Page 59 of No Longer Safe

She gasped into the phone and then lowered her voice. “Good for you, honey! You were always too good for him. I take it you’re moving out of town?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good for you! You were always too good for this town too. Thank you for the generous donation. I’ll keep you in my prayers for whatever comes next on your journey.”

“Thank you!”

Maybe Mrs. Mareen wasn’t a part of thebook clubafter all.

Carina’s momwas working a double. I had to hunt her down at the diner. She would hardly look at me. I switched tables six times before she finally came over to take my order, which I didn’t even want. It looked like my chances of spending the night at her house were slim.

I slapped my menu down on the table. Mrs. Phipps stared down at me with tired eyes, her pen poised and ready to write my order. “You missed Carina trying on wedding dresses.” Her eyes grew glassy as she blinked rapidly.

“I can’t do it,” she whispered.

I pointed to the seat across from me. “Why don't you sit for a second and if they have anything to say about it, you can quit like I did and go live with your daughter. Live out the rest of yourdays in luxury. You’ve worked hard enough to take the load off, Mrs. Phipps.”

“They got to you too, didn't they? You sold your soul that easily?”

I sighed. “No, Brian got to me when he put his hands on me and marked me up really bad. I have pictures if you’d like to see them.”

Her blue eyes grew wide and she sat down across from me. Her pen and notebook now forgotten. “What do you mean?”

“Those people are definitely into some illegal business, but they care about Carina and they care about me. How many people would have turned a blind eye to Brian doing that to me here? Almost all of them. Ace’s family didn’t even see what happened and they sent him packing with so many death threats I know it scared him badly.”

Her shoulders slumped and she wiped her hands on her bright yellow uniform. It was so ugly. “I don’t know how to let go.”

I hitched my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of my car. “I packed up everything and I’m ready to go. I’m not looking back. There is nothing left for us here. Your husband is gone and left you with nothing. Your daughter just wants you to be cared for and live the life you always deserved. Putyourselffirst. Put Carina first. If you don’t, you’ll be alone and I know you don’t want that.”

A tear slid down her cheek and she nodded. “I don’t think I’m that brave.”

“Think about it, okay?”

“Can I see pictures from the wedding dress shopping trip?”

I smiled as I slid her my phone.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Alexei

My jeans were coatedin blood and gore but I needed to send a message. I was sick and tired of people coming onto my turf, my family’s turf, and thinking it was okay. I was tired of being taken advantage of. I could only be so nice and accommodating.

Roofies. Inmyestablishment. Meant for one of my girls.

I was absolutely seething. I could hardly see straight.

Dimitri lurked in the shadows like he usually did. He was always finding ways to lurk and come to these things with me, even though they didn’t have anything to do with him. But backup was nice, considering I couldn’t count on any of my other brothers to get their hands dirty like this.

Ace liked his guns. He said it was easy to send a message with little bloodshed and minimal mess on his actual hands.

Dimitri was up for anything, especially if it involved someone disrespecting women. That was the one thing that stuck with all of us that our mother taught until she was blue in the face. It didn’t matter what a woman did to you, you didn’t raise a hand to her, and you never raised your voice. I was sure my father had done both to my mother but there was no proof besides how much she pushed those principles onto us.

“Who else?” I pivoted on my foot and watched the man sway in his chair. His face was bloody and already beginning to change colors. He wasn’t going anywhere though, he was duct taped down.

Through his swollen lips, he muttered, “T-there’s no one else.”

“Bullshit!” I roared. I was getting extremely tired of this dance.

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