Page 13 of Rogue

I should have stayed in New Jersey and let him kill me.

“I’ll be the judge of nice.” Her tone is sharp telling me she isn’t in a the mood for pushback from me.

“Giulia, what am I supposed to do?” I ask as the defeat washes over me.

It’s on my soul that Howard is dead. The man didn’t know me, but he paid the price for my transgressions.

“Sit tight, Chelle-Belle. I’m getting on the company plane within the hour. I’ll text you details of my arrival. Then we can sort getting you out of the biker’s lair and to a place I deem safe. Until then keep a low profile. Stay put as long as you feel safe there. Benny is in your area. Has to be. Got my guys on it, but we lost days since your box came Friday, but mine didn’t come ‘til today. He’s at least already in Huntsville, that was the last digital trace of him. He’s closing in. Fucking piece of shit wants to play games. He’s gonna find out my fuckin’ balls are bigger.”

Before I can even reply, the line goes dead.

Giulia is on a mission. I can only hope she finds Benny before he finds me.

I hear noise on the porch so I move back to the front of the house. Peering through the peephole, I see a man wearing a leather vest leaving bags of groceries by the front door.

That was fastis all I can think.

As he steps away, I see my car parked in front of the house.

Relief hits me that I’m not trapped. Even though, I have no clue where to go from here. Giulia will get here and then I’ll leave.

I wait until I hear the car pull away before looking to the peephole again.

With things seeming safe, I open the door, grab the bags rushing them back inside. Locking the door behind me, I swallow back the fears.

I knew better than to leave. I also know without a doubt if I had stayed, I would have been dead long ago. I’m going to pay for leaving him.

No one leaves Benincio Cartagena. No one bests him. And no one who knows any of his secrets lives when he’s tired of them.

There is more than one reason for Benny to want me dead. Mostly, though, I wounded his pride. When I didn’t fall in line to be the good trophy girlfriend, I paid the price.

When I found out he is a damn sicario for the Diaz drug cartel, it was end game. No one can know his occupation. No one can hold proof of his kills and live.

Yet, I do.

Stupidly, I thought if I left town, taking his secrets with me, this would die off. Giulia was right, I should have changed my name completely.

My shop is a company under Bianchi Holdings, one of many flowers shops, Giulia owns across the country. We purposely had her begin acquiring them once I got to South Carolina and found my passion. We didn’t want the first shop she owned to be a waving flag of my location.

My rent and utilities, everything I own and do is all filtered through Giulia. I have no paper trail here.

How did he find me?

I worked under a false social security number at the grocery store. I haven’t had a tax record since leaving Jersey as Leigh Michele Range. Growing up everyone called me Michele since my mom named me after my dead-beat dad, my grandparents called me Chelle-Belle. Grams maiden name was Cramer. When I left Jersey, I didn’t want to lose my entire identity. We decided Michele Leigh Cramer was common enough that being down south I wouldn’t be a glaring red target for Benny and his associates to find.

Giving up my life, my safety net felt like enough. I didn’t want to give up all of my name too. It’s not like I was out and about putting Benny’s business out to anyone and everyone. I didn’t go to the police. I knew better then and honestly, I know better now. It’s why I easily gave in when Rogue said not to call the police.

I thought I had sacrificed enough and showed them all I was not a threat. If only I had let go of my name, maybe this wouldn’t be happening.

To me, it felt like it would be giving up my connection to my grandparents who did everything they could for me. Giulia built me a credit history, job history along with the birth certificate and driver’s license Howard created. Anyone doing an internet search wouldn’t be able to figure out that Michele Leigh Cramer only existed in the last five years, no, online I have a lifetime of experiences and even a social media profile and old email accounts.

We thought we had things covered. It worked for all these years. Not anymore though. He has found me and I’m not sure I’m going to live through this.

Now, I have to pay the price for that choice and an innocent man named Howard lost his life because I wanted to keep a piece of myself.

I should have known better.

I know what I need to do. Somehow, I need to muster the courage. And I need to do it before Giulia gets here and tries to stop me.

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