Page 109 of If You Love Me

“I guess you better get on the road. See you there.”

She hung up. I gripped the phone, beating my fist against the steering wheel.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled, tears streaming down my face.

I dropped my head, and the most anguished cry left my lips. If something worse happened to my wife and child, I would never forgive myself. I would never be the same again. I had to get to them, I just had to. After a minute or so of getting myself together, I lifted my head and reached in my glove compartment where I kept one of my guns. Checking the clip, I saw that it was full. I placed it on the seat and pulled out of the parking lot.

I didn’t bother to call the police and tell them where I was going.

Either I was leaving with my family, or somebody was leaving in a body bag.

35

Iona

Ipaced back and forth in front of the window, looking out every so often. It was freezing up here this time of year. This cabin had been in my family for generations. It was a big open concept cabin. My family rarely used it anymore, so the bedrooms were used for storage, and the living room area now hosted the only bed, giving it a studio feel. My mother typically rented the space out during the summer. It belonged to my great grandfather on my mom’s side. We used to come here every summer as kids, and every summer, I wanted to drown my sister in the lake out back.

She loved to get a rise out of me, then play victim when I lashed out. One time, our parents went into town, and she locked me out of the cabin for over an hour. I sat out there in nothing but my bathing suit until our parents came back. When they saw me sitting on the porch, they asked what I was doing outside. I told them Meena locked me out. Ironically, when my father turned the door handle, the door opened right up.

Meena thought it was funny to make me seem like a liar until I punched her dead in her shit. That day, we fought all over the cabin, tearing shit up. I was smaller than she was, but I beat her ass for thinking she could play with me like that.

I actually hated this place. Bringing Tyrion here last year was my way of trying to create a better memory of it.

Leaving the widow, I walked over to the bathroom where Summer was being held. Opening the door, I found her crouched in the corner with her knees to her chest, crying. I placed the gun on the counter and stooped down to her.

“I’m really sorry about this, baby,” I said softly.

“Leave me alone! I hate you!”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do. My daddy says it’s bad to lie, and I don’t lie.”

“Your daddy said a lot of things he didn’t mean. He lied too. He said he loved me, and then he left me for your mama.”

She shook her head. “Daddy said he wanted you to be happy, but he wasn’t the person to make you happy. He said he had to be with his family.”

“We were a family, Summer. Me, you, and your daddy. We were happy, remember that?”

“I want to be happy with my mommy and daddy.”

I frowned. “Well, we can’t always get what we want.”

I stood and grabbed the gun before leaving the bathroom and closing the door. Pulling out my burner phone, I called Tyrion again.

“Where are you?” I asked as soon as he answered.

“I’m coming.”

“Well, come a little faster, love. I’m getting impatient.”

“Oh, you have patience, Iona. Enough to put cameras in my house so you can watch me. Yeah, I know about that. Your mother told me about everything. The cameras, you and yourfamily history of mental issues. How could you keep that a secret?”

“Would you have been with me if you knew?” He was quiet. “Exactly.”

“I asked you to marry me, Iona. You would have possibly had my child. How the fuck were you going to explain their mental issues if they developed at some point? What kind of life would they have had if you went on pretending that shit didn’t exist?”

“I never pretended it didn’t exist. I know firsthand how that shit plays out as a child.”

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