Page 176 of A Dirty Business
“That’s great. I’m not surprised.”
The gallery owner saw my paintings while I’d been moving them out of the studio the day I was moving into my mom’s house. She’d asked, then and there, for a few, and I’d been in such a mess that I’d forgotten about the whole deal. I’d gotten the call when I was leaving Bear’s funeral.
I hadn’t even told Val.
“I think I’m going to go to my mom’s and do some more painting. I’m feeling the need.”
“Sounds good. You want to sleep there or at my place tonight?”
My mom seemed like a new person. Maybe it was the therapy, or maybe it was because we knew everything: about my dad’s death; about Isaac, whose lawyer thought we should try at getting him an appeal considering Leo’s confession. We didn’t have it on tape, but since everything else was treated as evidence, his confession about my father’s murder should be treated the same.
It was a long shot, but it was a shot. Either way, my mom had a new purpose in her life.
“I’ll probably paint late tonight.”
“Your house it is tonight.”
I smiled, warming. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Love you.”
I smiled, my voice cracking because I felt this down into my core. “I love you too.”
EPILOGUE
TRACE
A month later
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
I was on the phone with Ashton, and I was looking down at the ring in my hand. “Yes.”
“Okay. Things have been quiet, but it’s time to hit back. They won’t be expecting it now.”
I put the ring back in the box and back into my pocket.
Ashton was talking about the payback we still had due. We’d found out that my father had organized the hits against us, whereas the Worthing family had organized the hits against Ashton’s family. We’d been waiting with payback against the Worthing family, but we couldn’t wait with my father.
Dominic West officially went missing twelve hours after Jess killed Bear. He went missing in the “very dead” sense of the word.
We had to move fast, but now we were finalizing our plans against the Worthing family.
“There’ll be fallout.”
I went to my window and looked out over the city. “There’s always fallout. They’re starting to make moves into our territory, thinking we’re not going to hit back. It’s time. They’ve come out of hiding.”
“We should meet for the final details.”
“I agree.”
There was silence after that. I knew neither of us wanted to hang up.
I missed my best friend, but our relationship was strained after I’d learned what he’d done to Jess. I knew the reasoning, knew he did it to protect me, but I hadn’t been able to forgive him for it. We were cordial, still working together, but we weren’t the same.
“How are things with—” His voice was tentative, and I knew who he was going to bring up.
I cut him off. “Let’s meet tomorrow. Before everything happens.”
