Page 29 of Cruel Dreams

“The FBI had a very good reason. Lark and Black were arguing about something he shouldn’t have been doing, and is still doing, presumably. The FBI buried the box for Black. We’re working on exposing him.”

She collects our headsets and places them in a storage cabinet. “Then I’m glad I could help. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Could we have a copy of the transcript? We’d like to give it to Zane. He’s had a fear all this time his parents were mixed up in it. It will ease his mind to have proof of the contrary.”

“Yes, but under no circumstances can you reveal who gave it to you. I’ll lose my job, maybe more if what you say is true.” Patty steps into the hallway and ten minutes later comes back holding a manila envelope. She escorts us to the elevator banks.

“By chance, you wouldn’t know if the bodies were recovered?” Max asks, gripping the envelope like his life depends on what’s inside.

“The pilot’s body washed up a hundred miles away from the crash site. His remains were returned to his wife. We never did find Kagan’s and Lark’s bodies. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks for your time,” Max says, shaking her hand. He presses the elevator’s call button.

Patty bites her lip and turns to me. “When my secretary scheduled your appointment, I went back and watched clips of Zarah and Zane Maddox after their parents passed away. Lark and Kagan were the royalty of King’s Crossing, and their deaths caused almost as much of a stir as John F. Kennedy Jr.’s, his wife, Carolyn’s, and her sister’s. Coincidentally, victims of a plane crash as well. Death can haunt us, Miss Mayfair. I’ve seen my share in the field—I’m not always sitting behind my desk. Ihope you can help Zane heal, once and for all, when this is all laid to rest.”

I try to smile. “Life is complicated.”

“It’s not so complicated,” Patty disagrees as Max steps into the elevator. “We live, we love, we die. You’ve died and it may be tempting to stay that way, but you’ll leave your ghost behind. There are more than enough floating around. He needs you. Have a safe flight back.”

“Thank you. But that’s out of our hands, isn’t it?” I step into the elevator and lean against the wall.

The doors close, blocking out Patty’s wistful smile.

“Nosey,” Max says, a corner of his mouth lifting.

“She’s a romantic,” I say.

He laughs. “You try not to be, but so are you.”

I can’t disagree, but the only thing that’s gotten me is a broken heart.

Max changes our flight departure, and we’re at the airport by six that evening. The lines through security are longer than in King’s Crossing, and there’s no time to sight-see, barely time to eat a meal before we have to call a taxi. He’s bouncing, excited to see Zarah again, excited to dig into what we discovered. Zane will be relieved his mother is innocent. Maybe he never had doubts.

I didn’t want to doubt her either, and I’m glad I don’t have to tell him his mother was involved.

I walk through security easier this time, and confidently, I meet the eyes of the TSA agent—without my colored contacts. He smiles and dismisses me as quickly as the other agent in King’s Crossing. We don’t have to wait long at the terminal, andMax asks to trade seats with me on the plane so he can sit near the aisle.

Lark never mentioned Clayton’s email to anyone. She had faith she could turn him around and keep his activities buried. If anything, for their children’s sake.

Clayton led Kagan to believe they were good friends. It’s a lot of work, selling weapons on the black market while pretending to be a pillar of the community, and he was good at it. If Kagan sucked down the lies, then I have to stop giving Zane a hard time for doing the same thing.

After listening to the recording, every time we fly through a bit of turbulence, I flinch.

Max is oblivious, tapping notes into his phone. He’s planning a huge exposé, but our plans aren’t quite done yet.

We have the email screenshot I took at Black Enterprises when I was a prisoner there. We have my testimony I was held involuntarily. We have Nathalie’s testimony she worked as a prostitute in Ash’s escort service. We have Zarah’s medical records and her doctor’s testimony indicating she was receiving unnecessary drugs during her stay at Quiet Meadows. But all that still isn’t enough to destroy the Blacks for everything they’ve done.

Nathalie confirmed my suspicions that bad things happen to the women who aren’t useful to Ash anymore. I want to know what those bad things are. I’m sure he doesn’t reserve the punishment for only those women he can no longer sell on their backs. Women and children go missing every day, like the woman five years ago who accused Ash of rape. Vanished off the face of the earth. Left her car behind, her apartment. While I worked for Ash, I tried to find out what happened to her, but I never did.

We need to check out Ladies and Gentlemen. Whatever Ash is doing, it’s based out of that club. He’ll go down for hisprostitution business, but if he’s doing more, and I’m sure he is, then I’m going to find out. I want him to pay for all of it.

“Are you okay?” Max asks. Because of the time change, it’s nearing nine o’clock, and the pilot announced we’d begin our descent into King’s Crossing soon. Max texted Mel our new itinerary, and she said she would pick us up.

“Thinking about all we have left to do,” I say, but it’s more than that, too. I’m scared of what life will be like once I’m free. I don’t know what I want. A life with Zane? A life without him? He’ll give me the money to live wherever I want, but I’ve only ever lived in King’s Crossing. Where else would I go? Quinn wants me to go to New York, but I wouldn’t be comfortable there. I’m having trouble adjusting to the size of King’s Crossing. I couldn’t leave the hotel in DC without Max, and when I did, I clung to his arm like a scared little girl.

I’ll need therapy. I have anxiety and may need medication. Too much has happened to me, and there are times I feel like I’m trying to swallow a handful of sand. I can’t breathe, and I choke on nothing.

The plane circles over King’s Crossing and I close my eyes.

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