Until Cece (Happily Ever Alpha World)

I stare at her wide-eyed, shocked she’s actually seeing it this way. My chin wobbles again, and I squeeze her hand tighter. “I thought… I thought for sure you would never forgive me for falling in love with a married man, for wanting him even though he was legally married. I was so scared you’d compare me to the women our father cheated with.”

She scoffs. “Oh, baby girl. I know you’re nothing like those women. I know you’d never allow yourself to be like them. I saw with my own eyes how you fought your feelings for that man.” She gives me a reassuring smile. “And now you don’t have to.”

I laugh through my tears, swiping them away from my cheeks as I stand and rush around the table, throwing myself into my momma’s arms.

When the moment is over and I settle back in my chair, Talon speaks up. “I have a little information to give everyone from my cousin Cobi.”

All our attention turns to him.

“So everyone knows the plan, right? You’re all to stay here, locked up safe together. From what the undercover officer was able to get out of Corina while talking to her about the hit, she explained that her lover, Harry, was supposed to win Mia over and get information out of her about Winston and Cece. Which would’ve given her the opportunity to divorce him and get everything. When I came into the picture, their plan went to shit, and my relationship with Mia prevented Harry from getting close to her. And with Corina breathing down his neck, he took his anger out by first destroying Bax’s and my build and then Cece’s place.”

“God, so they’re both crazy. A match made in hell,” Chaz says, and Mom just shakes her head, wide-eyed.

“Crazy and stupid. They didn’t even bother digging into their supposed hitman’s identity. Hired the undercover cop expecting a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am of a job, washing their hands of it,” Talon tells us. “Now they’re… wherever they are, expecting a call early tomorrow morning saying the job is done. All conversations have been recorded, and there’s record of Corina transferring enough money for the hit. She and Harry will be put away for a long time.”

My brows furrow. “So she’s known about us that long? I… I thought maybe she followed him after he had her served with divorce papers the other night, when he came to my house.” I feel my face heat at the admission, remembering exactly what we had done that night.

“I guess y’all were cautious enough to not have any evidence of your relationship. Otherwise, she would’ve been able to divorce him and get everything without Harry trying to get close to Mia,” Talon points out, and I nod, grateful I had insisted on Win treating me like any other friend or employee while in public.

“How’s Winston holding up?” Mia asks after we all go quiet for a minute.

I sigh. “I talked to him right before you got here. He’s at home with his son, Nick.”

Mom gasps. “Are you telling me that woman ordered a hit on him, knowing her son would be there at his house?”

The room goes silent once again as that sinks in. Knowing Win and Nick are truly safe and in no actual danger, since the hitman wasn’t real, I guess I blocked out the fact that if he were real, that little boy would’ve woken up to his father murdered, or worse…

I don’t even want to finish that thought, suddenly nauseous. I’ve been able to keep myself from dwelling on the fact that, had the hitman not been an undercover cop setting a trap, then my mom and Chaz, my sister, my… my babies, all of us would be—

I shake my head, refusing to think it through.

In a few hours, justice will be served, and there will be nothing, nothing to stop us from finally being together.

33

Winston

At 4:00 a.m., my phone rings, and I switch my screen over to the call. It’s Officer Jameson. Corina and Harry have been arrested and are at the station. They’ve asked me to come in a few hours to give them time to stew in the interrogation rooms, and I’m all too eager to oblige.

I finally close my eyes after having stayed up all night on FaceTime with Cece. She’d put her cell on her pillow next to her in the second bedroom of her parents’ rental, and she’d finally passed out about ten minutes ago. I only ended the call to answer Jameson’s. I fall asleep, sleeping until my alarm goes off at seven.

After getting my boy off to school, him none the wiser about what went down last night—which I’ll still have to figure out how to explain, since his mom is about to go to jail for a very long time—I stand at the police station with Cobi at my side. We watch Corina through the one-way mirror as she sits up when the door to the interrogation room opens. She wrings her hands on top of the table as Detective Jameson and Detective Clarkston enter the room.