Page 68 of Final Installment

“Like I said,” I grumbled.“There’s not enough time to dig into that.”I noticed we were driving away from the city, into the countryside.“Where are we going?A safe house?”

“That was my plan, but considering we were attacked despite all the security, I think we should find somewhere else.”

“We should ditch this car,” I suggested, thinking of all the John Le Carre novels I’d read as a kid and my current obsession withSlow Horses.“They might be tracking it.Our phones, too.”On instinct, I reached for my purse but realized I’d left it and my smashed-up phone back at the wedding venue.“I don’t have any money or ID or a phone.”

“I’ve got money.”He retrieved his phone from the inner pocket of his jacket.“Power this off for me?”

“Yeah.”I took the phone and glanced at the notifications on the screen as I powered it down.There were messages from a woman named Liliana, each one more desperate than the last.Remembering what I’d seen on my phone back at the dinner, I bit my lip.Should I say something?

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lied and placed his phone in a cup holder.A moment later, thinking better of it because we were counting on each other to stay alive, I confessed, “During the dinner, when my phone kept going off, it was an unknown number.”

“Okay?”He waited for me to tell him something useful.

“When I swiped my screen, there were dozens of photos of you and some women.”My face burned as I remembered the filthy images.“Dancers, I think.Um, the exotic kind.”

He swore in Albanian, letting loose a string of filth.Then, clearly embarrassed, he said, “I’m sorry.You shouldn’t have seen that.”

“Well, I did, and it’s not something I can unsee.”Feeling a little annoyed, I asked, “Was it your bachelor party?”

“I didn’t have one.”

“So, it was before you and my sister got engaged?”I asked hopefully.

“No,” he admitted.“It was in Houston.The night of that disaster at your mother’s house.”

“You cheated on my sister.”I stated it plainly, letting it hang in the already tense space between us.

“To be fair, she cheated on me, too.”

“Yes, but you didn’t know that.”

“And she got pregnant,” he added, as if that somehow made the situation better for him.“I didn’t get anyone pregnant.”

“That you know of,” I replied, wondering how careful he had been.“Have you even been tested?”

He scowled at me.“I’m not a complete and utter asshole.Of course, I got tested when I got back from Houston and repeated the tests last week.I would never expose my wife to anything.”

“But you’d cheat on her?”

“No.I would not cheat on my wife.”

“But you’d cheat on your fiancée?”

He blew out a noisy and frustrated breath.“I made a mistake.Okay?I fucked up.I can’t change that.It’s done.”He glanced at me, his expression earnest and sincere.“I won’t cheat on you when we’re married.”

I almost believed him.“Well, we aren’t getting married, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“You agreed to marry me back at the mansion.We are getting married,” he insisted.“As soon as possible.”

“I agreed under duress seconds before a bomb exploded.You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming to the altar now,” I warned.“Considering I outweigh you, that’s not likely.”

“Don’t do that,” he growled.“Don’t denigrate and insult yourself.”

“Why?Because that’s your job?”The memory of the awful things he said to me still burned bright and hot.

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”