I hadn’t expected much, though slightly more than that from Madison. But at the end of the day, this was about turning your back on the easy money. And that was just as hard as one would imagine.

“What about you?” Ashley asked her sister.

Kyla’s tears hadn’t subsided since earlier and she hadn’t even taken the time to wipe the old ones away. She looked devastates, as if the reality of her grudge had just shown her what it was capable of and it was too much.

“I don’t have anything else,” she said with a shrug, “I don’t know what else to do.”

“You have your mother.”

“So I just go home?”

“You go home. You figure out what you want to do and you thank God that you have that option.”

“Spencer, I know you hate me…” Kyla said, finally making eye contact.

“I don’t hate you. You’re partly to blame, yeah. But I don’t hate you. I know you didn’t think it would go that far. And now I have to live with it because it did go that far. But so do you. Maybe that’s punishment enough.”

“He won’t get anything else out of me, I promise. And Ash, I guess I’ll see you?”

“You’ll see me,” Ashley said with a quick nod, “Spencer, you ready?”

It was finally time to say goodbye. To the house. To the job and the girls and the past. It was time to move on. And I was absolutely ready.

“Let’s go.”

Ashley and I drove in a necessary and comfortable silence to the hotel. The lights of the city shone in on her face and she seemed so peaceful it was hard to recognize her. I knew that she knew there was still a lot left to deal with.

Kyla.

Aiden.

Maggie.

But tonight there was only us and the naïve electricity of finally moving forward. There was the intimate camaraderie of doing it together. I felt invincible. I had been hurt by Aiden. I had even been hurt by myself, but I was still here. There was still time.

We checked into the hotel under some stranger’s name. It surprised me to hear Ashley say it when asked, but it made perfect sense. We were still in escape-mode. Dennison House runaways.

“Lorna Smith, huh? I laughed as we collapsed on the king-sized hotel bed, “that’s very subtle.”

“What? It was the first name that came to my head.”

“Lorna Smith is the first name that comes to your head?!”

“Shut up. There’s nothing wrong with that name,” she said with a grin.

“Whatever you say.”

“Are you ok, Spence?” she asked, lying on her side so she could see my face directly.

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m just glad to be here with you. And I’m glad to know the truth…even though I’m still not sure what you plan on doing to silence Aiden.”

“Well, I can give you a hint if you want.”

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded.

“Ok, then let’s hear it.”

“Aiden’s money is tied up in stocks. At least, the money he makes from being a broker. But it’s up and down. It’s a risky career.”

“He has the Dennison House, though. Lots of money there.”

“True, but he needed money to start that too. The house and everything. So where does he get it from?”

I shrug, “He sells Avon?”

She laughs, “No, his wife. She’s fucking loaded. Her parents own some kind of business in Connecticut.”

“Does she know where the money goes?”

“Of course not. But if she did…”

“I see.”

“He’s been telling her it’s for little side projects and he always replaces it, but still…if your husband is doing something mysterious with your money that he never quite explains, you get suspicious.”

“That’s a big hint.”

“Yeah, well…I didn’t want you to worry about me slipping arsenic in his food or anything. Like I said, all we need is leverage.”

“I hope so.”

“We’ll be fine.”

My phone rang from inside my purse and I jumped up to look at the caller ID.

“It’s Glen,” I say aloud.

What could he possibly want now?

“You should answer it,” Ashley said, sitting up, “it could be about Maggie.”

So I press the green button, “Hello?”

“I need to talk to you, Spence. It’s about Ashley.”