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I was eating breakfast in the cafeteria, the usual slop of dry bread, gravy, some cereal and a carton of milk.
“Mason?”
The corrections officer called my alias, and I looked around before I got to my feet.
“The warden wants to see you.”
I’d been paranoid since I’d killed Callum Hooper and set up Shawn. There were other members of the gang still behind bars with me, and though they had no proof, they must have suspected I had something to do with what had gone down.
I caught Gil’s eye as I stepped toward the dorm’s exit, and he looked away. Had the older man said something? Panic fired through me, and I did my best to not let it show in my body language.
Shit, they knew, they had to. Was I about to have a new murder charge dropped on my head?
I followed the guards out of the dorm and down the corridors toward the warden’s office. One of the C.O.s pushed the door open and jerked his head to tell me to go first, while they followed behind.
The warden was sitting behind his desk. “Sit down, Mason.”
I looked around awkwardly. Two guards stood at the door, one of which was C.O. Damps, who gave me his usual evil-eyed glare. He looked even more pissed than usual, though I didn’t know why. Was he angry I’d managed to kill someone on his watch?
Sitting on my side of the desk was the lawyer, Joseph Monroe.
Fuck, they obviously thought I was going to need him. His expression was blank, I couldn’t read anything about what was about to happen. Was I about to go down for a very long time? A second thought hit me—what if this wasn’t about me? What if Callum’s death had a domino effect and they were here now to break the news to me that something terrible had happened to either Vee or the baby?
“What’s going on?” I snapped.
“Just sit down,” said the lawyer.
I didn’t want to sit down, but I figured I didn’t have much choice.
“We’ve been told the charges against you have been dropped,” said the warden.
“What?” I looked to Monroe, and he nodded.
“That’s right. New evidence has come to light, and it proves you couldn’t have killed Baglione in the way you’ve been accused.”
“It has?”
“Yes. You’re free to go.”
My mouth dropped. “What? Now?”
His bushy eyebrows lifted. “Unless you’d like to stay a little longer?”
“No, no. Not at all.”
I got to my feet before they could change their minds.
Joseph Monroe shook my hand. “Congratulations. I guess you have someone looking out for you.”
“Yes, I do.”
I signed for the few belongings I had and collected them. Then the guards walked me from the prison. The gates opened to possibly the best sight of my life. Vee, standing beside her car, smiling at me.
I couldn’t hold back. I ran for her and scooped her into my arms, burying my face against her hair. Then I kissed her and kissed her, and we smiled and laughed against each other’s mouths. She grown even bigger since I’d last seen her, the roundness of her belly almost impossible to hide now.
“God, I’ve missed you so much,” I said, my hand cupping her face, looking at her in wonder.
She nodded, her mouth stretched in a wide smile. “Me, too. I can’t believe you’re out of there.”
“I was starting to think it was never going to happen.”
“Don’t say you lost faith in me,” she said, teasing.
“No, never you. I lost faith in myself.”
We kissed again, long and deep and slow. Our tongues met, and I held her as close as I could, never wanting to let her go. But the imposing walls and the barbed wire of the jail still loomed behind us, and I wanted to put some distance between us and the wretched place.
I broke the kiss, and Vee took my hand.
“Come on, let’s get you home,”
I looked to her. “Home?”
“Nickie is there, and so are all our belongings. It’s what we have for the moment.”
“What about your father?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know. He’s vanished from the hospital, but we still don’t know if he’s alive or dead. Maybe an enemy we didn’t know of found out he was there, and removed him while he was weak. I mean, it was essentially what Nickie and I were planning, so why couldn’t have someone have simply gotten there first? He’s not been to the house, and he hasn’t gotten in touch with any of his men. The doctors and nurses said he was in a fragile condition when he left—that he was suffering from some paralysis down one side of his body. That hardly sounds like someone we need to worry about, does it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Vee. I’d rather we all took off, now that I’m free.”
“We will,” she said. “There are some things I need to put in order first. Besides, the house has security and there are plenty of guns. If he dares step a foot near the place, we’ll finish him off, for good this time.”