“Shit, Vin, what happened?”

“Looks like Mrs. Edwards decided to take care of the problem herself.”

Margaret starts yelling at Vin, “Let me go, damn it! I said let me go!”

Vin looks at me, wanting an answer as to what he should do.

“Let her go.”

Vin lets her go and gathers Margaret and Avery’s gun. Avery is in shock; she’s not making any movements or saying anything. I pull her up from the floor and gently sit her on the sofa. Now what the hell do we do?

Vin asks me the same thing I was thinking, “What do you want to do now?”

“Fuck if I know.”

A heavily crying Margaret responds, “Do you really love her, Liam?”

Without thinking, I answer, “Yes.”

Margaret nods her head and then looks at her daughter’s state and says, “Then take her from here. Protect and love my baby. She doesn’t deserve any of this. Just go. I will never mention that any of you were here.”

I look back at Avery, who is still in shock. I know this is what she wanted and what needed to happen. But she would never want her mother to suffer for it, so I have no choice but to try and fix it.

“Vin, call Zander, tell him to get his crew over here. I want the house set up as a break-in. Start wiping any of our fingerprints from the area now, we don’t have long.” As Vin makes the call and starts working, I walk towards Margaret. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I tell her, “I need you to listen to me.”

She nods her head.

“I’m going to help you for Avery, she wouldn’t want you to go to prison for this. I need you to listen very well. You and Adam came home after the party. You left early because you weren’t feeling well. When you got home, everything seemed fine, so you went straight to bed. Do you have another dress that looks similar to the one you have on?”

“Yes, but not exact.”

“It will be fine. I need you to go upstairs, scrub your hands, arms, neck and face, then put on your nightclothes. Lay out the other dress and make it look like it was worn tonight. When you’re done come downstairs and bring me the real dress from tonight. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Listen up, I need you to remember, this is important. When the police get here, you tell them you went straight upstairs to get ready for bed. As you were going to bed, you heard loud noises and then gunshots. You came downstairs to see what was going on, but by the time you got down here, Adam was already dead. Tell them you didn’t see anyone. The place had been broken into, and no one was here by the time you got downstairs.”

“What about neighbors? The police will want to talk to them to see if they heard or saw anything,” Margaret asks.

“Mrs. Edwards, they are all at my house right now for the party. If any aren’t, I promise they will not want to get involved in a possible scandal. Got it? Do you understand what you need to do?”

“Yes.”

“Now go, we don’t have long.”

Margaret runs upstairs, and Vin’s busy doing his part. I walk up to Avery and hold her face.

“Avery, do you hear me, baby?”

I get no response. Right then, Zander’s crew comes in. I tell them how I want the place to look, and they start working their magic. Zander hires only the best, and these guys know how to make the impossible, possible.

Just a few minutes later, Margaret comes running back down in her nightclothes. She also has her dress from the evening draped over her arm. She did great; she even brushed her hair and removed her makeup from the evening.

As she hands me the dress, I tell her, “Now Mrs. Edwards, I need you to lay over your husband and rub up against him.”

“What? No, I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you will. I need you to play the loving wife. If your husband was found murdered, you would throw yourself at him, crying, screaming and begging for him to be alive. I need blood on you so it will look exactly like that. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good, remember when the police get here, neither Avery nor any of us was here. You can never speak of this, ever. I’m helping you, but don’t make me regret it. Besides, my mother will not like if your story changes. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, Liam, thank you. I would never hurt Avery that way.”

“Well, you sure did hurt her in other ways, so let’s see if you can build our trust in you.”

“I will. I’m so sorry for everything I did. I plan on making it up to her every day. Now please take her away from here. I promise I know what to do.”

Margaret stares at me for a second and then hugs me tight. She whispers in my ear, “She always loved you, Liam. She tried to hide it from me, but I knew. It was always you.”

She releases me with a smile on her face, and I stare into her eyes. Wow, she knew. Maybe not all of it, but she definitely had an idea.

I gather an unmoving Avery in my arms and carry her outside. Vin opens the back door to the vehicle, and I enter with Avery. I still have her in my arms and lap as Vin drives off. I talk in a low, calm voice, “Avery, baby, I need you to come back to me. I need your help. Can you hear me?”

I feel her nod her head on my chest.

“Avery, when we get back home, I need you to snap out of this. Everyone is still there, and they need to see you. The party and our guests are your alibi. They need to see you dancing and having fun like nothing ever happened. Do you think you can do that for me?”

I wait but get no answer. “Avery, baby, please, I need you to be strong just a little longer. I will be there with you. I won’t leave your side. I’m trying to protect your mother and you, but I can’t do it by myself. I need you to help me. Please, Avery, answer me, honey.”

She still doesn’t answer. I need to figure something else out. We are only a few blocks away. I don’t know how to snap her out of this. As I’m thinking, I feel her hand grip my lapel of my tuxedo tight. I look down, trying to see if she’s coming around, but I can’t see her face.

Vin slowly pulls into our driveway and avoids all the valet drivers. We go straight into our parking garage and close the garage doors. Vin parks and comes around to open my door. He helps Avery out and then I exit the vehicle. I turn her and wipe her eyes, making sure she looks presentable. I say the only thing I can, “Beautiful.”

I turn back around and feel Avery grab my hand. She holds on tight and says, “I’m ready.”

That’s my girl. she’s here with me. I have her back. Avery Edwards is one of the strongest woman I have ever known. She keeps on going, and I have no doubt she will pull through.