Now he was being sarcastic.
But damn again because he was also right.
He kept talking.
“And, you think maybe you can give me a chance to relax and be home, which I haven’t been, Kia, a lot longer than you, and spend some time with a buddy of mine without that shit intruding for awhile?”
Oh man.
Now I was feeling like I was a bitch and a worse one than I thought because he had valid reasons for his decisions and I hadn’t asked nice. I’d been, well… a bitch.
“Okay, honey, maybe I was out of line –” I started.
His brows went up. “Maybe?”
Now hang on a second.
As soon as I remembered, I forgot to stop being a bitch.
“Okay, Sam, I can see you had your reasons but it’s not like I asked you to tell me when you planned to take out the trash. This shit is kind of important, it affects me and you know, my Dad knows, my brother knows but the person it affects, me, does not know. I’m sorry to cut into your relaxed vibe but someone out there might be hunting me in order to kill me. It’s kinda weighing on my mind.”
Sam’s jaw flexed.
I waited.
A muscle in Sam’s cheek jumped.
I waited.
Then I was done waiting and prompted, “Well?”
“Lee and Tanner found the broker.”
I blinked.
Then I breathed, “What?”
“They tracked down the broker. They also…” he hesitated, clearly searching for a word and then found a scary one that said it all without saying anything, “persuaded him to get a message to the man to call the hit off. Easy payday. He backs off, confirms via e-mail he got the message and is a memory. He keeps his pay, the broker keeps his commission and you breathe easy. Ozzie gets f**ked in this scenario seein’ as he can’t dismantle that bit of trade but I don’t give a f**k. You’re safe and that’s all I care about.”
“I’m safe?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “We haven’t received e-mail confirmation. What we do know is that the broker has been contacted by that bitch since your dead husband died and he’s been contacted to tell him the job was still on.”
Oh my God.
“She did that?”
Sam nodded.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“Something else Tanner found out was that, in case Clementine was unable to collect your life insurance, that bitch did. Clementine named her as second beneficiary.”
God, Cooter was such slime.
“I cancelled the policy,” I told him.
“I know but wouldn’t matter if you did. Her bein’ behind your death would mean she wouldn’t collect. In fact, in one of my briefs with Oswald, he told me your insurance company came sniffing around Clementine’s death to ascertain if there was foul play that would invalidate his policy.”
My breath went out of me.
Therefore I had to force out my, “What?”
Sam shook his head. “You’re good. Murder is covered in that policy and Cloverfield was not involved in their dealings. But I don’t think she cares her actions invalidate your policy or that it’s cancelled. I think the bitch just wants you dead.”
“But…” I paused then went on, “wouldn’t it be important for Ozzie to at least have a chat with this broker so he could tell her Vanessa is still plotting to kill me?”
“Don’t need it. She purchased an extra cell to communicate with the broker. Seein’ as she’s just a bitch and not a criminal mastermind, she didn’t get a burner. But she did get it under an alias and gave her Mom’s address to send the statements. Tanner and Lee found it, tapped into it, taped conversations, transcribed them and also got copies of the statements and printouts of the texts. Oswald has all that shit and all of it is admissible mainly because Oswald is not gonna share how he procured it and is gonna say he and his boys got it. He’s gotta call in some markers to get warrants dated appropriately but luckily he’s got those markers to call. Yesterday, they arrested her again seein’ as continuing to conspire to commit murder when you’re out on bond after being arrested for conspiracy to commit murder is a violation of bond. She’ll now most likely be held without bail until her trial where it is also very likely she’ll go down and hard.”
I was stuck on an early word so I asked, “A burner?”
“A disposable phone.”
Right.
Then the rest of it penetrated.
“So this is good news,” I pointed out, my heart beating faster but the muscles in my neck getting looser.
“Yeah it is except the part where she didn’t call off the hit, we now know a man is waiting for his moment to take you out and until we get the confirmation e-mail we have to assume he still is.”
Yeah, except that part.
It was my turn to take a deep breath and I did.
Then I said softly, “This is mostly good news, Sam. I don’t understand why you waited to tell me.”
“Because the part of it that’s not good is really not good. You’re comin’ back to you. Every day, you smile more, laugh more, more of the real you comes out or you put back in place more of her. And your friends and family are visibly relieved to have you back, you, their girl. You’re not there but you’re getting there and I suspected every step you took to release the life you led with that ass**le was leading you there. I wanted you to have that. Not a reminder of just how much of an ass**le that ass**le was.”
This made sense too. And it was also nice.
However.
“Isn’t it up to me to make that decision?” I asked.
“No,” Sam answered instantly and I blinked.
“No?”
He shook his head.
“Sam –” I started but he interrupted me.
“We had this conversation. You agreed. And we’re not havin’ this conversation again.”
Now I was confused.
“We’ve had this conversation?”
“Are you my woman?”
I was still confused. How were we back to that?
“I don’t get it,” I told him.
“Kia, sweetheart, are you my woman?”
“Mostly,” I replied without thinking, encroaching into territory we needed to explore but I didn’t think it sensible to breach at this juncture.
I watched his brows snap together again and I also watched his entire body get tight.
“Mostly?” he asked quietly and very, very scarily.
Oh man.
“Yes,” I changed my answer hurriedly. “I’m your woman.”