NO CLOSURE NO FORGIVENESS by Pawan Verma Read Free Book Online

don’t need you judging me right now Andrew. I’m risking my life, my
career, my freedom to help someone you cared so much about. All
because you have some stupid idea that we can actually be together.”
    Andrew’s eyes
flared. “Stupid idea? Really? The woman I love so much was honest and
forthcoming. If you thought this was a stupid idea I would have stayed back at
that disgusting shack the feds threw me in.”
    “Maybe, you
should just go back there,” Jessica said quietly. “I tried to tell you it was
better for both of us.”
    Andrew glared
at her from the passenger’s seat. Then his eyes softened, but not because he
had returned to his pleasant, loveable self. Jessica noticed the pain in his
eyes, the same betrayal she’d felt so often throughout her life. She had hurt
him, and albeit, emotional, it was enough to get Andrew to make the decision
that she hoped he’d never make.
    “Let me out
up in that parking lot,” he said pointing to a convenience store roughly fifty
yards in front of them. The sirens she’d heard before had stopped. Units had
responded to the church incident. An investigation would be initiated. She’d be
arrested. Maybe Andrew too. They needed to stick together.
    “Andrew baby,
I’m sorry okay. Can we just—
    “As much as I
love you, the stunts you’re pulling are gonna end up getting me killed around
here. Besides, you said it was a stupid idea for us to be together and I kind
of agree.”
    “Andrew.”
    “Let me out,”
he repeated, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. “Or I’ll call the
police on you myself.”
    Now it was
Jessica’s turn to feel hurt. But she knew she had brought the pain on herself.
“Would you really do that Andrew? Now, after everything we’ve been through?”
    He opened the
side door and stepped out into the street. A gust of cold wind slammed into her
face through the open door. The tears she’d managed to keep inside her eyelids
spilled onto her cheeks.
    She repeated
the question, but with less force.
    “Do you
really want me to answer your question, Jessica? Now, after everything we’ve
been through?”
    She didn’t
answer, which apparently gave Andrew the answer he was looking for. He shut the
door and began walking away. He didn’t look back as he usually did to wink and
blow her kisses. He kept walking. Ten feet. Thirty. Fifty. Then he was gone.
    “Now what?”
Jessica said aloud.
    She wiped
tears from her eyes and began driving again. Fear had never felt so real in her
life. She could go to prison. Patrick could hunt her down and kill her. Andrew
could get hurt, or worse, if word leaked that he’d escaped witness protection
and was now back on the streets of Baltimore.
    Jessica tried
to drown out the worries as she searched for a place to abandon the truck. She
recalled the night she’d fallen deeply in love with Andrew, all the way on the
other side of town in that cheap, hotel they’d booked to avoid detection. The
night they’d discussed what it meant to take the initiative, before succumbing
to an hour’s worth of pillow talk.  
    She pulled
into an alley where she knew there were no security cameras. Then she locked
the door and walked away, tucking the keys into her back pocket. For now, the
keys would be the only memory she needed of Andrew.
    If Patrick
Brenner had visited a doctor for help, then she knew an old face who might be
willing to help.
    Jessica
reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Then she dialed Doctor
Chapman’s number.
     

Chapter Seven : Caught Red-Handed
     
    Later that
evening, Jessica sat quietly in a white rental car and reflected on the events
of the last few days. She longed for the days when life made sense, when
choices were easier to make, and every move she made didn’t feel like it would
lead to a disaster. One by one, the protective walls she’d built around her
life had come crashing down, leaving her with no choice but to run and hide, or
stay and