Page 181 of What's Left of Us

Swallowing, I look over my shoulder at him, wondering what he means.

All he says is, “Volley had to go. He knew too much, thanks to your father. You’re very lucky that he was a bad shot.”

I pale.

Lincoln.

“Good luck,” he offers me.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Lincoln / Present

Beaugard plays thetape for a second time as I stare at the grainy screen and the two women in the frame.

“…was ugly and beautiful all at once. And I may not get it back, but at least I know he’ll be okay one day.”

My former boss pauses the video. “Thought you might want to see that for yourself.”

Sweat dots my palms as I stare at the girl holding on to the elderly woman. The witness Powell had mentioned working with them on the Del Rossi case is a former employee of Nikolas.

Georgia’s housekeeper.

Her only friend as a child.

“All love is ugly.”

“So my question is,” Beauregard says, “what are you going to do about it?”

I look at him, finally blinking and coming to terms with the fact that Georgia and I both fucked up.

She wanted me to hate her.

She let me defile her.

Use her.

She did exactly what she sought out to.

Beauregard pats my shoulder. “You two have your whole lives ahead of you. Now more than ever. It’d be a damn shame to let that kind of love slip by you.”

All I can do is shake my head as I stare at the women on the screen. “Did you know that she was working with that jackass?”

Beaugard has the decency to act like he feels bad. “At first, no. But as he divulged the details of the case he was putting together, I realized how involved she was in this. Conklin did a lot of the footwork that filled in the gaps, but Georgia went out of her way to record conversations with her father that might as well have been the lock on his cell.”

Georgia was the inside source Powell had mentioned to me. “All those times she went to her father’s house…” My Adam’s apple bobs with the realization.

Beaugard clasps my good shoulder. “I don’t know what is in store for you and Georgia. But I do know that her decision to help the FBI couldn’t have been easy. She made a choice when she sent those audios in.”

She choseme.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and listen to him open and close the door behind him.

When it’s just me, I rewind the tape.

“I did itbecauseI love him…”

Hearing the words she never said aloud is like a blade to the heart.

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