Page 95 of Free to Run
“Ms. Freeman, you need to roll up your window. We can’t have you caught on any cameras,” the courier, Greg, says.
“Thank you, Greg. For everything.” I watch the trees pass as we drive a few minutes down the road.
Pulling into the private rental agency, Greg makes quick work of picking up my keys and transferring my bags. He checks to make certain I’m comfortable with my navigation system and the temporary phone I was given by Jared earlier, and have all of my papers.
I’m finally in the car, ready to head to my house to get my final items from the safe and leave a message for Keene when Greg’s face fills the window. “How much time do you need at your home?”
“Twenty minutes, tops,” I answer immediately. I know what I want to say and how I’m going to say it.
“You’d best be on your way, then. I have letters to deliver.” He raps the roof of my car, and I pull out of the small private rental lot that Jared paid an obscene amount of money for, for me to not have to register the car under my own name, allowing me more time to run.
* * *
I’ve retrievedwhat I needed from my safe. The pregnancy test is tucked safely in my purse, and the sonogram pictures have been removed from the unwrapped frame.
I wrote my message to Keene in bright red lipstick on the mirror over my vanity. I figured it was appropriate. It matched the color he was wearing after he kissed that—woman. I then took out a velvet necklace holder from my closet and placed it on the vanity after plugging the drains.
Carefully taking off Laura Marshall’s necklace, I drape it on the holder. Staring at the glinting diamond with my hand on my lower abdomen, I whisper, “I’ll teach this little one that the price one pays for love includes respect, Mrs. Marshall. I learned that from my mother too.”
Turning away, I walk back into my room and pick up the mostly framed collage of pictures Holly had put together of Keene and I. Moving back into the bathroom, I put it into the bathtub. Using another frame from my room, I raise my hands over my head and land the first hit right on top of his lying, cheating face.
Repeatedly.
Fortunately, the glass is tempered, so I’m not concerned with flying shards landing all over me. The dent over Keene’s face is immensely satisfying though.
My chest heaving, I drop the extra frame in the tub and survey the damage. There’s no way to look at this frame and not understand the full ramifications of how I feel about Keene Marshall.
Now, it’s time for me to go.
I stand and quickly strip my clothes, dropping them carelessly on the floor of my bathroom. I never want to see them again. Walking naked into my closet, I grab a pair of extra running clothes from my still-overflowing wardrobe that Corinna didn’t pack.
I’m out the door and on the road twenty-one minutes after I entered my house, heading south. Heading back to where it all started.
Fortunately, the traffic gods are on my side, and I don’t hit any major hiccups until just south of Delaware. I’m a little over three hours into my six-hour drive for the night. My goal is to hit Richmond tonight, Charleston tomorrow.
My body aching, I decide to stop and stretch at the Chesapeake House rest stop when my new phone rings.
Jared.
I still answer cautiously. “Hello?”
“Are you out of the vicinity, Ali?” He sounds tired. I hate that I left him to deal with the family, but there was no other choice.
“Do you want a specific location or general hours?” I know Jared’s now my attorney and business partner, but family loyalty has got to be pulling him in two.
“Hours,” he says immediately.
“I’m three and a half hours out, Jared. Why?”
“Because apparently, Greg held the letters an extra hour,” he says tiredly. “When he handed them over, Keene, Caleb, and Jason had just made it to Amaryllis. If the screaming I heard through my phone is anything to go by, the family is in an uproar.”
“That’s nothing new.” I only speak the truth.
“Fair enough, Ali, but apparently, whatever you did at your house sent Keene into such shock, he called Caleb over. Do I want to know?”
I think about it. How much of what I scrawled across the mirror does Jared need to know? “Let’s just say, I left him a message asking if she was worth it. If he wants you to know more, he can tell you.” My voice is hard.
“Right,” he mutters. “Now I know why you sent Corinna there first.”
