Page 80 of Wicked Scandal

I know the truth. It wasn’t suicide. Bring $20,000 cash to the power lines at ten p.m. or the entire world will know the truth.

Then, he passes me a picture. I blink a few times, praying my eyes are deceiving me as I stare at a print of me and Wilder walking out of my house after we found Troy dead. There’s a time stamp on the photo, proving we were there.

“No!” I gasp as my hand flies to my mouth. “We thought this was over but we forgot one very important detail.” I look at Wilder and as if he’s reading my mind, he finishes my train of thought.

“Someone actually did kill him, and that person is still out there.”

I wave the note in the air, panic all over my face. “It has to be this person. How would they know it wasn’t suicide? They're going to pin it on us, Wilder.”

He shakes his head, his features pinching with confusion. “I don’t get it. The death was ruled a suicide, thanks to us. They got away with it. Why do this?” Wilder points to the photo, his jaw tensing as if he wants to hit something.

It was supposed to be over…

My head feels like it’s spinning and I’m not even sure if I’m making the right decision, but I think we both know what we have to do. “We have to go there and give this person the money. If we don’t, we could be in serious trouble.”

Wilder rubs his temples before stroking his chin as if he’s deep in thought. A minute passes before he finally says, “I have a plan.”

I really do love it when he says that because he hasn’t steered us in the wrong direction yet. Wilder opens the motel room door and as soon as we get inside, he starts vomiting words on how this is going to go down.

He’s waving his arms and begins to send text messages to those we trust. My chest aches with the idea of this not being over, but more so because of the unknown.

Who hated my husband enough to kill him? Who hated him more than me?

In the end, I’m satisfied with the plan because we have no other choice. He made a good point—if we pay this person off, who’s to say they won’t come back for more? Troy has a hefty amount of savings that is now mine, but I’m going to need that money since I’m between jobs. And Wilder is only eighteen years old; he can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars to a stranger to keep them quiet.

There is just enough cash in Troy’s safe to bring to the meetup tonight, but with any luck, we won’t be handing over a dime.

This is the only way and I hope like hell it works because if it doesn’t, we’re screwed.

I hug the backpack of money to my chest. Just before coming here, Wilder went into my house and got the cash from the safe. I still couldn’t bring myself to go inside. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready.

We arrived twenty minutes early to make sure the details of our plan are in place and as far as we can tell, no one else is around.

We don’t intend to hand over any of this money, but just in case it becomes necessary and we don’t get the confession, we may have to.

Wilder takes the backpack from me and flings it over his shoulder before taking my hand in his. “You okay?”

I nod, but I’m not really okay. This is all so much and I hate that I’ve put Wilder in this position. He doesn’t deserve any of this; yet, he’s going through it with me. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, not knowing what else to say about everything.

He spins me to face him, but I duck my head. It’s a bad habit that I need to get rid of, but I can’t help it. I don’t like feeling vulnerable.

“Kitty Cat.” Wilder presses up on my chin with a finger. When my eyes meet his, I want to cry. Wilder looks at me with so much love that I don’t know if I deserve it. “Don’t apologize. We are a team, and teams figure things out together.” A soft kiss brushes my forehead and I relax a little bit.

He’s right, we are a team. I am not a disappointment to Wilder. Leaning into his touch, I let him ground me. He is everything I never knew I needed; yet, someone I now know I’ll never be able to live without.

“We’ve got a plan in place and if it comes to it, I’ll do what I have to do.”

“Which is?” I need to know what he was about to say because the look on his face tells me it wasn’t good. “What would you have to do, Wilder?”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a switchblade and I gasp. “It better not get to that. We’re not killers, Wilder.”

“It won’t,” he says, but there’s a bit of skepticism in his tone. “Everything’s gonna be fine, but you can never be too safe. We’re meeting a potential murderer in the dark, after all, and I never plan to take chances when it comes to your safety ever again.”

My heart rate excels until I can literally feel it rattling against my rib cage. “I’m scared,” I whisper under my breath.

Wilder squeezes my hand. “Don’t worry, baby. Just let me do all the talking. Soon this will all be over and we can finally start the next chapter in our lives, together.”

Suddenly, headlights come toward us down the trail, making my breath halt in my lungs. Panic sets in and I begin second-guessing everything. “M-maybe we should leave and find another way.”

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