiting to go off.” Mason backs up, leaning against the back of a sitting chair as he adds, “And Samantha will be behind bars by morning.”

  “She can’t deny the pictures of the evidence.”

  “She’ll make bail.”

  “With the cops James has in his back pocket?” Mason looks at me with disbelief. “No way. She’s done.”

  “Good,” Kat says with finality.

  “What really gets me is that she came to me when she didn’t have to. Why?”

  “To make sure you didn’t know it was her,” Kat answers me. “You’re the only other person involved who was still alive to give up any information at all.” My fingers tap along my bottom lip as I remember every meeting I had with her, how she made it so clear to me that James was the one to go after.

  “With you focused on James and him on you, she could get away with it.”

  “That’s a thing, you know? The perps go to the cops as witnesses.” Mason adds, “That’s how they catch them sometimes.”

  I’m still partially dumbfounded, but I know everything they’re saying is true. It all adds up and there’s no other explanation. But the need to do something, to fix this myself, is killing me.

  “Do you need me to do anything?” I ask Mason as Kat cradles her body into mine.

  “I can take it from here, but I’d stay inside and keep a low profile until there’s word about the arrest.”

  I give him a tight smile and then peck Kat’s hair. “Let’s go home, baby.”

  * * *

  One week later

  * * *

  Just one more,

  And only one.

  This is it,

  Till my life is done.

  I need this for me,

  To be complete.

  Just one more,

  One last deceit.

  * * *

  “Is he in there?” I ask Mason as we sit in the car.

  Andrew Jones, also known as Mathew Staller. The man who sold Samantha the drugs, planned the murder, and got off with nothing. And according to Mason, this isn’t the first time that’s happened.

  He didn’t get a single charge that stuck to him. Not a damn thing. Samantha protected him and plead guilty when it came down on her. But Andrew? He got off. Too bad for him.

  “Yeah, this is it,” Mason answers me as he unbuckles his seatbelt. The click is loud in the still night air.

  I watch the light at the end of the street turn green, but there’s not a single car down the road where Andrew’s house is. Not a person in sight, in fact.

  Which is good fucking news. I guess he liked being out here for his privacy, away from the city in a Podunk area … maybe it’s where he makes the drugs. Or maybe he’s laying low since it all went down only days ago.

  I don’t know and I don’t give a fuck.

  As I step out of the car, the chill of the night creeping into my bones, I tell Mason, “You better never tell Kat.”

  He grins at me and says, “It’s our secret.”

  We close the car doors softly and I keep my eyes on the warm yellow light coming from the upstairs of the two-story house.

  “Sticking to the plan?” Mason asks me.

  My head nods but I don’t take my eyes off the light upstairs. “Let’s scope the place out, make sure it’s just him.” I finally look at Mason and say, “We’ve got the duct tape and rope in the trunk, right?” It’s lined in plastic and ready for Andrew.

  “Yeah, the only part that’s going to be hard is getting this fucker down so we can tie him up.”

  I crack my knuckles one by one, all the pent-up anger and fear from the past couple of weeks raging in my blood, begging for revenge.

  I would’ve died. I came so close to dying and losing everything because of this fucker. My wife would have been a pregnant widow. And it’s ‘cause of this asshole.

  “That’s not going to be a problem,” I tell Mason.

  He grins at me. “I’ll get the front, you get the back.”

  But as he tells me, guess who comes right out the front door, hoodie on and walks right out onto the sidewalk.

  “I don’t do meets here, get the fuck out,” he tells us as he walks up to us, only feet from the car.

  “Not here?” Mason asks as if we’re here to buy or sell or whatever the hell Andrew thinks we’re here for.

  “Yeah, like I said, I don’t do meetings here,” Andrew repeats and then opens his coat, flashing a gun tucked in his waistband. “So get the fuck out.”

  Dumb fuck should have had the gun in his hand.

  The rage makes me see red.

  I go for the first punch, getting him right in the jaw, my blood rushing in my ear as he and Mason both fumble for the gun. Mason grabs it from him as a bullet goes off, flying through the air and ricocheting off the car. I get in another punch, stunning the dealer. Over and over I slam my fists into him. My teeth grind against one another as I don’t hold back a damn thing.

  Andrew only gets that one shot off and then the gun clatters to the sidewalk.

  Smash! I hear the prick’s jaw snap and feel the bones crunch under the weight of my fist. I see the images that haunted me for weeks.

  Andrew pulls back his arm and gets me good. But only once and it barely affects me. My head snaps to the side as the punch lands on my chin. I throw all my weight forward, pushing him to the ground and feeling my body fall on top of his, slamming hard onto the concrete sidewalk.

  “Fuck!” he screams out just as I pin him under me and land punch after punch.
His nose cracks under one of them; I don’t know how many I get in. I can’t stop. All the fear leaves me as rage.

  “Evan!” Mason screams out, pulling me backward, but I get one more hit in that snaps Andrew’s head to the side and for a moment, I think he’s dead. He lays nearly lifeless. Blood’s covering his face and soaking into my knuckles. It’s fucking everywhere.

  Andrew spits blood onto the street next to him and coughs it up as I try to breathe.

  “Snap out of it. It’s not in the plan!” Mason screams next to me, or maybe it’s not a scream. There’s a ringing in my head that won’t quit. One that balances out my heavy breathing and the stinging pain that shoots from the split knuckles on my hand.

  When I finally catch my breath, I see Mason on top of him on the ground, pinning him down. He knees Mason in the stomach, desperately trying to win a losing fight. But I’m too quick, grabbing his own gun and shooting him once in his thigh.

  I don’t want to kill him. That’s not my job to do.

  He’s not for me. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t love beating the piss out of him.

  Andrew screams out in agony and Mason, still wincing and holding his gut, socks him right in the mouth.

  “Shut the fuck up,” he yells at him. Mason catches his breath as he slowly stands up and Andrew stares up at us, begging for mercy.

  “Are you Andrew Jones?” I ask him and he hesitates to answer, so I fire a shot off right next to him.

  “Yes!” he screams. “Fuck! Yes!”

  I crouch down in front of him, gun still in my hand. “The same Andrew Jones that left those messages for Samantha? The ones convincing her to murder her husband?” The blood drains from his face as I talk. “The same Andrew Jones that gave her poisoned coke so she could end his life and pay you half of what the insurance company was going to give her?”

  “I don’t … ” he tries to lie and I shoot off my gun again, feeling the shockwaves of the trigger run up my arm. It’s closer to him this time and Andrew screams out.

  “He pissed himself,” Mason says and when I look, sure enough, his sweats have a dark wet ring around him. He’s pathetic.