Page 16 of What’s Left of Us (What Left #3)
“If I didn’t think this would help, we wouldn’t be here.
But the DNA results officially confirmed that the bodies found on the Nunes property belonged to the owners James and Diana.
Your mother used Mrs. Nunes' body to pretend she was dead.
We can't find justice for them until Porscha starts talking.”
I shoot Sterling a look. We’re on the way to visit my mother at the women's correctional facility downstate. It seems like we’re repeating history, the FBI asking me to go to yet another prison and speak with another psychopath.
Except this time it’s my mother, and unlike my feelings for Alastair I’m positive I don’t want to see her.
Listening to Sterling yesterday on our phone call didn’t convince me she’s worth the air I breathe.
She’s at a detention center closer to central Florida, a facility that’s women-only. She had an initial appointment with the court to introduce the attorneys, and I chose specifically to have Vinny drive us anywhere else that day. I’m purposefully ignoring her because I don’t want to see her.
I’m not interested in helping clear her name or ease her sentencing. For fifteen years she’s hidden in the background, doing god knows what, pretending she died.
If there's more evidence stacked against her, even better. I don't like hearing that more people died because of her, but if they gave Alastair death row for fifteen people at the time, she's got to be heading that way too. The amount of people she's responsible for murdering is staggering.
I won't let myself pity her even if her future looks bleak. She just left me there in Citrus Grove. Dying, bleeding, hurt. Alastair stayed, and I have a hard time believing he came up with the idea to kill me all alone. At least once I woke up and left the ICU, he was still around. Possibly taking the fall for too many crimes that weren’t his alone, but there all the same.
I don’t know what to think anymore. I really need to speak with Alastair one-on-one, but given that his visitation at CGP is revoked except for law enforcement, that’s not going to happen. I even begged Sterling to sneak me in over the weekend.
“I need to talk to him,” I tell Sterling, shifting away from Vinny’s grip to stand on my own. “I know it would be difficult, but I need to hear from him. I need him to look me in the eyes and tell me how he almost killed me. I’ll be able to tell if he’s lying.”
Sterling peers between us. After the last time we saw each other, we haven’t had much interaction since.
Tyler of all people came to the house earlier in the week to relay that they had all of Porscha’s personal items transferred from her temporary home in Illinois to Quantico, and their tech person Finley is supposed to go back soon and start analyzing.
From what I’ve heard, she’s supposed to drag Gabe along, even though he’s still recovering.
“I can’t sneak you into CGP,” Sterling says, his voice hard. “That line of communication is extinct. We made progress talking with Alastair before the prison break, but they aren’t going to allow him any visitors at this point. He has three new murder charges pending-”
“You don’t really believe that,” Vinny interrupts, and I step into my husband's embrace again. At least when it comes to this we’re always on the same side. “Porscha abducted him. Tortured him. And you think he went out of his way to kill during that time?”
Sterling’s jaw flexes, and I can see the war in his eyes.
When he chose to come out to the cabin, he sealed his fate.
He fell into our web, and once you’ve tasted Alastair it’s hard to go back.
He felt the same connection we did, and the four of us together could be unstoppable.
If he wasn’t supposed to be closing out the copycat case and could pick a side, I think he would pick Alastair’s.
“Stop trying to nail him for the kills,” I say earnestly, reaching out to grab his hand.
He stiffens at the touch, and I dig my fingers into his palm instead of letting go.
“Appeal to his softer side. The only other person who knows what Porscha is capable of is him. You said some things in the original case were passable, but not concrete proof? Nail her with those. Get Alastair’s side. Offer him something to help you.”
Sterling’s eyes soften, and I can already see where this is going. “He would have to give us a substantial amount of intel to change the verdict on his sentencing-”
“He gave you the house,” I say, crossing my arms as I let go of him. “That’s a start.”
“We have a house that could’ve been empty when Porscha arrived,” he agrees carefully. “And evidence we found there-”
“And the bodies,” I say, nodding my head. “I heard about the bodies.”
“One,” he grits out. “Just one on the premises. We don’t know how he died yet, there’s nothing to go off of at this time. And just where did you get that information?”
