Page 89 of Deception
“Lex?” Melanie asks. “Babe, are you okay?”
Shaking her head, she falls back and puts her head in her hands. “Nothing about this is okay.”
“What’s the plan here?” Venom asks, his voice quiet. “I can take care of… her.”
“We need a note,” she whispers. “She needs to disappear. She took all the cash you had in the safe, and she used it to create a new identity.”
“Make sure it says you confronted her about talking to Julian and gave her a head start to get out of here. To leave and never come back,” Rocco says. “I want it known you wanted to save her.”
Melanie stands. “I can take care of that.”
He nods towards the office, and Melanie disappears. At least there’s a plan. It wasn’t just running in, guns blazing. Lex always has a plan.
“I just need a few more minutes with her,” he says, his voice low as he looks up at Venom. He doesn’t even care how weak he sounds pleading with the scary man. “Please, I just… I need a few more minutes.”
No, what I need is a fucking time machine to fix everything I did wrong.
“I’ll go get the truck,” Venom says, his voice soft, and he squeezes Lex’s shoulder as he walks by.
The blood soaks through Rocco’s clothes, but he doesn’t care. Nothing matters right now.
Sniffling, Lex runs her shaking hand over Autumn’s hair one more time. “We’ll give you some time alone.”
“No, stay,” he says and reaches out for her. “Please, I…”
“Okay,” she says.
He looks up at Lex, and the dam breaks. “You tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.”
“I wish this wasn’t how it had to happen, Rocco. I really, really do.”
“I know, Lex,” he says. “I know.”
Rocking her, he sobs into her hair. He doesn’t even remember what they talked about tonight. Everything before finding out she talked to Julian faded away, and he tries to get it all back. The simple moments he’ll never have again with his girl.
Colt stands against the wall, waiting and willing to help however he’s needed. And when Melanie walks into the room, she keeps her distance. It’s no secret she and Autumn never really liked each other.
“Letter’s written, and I think I did a pretty good job copying her handwriting. I used the gloves in there, so only her prints should be on there, if there are any at all.”
“We need a marker of some sort,” Lex says. “For us.”
Rocco nods and licks the tears on his lips. “In the garden. She loved her roses.”
“A stone with a dragonfly etched on it. She loves—loved—dragonflies.”
“That’s perfect,” he whispers.
Staring down at his girl, he memorizes her face. Studies every feature, every blemish, every freckle. It’s the last time he’ll ever see her, and he wants to remember it all. Not just the bad that came about tonight, but the good, too. Because even though it seems like it right now, he knows it wasn’t all bad.
“Venom’s back,” Colt says.
It feels like it’s only been seconds, but he knows it’s time. “Goodbye, baby,” he says and lays her on the white carpet he’ll have to tear up. “I love you.”
Lex bends down and whispers something in Autumn’s hair before kissing her forehead. When she climbs to her feet, Rocco pulls her to him, hugging her tightly.
It’s the first hug he’s given Lex. He doesn’t remember ever embracing her when she returned from Arizona. Never in high school. Possibly in grade school, but probably not.
She’s the only one who understands his pain. The loss. The betrayal and the guilt.
