Page 86 of The Perfect Divorce

“I am worried about it. That’s my wife and fucking her wasn’t a part of the deal.”

“You just wanted her dead, and that’s what she is. Plus, she’s not your wife anymore. She’s... not anything anymore.” The voice comes through the phone cold, toying.

I deeply sigh and rub my temple. “What about Summer? Where is she?” I ask, worried about what his answer could be.

“She’s staying at that Anne woman’s house. The one who works at the foundation.”

“I know who Anne is.” It’s not the ideal spot for Summer to be, since Anne will be resistant to me taking her without confirming with Sarah first, but there’s nothing I can do about that at this moment.

“Now what?” Alejandro asks.

“Clean up the scene and then leave town. Put as much distance between yourself and here as you possibly can. Go to California. I don’t care. But disappear.”

“And my money?”

“It’ll be wired to you first thing in the morning.”

“No, I want it tonight, and that’s not negotiable. Unless, of course, you want me to expand my list.”

“That wasn’t the deal, and you know I’m good for it, so it’ll be wired in the a.m. You don’t need to threaten me to ensure you get it.”

He’s silent for a moment, like he’s thinking it over.

“Fine.” Alejandro caves, for now. I know what he’s capable of, so I have no intention of not paying the man.

“Did Sarah say anything about Stacy Howard before you...” I trail off. I don’t need to say what we both already know.

“No.”

“Shit.” A dead end—literally. I need to find something that can remove the thorn of Stacy from my side... and maybe Carissa too. “I know she was planning something.”

“If she was, she isn’t anymore,” he says matter-of-factly.

Alejandro doesn’t get it. Even a half-baked plan that Sarah’s not around to finish could still blow up in my face. The only thing that’s changed is her not being able to interfere with me anymore.

“I still have to find Stacy. I can’t have that looming over me.”

“Well, you had me put that tracker on Sarah’s car. Just use that.”

“I’ve tried. It’s pointless. All she does is go to the foundation, the grocery store, and Summer’s school. It’s all routine and boring, nothing out of place.”

“Sounds like it’s nothing then.”

It’s possible he’s right. Sarah was amazing at contingency planning, but she probably never anticipated this. Maybe her plans will just fizzle out and die, but I can’t count on that.

“Just get out of there and make sure you remove the tracker from Sarah’s car before you go. And don’t contact me at this number again. It won’t work anyway.”

“And what if there’s an issue with the money?” Alejandro asks, a sense of anxiousness and annoyance in his voice.

“There won’t be. After I wire you the funds, I’ll reach out to you from another number once everything is clear.”

I press the red phone icon on the touch pad and end the call. There’s no sense in going back and forth anymore. He’s gotta get out of town, and he’s gotta do it fast. I pull up the picture of Sarah, taking her in one last time, knowing that once I delete this message, I’ll never see her again, not really.

After a few minutes of tricking my mind to ignore the blood and the lifeless face, I finally clear the call log, delete Alejandro’s number and all of our messages, and then snap the phone in half. Wrapping the two pieces in a towel, I stomp on it, smashing it into tiny fragments, most of which I flush down the toilet.

In the bathroom, I toss water on my face and find my reflection in the mirror. I stare at the man looking back. Tears stream down my face, and I begin to chuckle. “I did it. I finally did it.”

Someone bested the great Sarah Morgan. She thought she could keep this up and keep getting away with it. Playing with people like they were nothing, mere puppets attached to a string of lies and deceit and corruption, all clumped and tangled into a web of shit with Sarah smiling at the other end. Not anymore.

---