Page 91 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

The only explanation I could come up with on my own was the identities were stolen over the weekend I was away, sold and used immediately—as her description didn’t match anyone the bank manager or custom agents had seen.

All this time, I was having a hard time trying to accept that I had either killed her, she took her own life, had an accident, or one of the crew had gotten away with murder.

But no matter how I looked at it, I just couldn't fathom that I would kill the poor girl. I was already guilt-ridden for what we had done to Josh, and I wasn't even the one who injected the drugs into him. Sure, Jessa wasn’t the love of my life, but I truly did care for her. Not how she deserved, but I was too bitter to love anyone like that.

If not for my siblings, I think I may have been able to grow to love her like she deserved in time. I had been honest with her about wanting to get back to how we were in the beginning. I wanted her to trust me and look at me again like she once did. We’d had some good times at the start of our relationship. But I never felt I was the guy that her parents or friends wantedher to end up with. I hated that. Not only did it make me feel like shit, it also could potentially put a snag in the plans my brother and sister had been crafting for years.

There’s a reason they call being in prison ‘doing time.’ You do anything you can to pass it, but no matter what, most of the time you are alone and lost with your own thoughts for hours, sometimes days on end. One thing I hadn’t been able to shake was the feeling I had been used by my siblings, and they had left me in here to rot.

I thought that my feelings would subside a bit after my guilty verdict last year, but it had been the opposite. It seemed that with each passing day, I was growing more and more bitter at my situation and that they were free, living on the outside.

I’d had a few jobs while on the inside. I started out in the kitchen, did some cleaning, and once all my paperwork was finally processed correctly, they had me assisting the teacher who was brought in for the GED program. Turned out, I was only one of three people in here with a university degree.

Some days, we got to go on the internet. It was highly monitored, and we weren’t allowed social media or email, but it was still nice to be able to read the news. Today, I had a meeting with the prison administration about what students were doing well, who was ready to write their GED’s, and who were likely to pass. This was all going to be put in their file and could be used in parole hearings. One I had to wait 20 years for, possibly earlier if I continued with good behavior.

I tried as best I could to fly under the radar, but it was jail, and it was inevitable to get into scuffs. Thankfully, I hadn’t been in one for a few months now.

Despite the God-awful food, I looked forward to mealtimes. I got my tray of slop and made my way to the middle of the dining hall to eat with my roommate and a few others I hung around.

‘Yo Willie,’ my roommate said. It was short for Wilson, but was a nickname I hated, especially since I was in prison and it wasn’t the best thing to be called. ‘What’s the name of the girl you offed?’

I rolled my eyes. I’d never come out and said I offed her. Even after I’d been found guilty, I always maintained my innocence, just not openly in jail; it was the one place that murder bought me some street cred.

‘My fiancée’s name was Jessa,’ I answered him, looking at the disgusting pasta that was set in front of me.

‘Yeah, that airplane guy’s daughter, right?’ he followed up excitedly.

‘So?’ I questioned, angry he was bringing her up. He was slightly bi-polar in my opinion. He had good days and bad days, and today was obviously a good one.

‘So, you ain’t seen the news yet?’ he smiled. He worked in laundry and they always had TV on with the news when they sorted and folded items. ‘You gettin’ out! That bitch is alive, been all over the news this morning.’

I dropped the fork that was midway to my mouth and looked at him. ‘What?’ I questioned him. There was no reason for him to be fucking with me, he knew better, plus it wasn’t his style.

‘They ain’t shown her yet, but the DA and one of them airplane people were on the news stating that she’s been found and an investigation was currently underway.’ He had the biggest smile on his face.

‘I hope you remember me when you get your settlement for suing their asses,’ he laughed as I got to my feet, leaving my tray where it was and walking back to the cell area to use the phone. I needed to call my lawyer, I needed to talk to the warden, I needed to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.I needed to speak to my siblings to start retaliation.

‘Inmate, back to your table,’ one of the guards bellowed at me.

‘I need to call my lawyer,’ I pleaded.

‘You can make the call after mealtime is over.’ He was uncaring, his monotone voice a clear giveaway.

‘No, I need to get out of here, the person I’m here in for killing is alive, it's all over the news.’

‘And I’m sure she will still be alive after mealtime is over, go back to your seat.’ He wasn’t even looking at me at this point, and I wanted nothing more than to punch the motherfucker, but he had a good half a foot and fifty pounds of muscle on me. All that would happen is that I would be put in solitary confinement and be delayed getting out of this hellhole.

I returned to the table and watched the clock tick away before I beelined it to the phones to call my lawyer. He wasn’t in, surprise, surprise. I left a message. With any luck, he heard the news and was on his way to help me sort this shit out.

The next thing I did was seek out one of the supervising guards.

That took some time, but eventually, I got Charles, a middle-aged guy who was clearly ex-military. ‘Wilson, I heard you had an urgent issue?’

I nodded, standing up from the table and chairs in the open areas between the cells. ‘Yeah, I need to speak with the warden,’ I said seriously, but he laughed at me instead.

‘Good luck with that, kid.’

‘No, the girl I’m in here for murdering is alive, it’s all over the news.’

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