Page 82 of The Amendment

“I love you. Please, baby, please…” She lowered the syringe into my neck as I fought back, jerking and pulling at the ropes that bound my hands.

“You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded. “I’ll give you a divorce if that’s what you want. I’ll go away and you’ll never hear from me again. Just say the word and I’m gone. You can have everything—the house, the kids, whatever you—”

“Better a widow, with two and a half kids and a dog, than divorced.” She smiled at a joke I didn’t quite understand.

The room had begun to spin, my head feeling heavy. The injection site stung as she drew the needle out of my skin. “You…called…me the monster, but…you’re a monster…too.”

My vision grew fuzzy as I felt her lips on mine for what I knew would be the last time. Cool tears dripped from her cheeks to mine. She patted my face, sniffling.

“Maybe I am. Maybe we both are. But you, Peter, you created this monster. And now I have to be brave enough to kill it.” She released my cheek, letting my face fall forward.

Try as I might, I couldn’t summon the strength to lift it back up.

It was then I recognized the smell in the room.

The blood.

I scanned the portion of the room I could see and saw the pool of crimson under Joanna’s chair.

She was already gone.

I’d been robbed of the chance to end her life. Maybe that stung worst of all.

I closed my eyes, beginning to feel weak. Was I going to die from the sedative, starvation, or the fire? She hadn’t been clear.

I smiled to myself despite the fear. I had to hand it to her. If there was a way to go, I guessed this was it.

At the hands of the woman I’d made a wife, mother, and killer.

Full circle.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

AINSLEY

SIX DAYS LATER

“You need sunscreen,” I shouted across the beach at the boys as they ignored me, continuing to splash in the ocean water without a care in the world.

Maisy looked over at me from where she lay on a towel, book in her hand. “Ooh, Mom, look! The chocolate-covered banana stand just opened. Want to get one?” She pointed down the beach with glee, and I shielded my eyes from the sun, trying to see what she was talking about.

Spying it, I grinned at her. Normally, I might’ve said no. That she might spoil her dinner. Or I might’ve turned one down for myself. Now though, nothing could bring me down.

“Race ya,” I teased, sticking out my tongue as I scrambled to my feet. We darted across the blazing hot sand as fast as our legs would carry us. When we reached thestand, both panting and exhausted, we were laughing too hard to catch our breath enough to order.

I held up two fingers to the teen behind the counter and passed over a ten-dollar bill.

“You win,” I said, when I’d finally caught my breath, though it had been close to a tie.

“Legs of a dancer,” she teased.

He handed us our snacks and we made our way back to the spot we’d claimed earlier that day.

As we walked, Maisy grinned at me.

I bumped her hip with mine. “You look happy.”

“I am,” she confirmed.

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