Page 48 of Don't Hate Me
“They can’t prove I did something I know I didn’t do. We just need to work through this. Do you get me? We can do this, but I need you to be strong.”
“Let’s go,” one of the agents said, as he pulled Marc away.
Strong? My knees were threatening to crumble. Still, I managed to follow them through the airport, out to where they had a car waiting to take him away. As they walked him through the airport, they read him his rights, explained he would be taken to the New Jersey field office for processing, before being transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, as the charges were being filed from the Southern District of New York.
“I’ll find you there,” I told him, as they pushed on his head to force him into the back seat of the car. “I’ll bring bail money.”
The car door shut, and I could do nothing but stare as the agents drove away with my husband.
“Ashleigh.”
I heard my name, but it sounded muffled. Like everything I was hearing was coming at me through some kind of a fog. My head felt thick. My body felt weighted. They’d taken Marc. They’d arrested Marc. Because of me. Because of what I asked him to do. For the second time, he’d been arrested because of something related to me.
Twenty million dollars. Not two thousand.
“Ashleigh!”
I turned then, and saw Arthur coming toward me through the crowds of people navigating the sidewalk. His face was flushed, bloated. Like he’d been on a drinking bender for days.
He stopped before me and I could see the rage in his eyes, but it wasn’t like he could hit me in public.
“Let’s go. George is bringing the car around.”
George. Oh, God. I was going to have to tell George what I’d done. What I’d gotten Marc to do for me. George would never forgive me. Never. Not for putting Marc in this kind of trouble.
I shook my head. I would face George, but not today. Today I just had to get away. Find some place to hole up. Figure out how to get the money for Marc’s bail.
But Arthur was quicker, and had his hand wrapped around my arm.
“Let me go, or I will make a scene,” I warned him.
“Make a scene and I will make sure Marc Campbell spends the rest of his life in federal prison. Doubt me?”
I did. Crimes weren’t something you could just create without evidence. As powerful as Arthur and Evan might think they were, they weren’t more powerful than a government agency. Still, I didn’t know enough about the situation to act rashly. I needed to keep my head, and focus.
Marc and I were married. Nothing could change that. All we needed to do was figure out what Arthur had done, and find proof of the setup. Marc couldn’t do that from his position.
I could from mine.
“Okay. Fine. You win,” I said.
“What made you think I wouldn’t?” he asked me. “You’re my daughter. My property. You seem to forget that.”
I had no answer. George pulled the car up, and Arthur and I got inside.
“Your nephew has been arrested, George. I hate to be blunt about it, but he stole from me. Given the amount, I was left with no choice but to alert the Feds.”
“He’s lying, George. He’s a liar.”
“Shut your mouth,” Arthur hissed. “You will be respectful.”
I had nothing left to say, and George said nothing, either. He simply drove us away from the airport, to the estate. I wanted to follow George to the carriage house, to tell him everything. Only I knew it was impossible. We shared a look in the rearview mirror. I hope it conveyed that I would do everything I could do, to undo what Arthur had done.
Then, reluctantly, I walked inside my grand home, the mansion I’d left only days ago with such a feeling of hope.
Now, there was only fear.
I did this. I did this to Marc by thinking he could save me from this future, that, apparently, had always been my fate.
