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“I need to see her, Ares. I’ll go in with you,” she says. “That woman took care of me like a mother.”
“She’s right,” Debra says. “We need to know why she did what she did.”
Five minutes later, with Serenity sitting in the wheelchair again, we enter the room where JeAnne is. When she sees us, she tries to get up, but I notice that she is handcuffed to the table.
“Why?” Serenity cries.
“To protect you,” she replies, her look completely insane. “They are coming, and they will not spare you. Run away with her, Ares. Get her out of here before it’s too late.”
Ares
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
"They?"Serenity asks. "For God's sake, JeAnne, who are they?"
"I can't say. I tried to protect you. I don't care about myself. It's your safety I'm worried about."
She gets up from her wheelchair, and when I try to support her, she pushes my hand away. "My safety? You want to convince me that you set a trap for me, injured my feet, knowing how important this phase of my life is, thinking about mysafety?"
"It's the truth," the woman repeats, her gaze blank, almost insane. "Ares, she won't listen to me. Get her out of here."
Serenity shakes her head, pale and visibly shaken. She sits back down in the wheelchair, and without saying a word, Debra pushes her out of the room.
"Tell me who ‘they’ are, JeAnne,” I beg, doing my best to remain calm, because even with the anger I'm feeling, I realize that the woman is in a delusional state, skating in and out of reality.
"You can't protect her from them, but you can at least try," she says.
"Stop speaking in code, damn it! You saw her grow up! Serenity trusted you, you wretch."
She stares at me in silence, and for a moment, I think she's going to reveal the truth, but then she says, "I want a lawyer."
This leaves the police with their hands tied. Everything that is said from now on, away from the presence of the lawyer she requested, will be invalid in court.
I take a step forward, unable to stop myself. "Those who love and protect don't hurt. Make whatever excuse you want for yourself, JeAnne, but you're nothing but a traitor. It doesn't matter the reason. You lied and deceived her. You hurt my woman, and you can be sure I will go to hell if necessary, but you will pay."
Two weeks later
GREECE
"Why do you always hide your feet?" I ask, in the pool on my island in Greece.
I swim to the edge of the pool where she is. Serenity has both feet in the water, hidden beneath her body.
"I'm ashamed of them. They are very ugly. I have calluses, and my nails never grow."
I didn’t really pay attention to her feet the other time I took off her shoes or when she cut her feet.
"Let me see. I can't give an opinion. You always hide them from me."
"No."
"I want to see them, Serenity."
She snorts and stretches them towards me.
There are two nails just beginning to grow on the big toes—they must have fallen off before. Each has a kind of bunion on the outside, and yes, there are a lot of calluses too.
"They areveryugly," I say, kissing each one.