Page 109 of Last Chance Love

“There is one in the building. So until someone comes to pick you up, this is where you’ll be. Would you like us to notify your family?”

I laughed, the bitter sound echoing off the walls. “I’m sure they’ll have another reason to be disappointed in me. That’s if they even give you a reaction in the first place. No, the only person I want notified of anything is Leon.”

“I’ll talk to him,” she said, her eyes sweeping over me. The softness in her voice made me look at her a little more closely, and I would swear there was a flicker of regret before it was replaced with her flinty stare.

“Now, do I get to know why I’m being thrown behind bars again?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Smuggling,” she said simply, and I stared at her.

“Smuggling…what?” I blinked.

“Narcotics, out of our clinic. To people here and in the neighboring areas who are willing to pay for it,” she said, cocking her head. “If you’d like to tell us where you’ve been storing the money, we might consider putting in a word with the parole board so you don’t have to serve the full sentence on top of the one you will probably be charged with because of the smuggling and narcotics sales.”

I stared at her. “I’m sorry…say again?”

“And for that matter, if you hand over the names of the individuals you were selling to, we might even consider bumping you down to Tier Three again to start over onourform of parole. You’ll never be allowed around the clinic again and have to agree never to have your medical license again.”

I could only stare at her in abject shock. “I…what?”

“I don’t need an answer right away,” she said with a shrug. “But when I tell you your transportation has been officially arranged, that’s the last moment you have to take me up on my offer. Now, I have an investigation to tidy up and your boyfriend to deal with. So make yourself comfortable.”

Mona gave me a last look before turning and marching out of the room, bathing the interior with sunlight as she opened the door. Mr. Isaiah lingered behind momentarily, his head still down and his hands in his pockets.

“Real sorry to see you in this state,” he said with a small, sad smile. “Always liked you, Reed.”

“Mr. Isaiah,” I began. “I don’t know what this is even about.”

He sighed heavily. “I wish that were true. And if it is, then God forgive Mona and me. But if it’s not, I reckon you should take her up on her offer. Took me a good minute to convince her to offer it. I still think you’re a good man under all this mess, Reed. And I’d hate to see you go just because of greed and some stupidity.”

The sheer regret and earnestness of his voice left me speechless, killing my protest in my throat as I stared at him. The seconds ticked by before he gave a slight shrug and turned to leave the room, closing the door behind him and leaving me in the gloom.

I had no idea what was going on, Mona hadn’t explained beyond the charges. Then again, she didn’t have to present the evidence for my supposed crimes. I was technically a ward of the state, essentially ‘loaned’ to the ranch for the program. They could do anything with me, and I didn’t have the same rights I did the first time I’d been accused of a crime. Only when I was dragged to court to face the accusations would I hear the evidence, but for being booted out of the program, Mona and Mr. Isaiah were judges, jury, and executioners, and now my head was officially on the block to roll.

I sat on the cot in the corner, finally letting all the bottled-up emotions in me grow, no longer needing to tamp them down in the face of an audience. I had known something was odd about those discrepancies with the inventory, but I had never suspected it had anything to do with narcotics. Just how much had disappeared? And who was pointing fingers at me?

Those were questions I would probably not get answers to until I was dragged into court. If the proof were concrete enough, then it wouldn’t matter what I said or did. I was going to end up with even more time on my sentence, and I wondered how old I would be before I was released.

I had been unsure about my future, and now I suppose that had been a good thing. I had accepted my punishment because of my failure that had cost two innocent lives, and then, I accepted the ranch’s offer as a chance to redeem myself and perhaps forgive myself. None of that seemed to matter as I sat in the narrow cell, staring up at the small window covered in two layers of mesh, the inner one thin to block out any debris and the outer one thick and sturdy to keep me in.

And yet, as I sat there in the dim light by myself, my biggest regret was that I had just walked away from Leon. I probably wouldn’t lay eyes on him for years, and I had just…walked away. I hadn’t allowed myself to have a moment of weakness. Too focused on trying to remain steady, fully aware that several sets of eyes and ears were locked on us.

Now, he was out of my reach and I was going to be left alone to the whims of fate.

LEON

“This isbullshit,” I snapped, slamming my hands down on the edge of Mona’s desk and leaning in toward her. It was a good thing I wasn’t trying to intimidate her because the woman barely blinked even though I towered over her, was alone in the room with her, and she didn’t seem to have her weapon.

Not that I was close to being mad enough to try to hurt her, but a flinch might have made me feel better.

Instead, she added insult to injury and leaned back in her seat, looking unbothered. “Leon, I understand you’re frustrated.”

“Oh, you haven’t begun to understand my frustration,” I snarled at her. “It’s been two days since you dragged Reed away, and in full view and hearing of a third of the fucking guys here, Mona. Two days since you told me you were going to talk to me, and all I got was you telling me he had been breaking the law and the rules here and he was going back to prison. That’s it.”

“Which, as far as anyone is concerned, is all you need to know, and even that was beyond the expectation of someone in my position,” she said coolly. “The last I checked, you may be a Tier One and a treasured Mentor, but you’re still a program member. Which means I am not required or expected to explain my decisions to you, not when it doesn’t concern you.”

“Doesn’t…this doesn’t concern me? Really?”

“You might consider your boyfriend your concern, but he is not as far as this ranch is concerned. He isourconcern, and we are dealing with the matter. Honestly, you should consider yourself lucky.”

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