Page 71 of Operation Annulment
I wrap my arms around my body and rockon the floor.
I need a lawyer.
But right now, I need my sister.
“Is that everything?” Zane asks from the doorway, and I nod before breaking down again.
Dakota, Zane, and Little Ricky arrived to help me pack up within minutes. Not that there was much of mine to take.
Little Ricky pulls me into a hug. “I just don’t get it, Hail Mary. It seemed like things were going so well.”
“I’m gonna cut his balls off and then force them down his throat,” Dakota states to no one in particular.
Zane clears his throat. “Babe? Violence?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Big Guy. I meant to say that I’m going to cut his balls off and then bury them. Better?”
My eyes are almost swollen shut, and I haven’t been able to breathe out of my nose for hours now, but I manage to smile a little at her threats. “I just don’t know what happened between the time she left my office and her ending up in the hospital. Zane, have you heard anything?”
He rechecks his phone. “I reached out to Detective Sullivan. He said he’d let me know once he had more information. Now, we wait.”
Little Ricky releases me long enough to start bagging the food on the table.
“What are you doing?”
He looks up. “What? We can’t leave all this here to go to waste. We’ll take it back to Caparina’s and have ourselves a proper feast.”
Once the food is packed, he offers to drive my car back to Dakota’s, and we ride in silence for a few minutes. “Hail Mary, I’m gonna need you to start at the beginning.”
I shake my head. “I can’t talk about it right now.”
He nods. “Well, I could sing then. I can’t stand the quiet—it’s nogood for my brain.” He flips through the stations, finally settling on a song he likes. “No me queda mas…”
I grimace. “You’re right. Let’s talk.”
He shuts off the music with a pleased smirk. “Awesome,dígameque pasó.”
I sigh and tell him everything, including my sessions with Jess. I’m probably going to jail already—what’s a HIPAA violation going to matter at this point?
Little Ricky pulls the car over on a side street near Dakota’s house. “Ay de mí. Carla Snyder? Let me guess; she delivered a stillborn in prison and named her Nora.”
I pause and stare at him in shock. “How could you know that?”
He slams a fist into the steering wheel. “La putawas playing you this entire time. Carla Snyder is the main character inThe World Will Still Go On.”
In light of the situation, I start giggling uncontrollably. “And how would you know this, Little Ricky?”
He shrugs. “I’m home a lot during the day. I like the drama. Plus,CarJackis my couple.” His phone rings. “Yeah? Okay, ten four.” He shifts my Tahoe back into drive.
“Who was that?”
He glances over at me before pulling back onto the street. “That was Zane. Mikey’s at the house, waiting.”
“Who’s Mikey?”
He laughs. “Sorry, Hail Mary. I forget sometimes. Detective Sullivan is waiting on us.”
I swallow the bile that rises in my throat. “Is he—am I going to be arrested?”
