Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Justine hip-checked me at the same time as her hand came up and connected with Melanie’s face. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. How fucked is it that she’d slapped the shit out of her in this same space about two years ago?
I think I might’ve been high from the weed I’d smoked in the car on the way here, or maybe I was having a mental break or some shit because things had taken a turn I had not expected. Did the kid know she was going to do that to herself? What exactly had she programmed into that music?
Melanie landed on her ass with a broken nose and yelled out threats that she had no way of carrying out while the cops were dragging her off; she’d been embarrassed in front of her colleagues for the second time in as many years.
I wasn’t thinking about the new revelation, not here, not now. Because if I did, there’s no way my team could take me down before I did some damage. Since Justine and the kids, I’ve been teaching myself how to control my blackouts, which isn’t easy.
It's not a thing that happens often, but when it does, its impact can be far-reaching. It’s not something I want around my wife and kids, and their presence seems to have tamed that beast for now. But this, finding out that I had a sister who didn’t make it, is something I’m going to need to spend a lot of dealing with.
“Let me see your hand slugger. Did you hurt yourself?” I kissed her knuckles and pulled her into my side as the rest of the room continued in an uproar.
“Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Devereaux! Did you do this?” Ah shit, Grandma went for the whole name; at least she didn’t sound too pissed. Well, if you’re going to name me after a Roman emperor, allow me to act like one. At least I’ve lived up to my namesake. I’m very stoic.
“Yes, ma’am, I did. Not the suicide part. I just wanted her to expose herself for what she did to Mom; I had no idea she’d gone crazy.” Lies!
“I don’t…, what are we supposed to do about this? And you, did you know about this?” She turned to Gramps, who, for some reason, was chewing on a cigar.
His son stomped his way across the room after they carted his dead wife from the room. “Did you have to do this? Did you have to destroy me in front of everyone?”
“Why are you such a disappointment?” Gramps got in between the two of us while I put Justine behind me out of harm’s way.
“Why do you always stick up for him? I am your son.”
“Because my grandson's moral fortitude is like my father’s, a man I admired and looked up to until the day he died. While you have brought your mother and I nothing but shame and heartache.”
“Let’s not do this here.”
“No, Teresa, enough is enough. He’s sixty years old, and you’re still mollycoddling him. No more. This was a long time coming, and it’s justly deserved.”
“I know, but people are watching.”
“Yes, the same people who believed that our daughter-in-law had taken her own life. Isn’t it fitting that they should be here now? To see the end of this travesty that our son created?”
“So, you never meant for us to reconcile.”
“I told you the day I laid my mother to rest that you were as dead to me as she was. Unless you can raise her and bring her back to me, that won’t ever change.”
“So, that’s why you didn’t even let me meet the children or your wife. I thought you had changed.”
“I have; otherwise, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. I’ll never forgive you. Did you know that Mom was pregnant? Of course, you did. How does it feel to have lived with the woman who killed your unborn child all these years?”
I had to walk away, or I’d have ended up in cuffs. By the time I made it out to the car that was waiting, I had a smile on my face. That kid is worth every penny she’s talked me out of.
EPILOGUE
JUSTINE
“Do you think Justice will ever come back?” We were lying in bed with my head on his chest after one of our afternoon love-making sessions. There’s a lot to be said for having round-the-clock care for the kids; it frees you up to do lots of naughty things.
“I’m sure of it, but you have to admit we did run poor Justice off with our actions.”
“Who’s this we? This was all your doing. It’s been seven years and not a peep.” I never thought I’d miss that pain in the ass this much.
“Well, we had the trips, then eleven months later the twins, but I think it was….”