Page 96 of Beautifully Shattered
Smitty rolls his eyes. “You fuckers do your nuts over a chick and go soft. I swear I need to outlaw relationships.”
“What’s wrong with a week from now?” I butt in, ignoring them. “You have a hair appointment you can’t cancel? What the hell is wrong with tomorrow? Nessy and Darla are suffering all because now’s not a fucking good time?!”
My raised voice draws attention, but I don’t care. Who’s going to look out for them if he won’t?
“Angel, stop.” Ringo’s tone is firm and demanding, and the submissive in me wants to snap my lips shut and drop my eyes to the ground.
But I can’t.
Not for this.
Not when women are getting hurt.
“You trying to shut me up, husband?” I snap, whipping my glare his way, and he sighs.
“Just fucking tell her, Nate. She’s one of us now. She knows how fucked up this world is. She can handle it.”
I’m surprised Ringo used Smitty’s real name, Nate, but it’s hard to focus on that when Smitty sighs too, taking a moment to glance over his shoulder at the crowd now watching us.
“Well, Charit—” He holds his hands up in surrender when my lips part, ready to scold him for calling me Charity. “Abbey,” he corrects, deliberately enunciating the name. “In ten days, the state will go into another snap lockdown. And in twelve days, when the Rebels are relaxed, partying and thinking they are safe because the law forces even the lawless to remain locked down, that’s when we will hit.”
My mouth opens, but then closes again as I frown, mulling over his words.
Another snap lockdown in ten days? What the…
“You can’t possibly know that. Not even the Chief Medical Officer knows that yet. They have to wait for…” I trail off as Smitty shakes his head.
“Like most of the country, you believe the hogwash being fed to you through the media, which is tightly controlled by the Federal and State governments. Trust me, in ten days, on May twenty-eighth, Victoria will be thrown into a fourteen-day lockdown. And that, my love, is when we will get our Nessy and Darla back, and wipe out the entire Satan’s Rebels State chapter.”
All I can do is blink, because either this guy is completely delusional, or he’s telling the truth. And if he is, then corruption in this country goes all the way to the top.
But to what end?
“Why would the government deliberately lock us down?” I look between Smitty and Ringo. “What do they get out of it?”
“Control,” Smitty says quietly. “A way to force the majority of citizens to comply with strict regulations like vaccinationmandates, check-in apps. Now they can track everyone. Some services have stopped accepting cash. Guess who benefits from that? The banks and the government.”
“Most of the lockdowns have been sanctioned,” Ringo cuts in. “But there are whispers that some of the more recent ones weren’t. So when one of our sources tells us there’s another one coming, we prepare. Because right now, it’s more likely to happen than not.”
I shake my head, turning to my husband. “This is so far-fetched.”
“I know, Angel. But so is a cult church trying to force you into marriage.”
My brows shoot up.
He has a point.
“It’s not something to worry about now,” Smitty mutters. “But you’ll see. And when that lockdown happens, maybe then you’ll believe me.”
Sighing, I nod when all I want to do is roll my eyes at the insanity of it all.
It’s then that I realise Ringo is holding something, my eyes dropping to the case in his hand.
“What’s that?” I gesture to it, and his gaze softens.
“Well, I was hoping that I could sing a song. For you. For our girls.”
Dammit. The bloody tears hit instantly.