I glance at Vinny, who just shrugs. “Echo texted Vinny about a new webinar that’s going up every few days. It’s-”
“You mean that trash Beverly Heather is posting?” he asks with a groan. “You know all of her intel is off. She skews the facts.”
“Still,” I argue, “she has a point. More bodies, crossing timelines, facts that were overlooked by the original team? You could possibly change the past.”
Sterling sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. “I’m not saying it isn’t a possibility, but it’s far-fetched. He has fifteen life sentences to reverse if that’s the case.”
“And if he was coerced?” I press.
He pauses, dragging his gaze across my face before looking away. “You really want to nail all of this on your mother and see him escape the death penalty, don’t you?”
“Porscha stopped being my mother when I stopped mattering to her,” I say tightly.
“I don’t know when she decided to fake her death, but she never tried to find me either.
Until she started doing weird things like applying to my club and killing again.
Whoever she is now, she’s not the version of my mother that I want to remember. ”
“It’s Xeno,” Vinny says, stopping me outside the prison doors.
This was similar to getting into CGP, except Sterling stressed a couple times that Vinny can’t go back with me.
This is a one-time favor that Sterling asked the warden for.
He seriously thinks my deranged mother is going to tell me something that she hasn’t told anyone else. Personally, I think he’s lost it.
“You can take it,” I say with a shrug. I know Vinny’s been talking to his brother more and more, especially since Porscha was caught, but we haven’t really discussed it.
His family has always been a bit of a mystery.
I know the Ajellos get into a lot of illegal shit, but I don’t want the details.
The only time he has shown any shred of violence is when it comes to me, and that’s all because he’s trying to protect me.
Well, maybe he has the same streak for Alastair too.
Vinny lifts my hand, kissing the back of my knuckles. We’re supposed to be following Sterling and Jensen inside the prison, and I can feel their eyes on us. “They won’t let me go in if I don’t follow now-”
“I have… Sterling,” I say in a low voice, glad neither of the agents behind us can see my face. “I know he does some things we don’t agree with, but against my mother I’m certain he would keep me safe.”
Vinny’s gaze softens, and he slides his phone into his pocket before cupping both sides of my face. I guess he’ll be calling his brother back. “You trust him that much?”
I swallow. “I think he makes some dumb decisions sometimes, and he’s definitely going rogue from his FBI duties, but yes. I trust him. He didn’t sleep with the three of us to turn around and betray us. You saw the look on his face when the FBI arrived. He was torn.”
My husband nods, leaning in to skim his lips across mine.
It’s a soft kiss, his fingers tracing along my dimple piercings for a moment before he draws back.
It keeps our conversation private. “You know he’ll never admit it, but Alastair saved his career by knocking him out.
He didn’t have to justify what happened, and we haven’t fucked up the story yet. ”
Squeezing his wrists, I try to collect myself before responding. “Hopefully Sterling returns the favor.”
Vinny turns and pulls out his phone, jogging back in the direction of our car. My heart tightens; this is the first time I’m going into a prison without my husband by my side.
“Jo.”
Looking over my shoulder, I’m not surprised to find Sterling standing close to me. If Vinny didn’t truly trust him, there’s no way he’d leave me in his care. My mother might be restrained and under the watchful eyes of the guards, but he won’t trust her. None of us do.
I swallow before speaking, turning to face him. “Vinny told me recently that if he sees my mother again he doesn’t know if he can let her go. He hates her, Sterling. He hated her all through high school, and it’s never changed.”
He stares at me. “So he won’t be coming inside?”
“Vinny doesn’t hate Alastair like he hates Porscha,” I explain. “Alastair, he has empathy for. Porscha, he only has contempt.”
Sterling nods and gestures towards the doors where Jensen stands near the guards, watching us curiously. “Maybe it’s better he doesn’t come in then.”
“My mother treated him like garbage,” I continue, following them through the gates. “No one was ever good enough in her eyes. Vinny had money, even if it was blood money. He was fantastic with me. He treated me better than she did.”
He keeps nodding, and I wonder what he’s learning from my words. I know he’s supposed to profile people, but I haven’t really dug into the science behind any of that. Maybe I’m revealing too much. “She hated him?”
“Anyone I tried to date or be friends with,” I mutter. Sterling knows this, so I’m not sure why he’s asking me to verify it.