Attest (Centrifuge Duet Book 2)(32)

“Well, payment will come due quicker than you expect. That’s just the way it—”

His warning is cut short when JJ comes out of the shack. Amber follows closely with Charlie asleep in her arms. “I think I’ve got everything so, I guess, it’s time to hit the road.”

“Make sure you keep an eye on the news between your flights,” Harry says. “The story is ready to run the second I get back to the city with Belinda’s dossier and it’s going to go global. My contact at the police department is primed as well. The arrests will come thick and fast once it hits the news. They’re all going away for a long time.”

Amber passes Charlie to me. She hugs Harry and kisses his cheek. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”

“It was nothing. They had to be stopped and it was up to us to do it.”

He claps me on the shoulder and ruffles JJ’s hair.

Standing together, hand-in-hand, we watch his truck head over the hill. Pure relief hits when his tail lights have disappeared from view and one thing becomes clear.

We have won.

I scoop JJ up with my spare arm and Amber steps into my embrace with her sons. I hold the three of them tight for a good minute, revelling in the boy’s innocent scent and Amber’s familiar perfume, before I let her go and finally utter the words I’ve been wanting to say since this nightmare began.

“Thank fuck, that’s over!”





EPILOGUE


Amber





Three Years Later


The pristine blue water that I can see from my kitchen window gladdens my heart, as does the sound of my three children playing in the next room. Everything is as it should be. We are safe. No one is looking for us because no one knows we exist.

I should feel free.

Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that all is not as it seems.

“Morning, sugar.” Xander kisses the top of my head as he strides into the kitchen. He makes quick work of getting himself a cup of coffee and some toast. I lean against the sink and watch him, the love I have for him making my heart expand in my chest.

He’s my hero. Not that he would agree.

While I created the plan to save us, he was the one took it and ran with it. The revenge he manufactured was bigger and better than what I had in store for them.

I wanted their deaths.

I wanted them to rot in Hell for eternity.

Xander saved their lives, but brought eternal damnation to them in the process. Death would have been easy. Living to see their power and wealth stripped away, and having their freedom taken away was a much bigger punishment.

When my husband finishes his first piece of toast, he leans over and flicks the switch on the small TV that sits on the breakfast island. Kids cartoons erupt across the screen. He groans and changes the channel. I pour myself a cup of coffee and settle onto one of the bar stools next to him. Leaning over, I plant a kiss of his lips, and swipe a piece of his toast. Xander mounts a protest at my thievery, but I simply giggle at him.

It’s fake outrage. We both know he always cooks an extra piece for me.

I reward his protest with another kiss, this one involving tongues and roaming hands. All the while, trying to push away the feeling of foreboding that’s been trying to overwhelm me recently.

I have everything a woman could possibly need.

Three beautiful children.

A home on an island where the St. George name means nothing.

And, a man who loves me so much that he would kill for me.

Literally.

The “Breaking News” banner floats across the bottom of the television and the picture changes. Familiar faces fill the screen. The remainder of my piece of toast falls from my hand, and I clap my hand over my mouth to stop from screaming.

Xander rubs his hand up and down my back. “Hush, sugar. It’s not what you think. This is good.”

I point at the screen. Pictures of the house that I shared with Jax are being shown. Old photos of JJ and Charlie float across the screen. Then, an image of me in a wedding dress appears.

“How is this good?”

Xander points the remote at the TV unit and turns the volume up.

“We’ve received news today that further charges will be laid against Malcolm and Cynthia St. George, and Henry and Elizabeth Ray. This time for the murder of their children, Dr. Jaxon Ray and wife, Amber St. George, as well as their two young sons.”

Old footage of the trials appears on the TV. Visions of my mother and father as they learn of their guilty verdict. Still images of the Ray’s as they’re sentenced to thirty years in prison. Then, they cut to a recap of the Centrifuge scandal. The newsreader summarises the dangers of the drug and how they were covered up, so it could be rushed to market. I can’t look away. Not even when an old family portrait of me and Jax and the boys’ flashes onto the screen.

“It appears that they were murdered three years ago to keep them quiet. It is alleged that Jaxon Ray and his wife discovered the true side effects of Centrifuge and threatened to go public. It had long been suspected that their disappearance related to their parents’ scandal, however today, the authorities were able to find the proof they needed to prosecute. As this state is one of five that still upholds the death penalty, all four of the accused are facing lethal injection if found guilty.”

Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle begin to fall into place.