Tuesday, December 24
Washington, D.C.
I decided it was time to start packing. The movers would be here the day after tomorrow to collect my things. It wasn’t too late to back out, but I’d worked too hard for it to do that now, even though it wasn’t what I wanted anymore.
My homecoming was bittersweet. Read more »
“You have some nerve showing up here like this,” Daniel said the moment he opened the door.
“My flight is in a few hours. I need to see her before I go.” Read more »
I called the hospital every day to see how Jenna was, but she never accepted my calls. After spending a week under observation, I learned she was released. My emotions were still raw from the funeral, so I should have stopped to collect myself before going over to her condo and pounding on the door. But that would require rational thought; something I didn’t have, something I hadn’t had since Jenna collapsed into my arms, dying. Read more »
Monday, October 20
I spent the next week tying up the loose ends of the case and completing the necessary paperwork. I was cleared to return home on Friday, but I wanted to attend Collin’s funeral. Though I only knew him a short time, he became a friend to me. He was like family, really. Almost like an annoying younger brother. Read more »
I had no idea what Oleander was besides the name of a chick flick I didn’t see, but the ER staff knew what they were dealing with. They promised to do what they could and took me into the waiting area. I called on the way in to have her family released from protective custody. They had a right to be here with her now. Read more »
I didn’t realize until I already exited 190 and was a few miles away on another highway that Jenna was the frantic woman waving her arms from the stalled van I passed. It would take too long to exit and get back to them and I knew I could already be too late. I glanced in my mirrors to make sure no one else was on the road before I slammed on my brakes and U-turned. Traffic was nonexistent on my drive up until this point. I prayed my luck would hold long enough to get me back to Jenna. Read more »
“Where are we going, Chad? What’s going on?” Jenna asked once she cleared the sleep from her head.
“You’ll see. How was the coffee?” Read more »
I was too late. Jenna was gone when I got back. Blackstone beat me to her. Read more »
All the highways in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, and Dallas were shut down, but the Addison tollroad was ignored. Of course, Chad was long gone before they thought to do anything. He could anticipate everything now before it happened. Read more »
“I did something bad,” Jenna said as I approached.
I helped her up and got her inside my condo. She was shaking so badly I had to practically carry her to the couch for her to sit down. I sat next to her and tried to put my arms around her to comfort her, but she pushed me away. Read more »
“I just got a call from McNamara. Blackstone is in the offsite fuel storage hanger. This is going down tonight. You need to get here. Now,” Collin said. Read more »
Chad laughed at how easy it was to elude the agent following him. He’d learned to drive on these roads and knew just how to get away. The agent probably reached the dead end before he realized he was no longer following the correct car. Read more »
With the headstart we had, Banks wouldn’t know I ran off with Jenna until it was too late to catch us, but getting to a country without an extradition treaty posed a problem. Unless I found a way to smuggle Jenna out of the country, she needed a passport. Mine was always in the glovebox. Even though I planned to tell her everything once we got where we were going, I couldn’t risk raising her suspicion. Read more »
Trista scrutinized herself in the mirror and realized she forgot to put on her earrings. She opened her briefcase and saw the envelope from Jenna. She pulled it out with the earrings and placed it on the table. Once she was convinced the sparkle they gave her ears was just right, she opened the envelope and removed its contents. Read more »
I successfully managed to avoid thinking about Jenna for the majority of the day, but when I saw her in the strappy black dress she was wearing to the reunion my mind flooded with everything I fought so hard to suppress. I made a conscious effort to block out the previous evening from my mind. Without a doubt, it was the single best night of my entire life. It wasn’t easy to have something like that and know you would spend the rest of your life without it. Read more »
