Page 29 of Hidden While In Sight

Not knowing whether she’d let him comfort her or pull away froze him just beyond the doorway. Despite feeling like part of her life, he wasn’t. Realizing that fact both cooled and heated the desperation inside him. Bile rose in his throat.

“Tell me you want him dead.”

She stiffened at his words, her face slowly lifting. He had been hoping there’d be anger shining in her eyes or even frustration.

Instead there was a bleak nothingness, as if she’d already lost all hope.

“No.” The word wasn’t soft, but it wasn’t a shout either. It was steady and sure.

Leaving that house carved out something that Diego hadn’t known was still living inside him. Now he wasn’t sure he would ever get it back.

Hannah had gathered each torn page of her Bible, smoothing them the best she could as she placed them back inside. She held the top cover open, staring at that first page for long moments before closing it and placing it neatly on the bookshelf.

She didn’t leave the room to shower Ashford’s cum away. Diego watched her curl up on the couch instead, covering herself with the blanket along the back just as he had done after he’d carried her inside the other night.

Maybe she slept, but Diego didn’t. He watched her all night.

When Ashford backed out of the driveway, he considered following the fucker’s car. Car accidents happened all the time. The possibility that Hannah would link it to him kept him rooted to his seat.

She’d been clear in making her wishes known. He was afraid of her hate if he ignored them.

Hannah woke before the kids and folded the blanket before making her way to the room she shared with her husband to shower.

Diego made himself go through the footage to erase proof of him being there. He saved the documented marital rape, both to torture himself with and for the evidence. Not that anyone else would care. His surveillance couldn’t be used legally, and the client wouldn’t give a fuck. It wasn’t the blackmail footage they were looking for.

He carefully typed out the version of the Bible she owned, took a picture of it as well, and sent the request to Ramiro that a copy be delivered.

The phone call in return was immediate.

Diego took the call but was unable to force out a greeting.

“What the fuck is this? Did you find Jesus, Diego? Ready to repent?”

He watched Hannah, who was cleaning up Ashford’s destroyed office. “It’s a gift.”

“Hell,” Ramiro muttered. “You fell for a Bible thumper? That’s a new low, even for you.”

“Fuck off,” Diego said, mostly because it was expected. There was no heat to the words.

Ramiro went quiet, not even that hum of his coming through the receiver.

Hannah moved to the desk, placing what hadn’t broken on top of it and then pausing, staring down at its surface.

All Diego could hear was the sound of her children playing from the unmuted microphone.

Then there was Ramiro’s voice. “I expected a different text from you today. There are only two days left. You realize that, right?”

“I can’t.” Diego hated the decision.

“Changed your mind?” Ramiro sounded surprised. “You seemed so certain.”

“She asked me not to,” he admitted.

Hannah’s face lifted, staring directly into the camera. It was as if she had heard him, though that was impossible.

“For God’s sake!” Ramiro was shouting in his ear. “Please tell me you didn’t openly talk about a felony with that woman.”

Hannah had stared into a camera before. She often did it while seated in front of her vanity, and she did it in the den, the place she went to the most out of anywhere in the house.

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