Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
He kisses me then, a sweet yet passionate kiss, and as soon as we’re naked, I lift my leg over his hips, and he slides into me.
Such sweet completion.
And exactly what I need in this moment.
The next morning, a detective from the LAPD and an agent from the FBI come to the house to talk to me.
Katelyn sits, holding my hand, while Buck sits on my other side with his arm around me.
And I tell my story.
My memory—the one that wasn’t very reliable when I first left the island and even after I got to Manhattan—now has no holes.
I tell the whole story.
All about the albino, and all the other men who hunted me, used me, tortured me, raped me. Violated me in the most horrific of ways.
Then the detective—a woman—takes me privately into one of the bedrooms.
I disrobe, and she takes photographs of my body.
I’m not embarrassed. I’m not humiliated.
It’s freeing, in a way.
This is what it will take to get the albino put away for a long time.
For good.
As for Pollack?
Katelyn doesn’t have to have her body photographed. First of all, he didn’t put any marks on her. And secondly? We’ve already got him on two murders and an assault and battery.
But Katelyn has told her story anyway.
Buck hugs me and soothes me after the detective and the FBI agent leave.
“We’re almost there, baby,” he says, kissing the outer rim of my ear. “Almost. Soon we’ll be able to leave all of this behind us.”
I hope he’s right.
I’m almost afraid to let myself feel that he may be right.
The albino, as far as we know, is still in prison impersonating Greg Wallace.
Chris Pollack is in the county jail, awaiting his trial.
And Harrison Wallace?
He’s in the hospital, his one good hand handcuffed to his bed.
Taylor is dead.
Gloria and her husband are dead.
Nancy is in prison for six months after pleading guilty.
I’ve succeeded, for the most part.
I succeeded in getting all of my questions answered.
So why do I feel so…
What exactly do I feel?
I’m loved, cherished by a wonderful man.
A man I love in return, who I know will be with me, by my side, for the rest of our lives.
I smile against his shoulder.
Still… something else isn’t sitting right with me.
I have the most wonderful man in the world.
I have answers to my questions, and the people who sent me to that island have paid or will pay.
I have Luke and Katelyn, the best friends a girl could ask for.
I have my mother and my father, who love me.
And I have little Edgar.
I nuzzle into Buck’s shoulder.
Whatever this thing is that’s bugging me?
I will tamp it down.
Because my life is good now.
I don’t want that to change.
And ruminating on something that may not even exist?
I don’t need that.
Still… The albino’s out there.
If he wasn’t supposed to be in prison in the first place—if he only went there to take the place of Greg Wallace—he won’t stay there for long, even with the testimony I just gave to the LAPD and the FBI. He clearly has connections, which is how he got in there in the first place. He can get out…
And he can come for me.
Harrison Wallace is no consequence at the moment. He’s recovering from two gunshot wounds, and he’s handcuffed to his hospital bed.
But he has people on the outside—people who got rid of his brother and put the albino in his place.
I still haven’t gotten revenge on everyone who did me wrong.
I want them all to pay.
Especially the albino.
He needs to pay for what he’s done to me. But how? As far as the authorities know, he’s Greg Wallace. I’m still not exactly sure how all that took place.
The only one who can tell us is Harrison Wallace, and he’s recuperating from gunshot wounds.
If only…
“Buck?”
“Yeah baby?”
“How do I know? How do I know the albino will pay for what he did to me?”
“Well, you just gave a statement to the local PD and the feds.”
“But he’s in prison as Greg Wallace.”
“Baby, it’s already been started. They’re going to check the fingerprints against Greg Wallace’s. They’re on file because he was originally framed by his brother. They will easily be able to prove that the albino is not Greg Wallace.”
I heave a sigh. And tears squirm out of my eyes.
I know all this. I don’t know why I’m worried. The albino will get what’s coming to him.
As for Greg Wallace?
In his way, he was as much a victim as I am.
Victimized by his own brother—framed for actions he did not commit. But also dishonorably discharged from the Navy.
“We have to tell my dad,” I say. “He has to know that it wasn’t Greg Wallace—the SEAL he got kicked out—who hurt me. He thinks this is his fault.”
“You can call him whenever you’re ready, baby.”
I nod. “I will. When I’m thinking clearly.”