Allen didn’t see she still had the gun.
Aubrey shot him in the side, smoothly this time, ready for the kick. He jerked, twisted, screamed in pain. He let go of her hair, and she fired again, catching him in the neck.
Allen fell to the sand, blood leaking out onto the sugar-fine grains, staining them crimson.
She wanted to pull the trigger again and again, but she held her finger still and watched him struggle, spitting and groaning, his words coming out in a mumbling curse. He was the reason her world had fallen apart, and she was the one who’d taken him out of it.
She smiled at him, imitating his rictus grin. His eyes widened. He slumped down into the sand. He struggled for a moment, then went still.
She stared at his chest, waiting to see it rise. It didn’t, and something inside her, the old Aubrey, the terrible girl she used to be, tainted and spoiled and bad, cheered.
Then Josh was at her side, taking the gun gently from her hand.
“Let’s go,” he said calmly. “We need to get out of here.”
Allen’s warm blood was spreading through the sand. It reached her toes and she could only think, I’ve just killed a man. Why don’t I feel anything? I should feel something.
Josh wrapped his arms around her shaking body. “It’s going to be okay, baby. I promise. It will all be okay. We’re safe now.”
“He’s got someone else with him.”
Josh shook his head. “He was lying. He’s alone. There’s no one here but us. And that’s how it’s going to be from now on. Us.”
CHAPTER 68
Aubrey shouldn’t have been surprised by the glossy speedboat anchored by the house’s dock, but she was. Continually surprised. Her husband was a thief. A common criminal. A -murderer. A liar. He had changed. There was nothing good about him anymore.
A quote floated to her mind.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
God, wasn’t that the truth.
Josh helped Aubrey into a life jacket. “Never gonna take a chance with you again,” he said with a smile. “Okay?”
She nodded. She was anything but okay.
“Where are we going?”
He whispered in her ear, “Home, at least for a little bit. We need to get the insurance payout, and Winston. Then we can disappear. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. I won’t let anyone find out you killed Allen.”
His assurances felt like threats.
“We killed Allen together.”
“Yes, we did. Of course we did.” He leaned down and kissed her, went to the wheel and started the engine. The boat roared to life with a throaty growl, and he maneuvered it out of its slip.
“It’s all over,” he said. “No one’s chasing me anymore. We can live our lives, now.”
“But your house . . .”
The house was fully engulfed in flames. Josh looked back at it once, and shrugged. “We’ll build another one. Somewhere safe. Anywhere in the world. You get to choose.”
Aubrey sat back against the seat, let her eyes close. They crashed through the waves, then hit the open sea, toward the mainland, where Josh let the motor roar. Spray hit her face.
“Why?” Aubrey finally asked. “Why did you lie to me? Why didn’t you come back?”
Josh shook his head. “Oh, baby. I didn’t have a choice.”
? ? ?
It took a day to get back to Nashville. They docked the boat in Nags Head; Josh had a friend who had medical supplies, so they fixed up Aubrey’s leg. Another friend of Josh’s flew them back to Tennessee the next evening, the same man who’d piloted the plane down earlier.
Aubrey was amazed, and a little impressed—Josh had certainly cultivated a crop of people who could help him slip past the authorities when necessary. But the anger simmered, just below the surface, ready to strike. He’d had time to build himself a network of friends, but hadn’t bothered to let her know he was alive.
They landed at a small, private airstrip in Manchester, Tennessee, an hour south of Nashville. A car was waiting for them. Josh drove them north toward the city, seemingly ignoring the fact that Aubrey wasn’t partaking in his manic chatter. He had plans. Plans that would let them live happily ever after.
On the run. With all the lies hovering like ghosts between them.
“There it is,” Josh said as Nashville’s skyline appeared in front of them. It was just getting dark, and the lights of the city looked like circling fireflies. “Our town.”
“I need to eat,” she said, realizing she was getting dizzy. The pain in her leg was dull and throbbing.
Josh’s expansive mood continued. “The world’s your oyster. What are you interested in? Steak? Mexican? Italian? We could try Valentino’s. Remember we always wanted to go there but couldn’t afford it? We can afford it now, baby.”