The Trophy Wife

TWENTY FOUR: The End

"Wow!" Eric exclaimed as I led him through the huge gates that enclosed my home. "So this is where you live."

"This is it." I confirmed with a smile. My best friend instantly improved my dark and gloomy mood. It always had and I was happy to find out that despite everything that happened in my life, he remained the same.

"So why did you send someone to pick me up from the airport?" He asked as he placed his single suitcase down on the hallway's marble floor. In spite of the small fortune that my husband paid him in exchange for his silence, Eric still lived a very simple life.

"Well," I admitted, slightly ashamed. "I never learned how to drive."

"What?" He asked incredulously.

"My life before this one was just as restricted. That's how my step father kept tabs on me. And once I came here, I really had no need for it. Enzo always had at least five drivers on staff at a time." It still hurt to talk about him. The wound remained fresh and raw.

Enzo's name caught Eric's attention though. He suddenly looked over his shoulder and then quickly back at me with an uneasy expression on his face. "Where... where is he?"

"Gone." I winced. "It's just me now."

His eyebrows met in the center of his forehead as he thought about what I said. "Gone? What happened?"

"A lot." I confessed. "I don't really think I'm at liberty to say much."

"Tell me whatever you can." Eric insisted, sitting down on the couch.

"Snitches get stitches." I said aloud as I sat on the chair across from him.

"Evelyn." He pleaded. "You have to tell me something. What about that guy... Lucas! Where is he?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, I know he's still alive but the last time I saw him was in the hospital."

"Why were you in the hospital?" Eric demanded, concern plaguing his voice.

"Give me a second!" I held my hand up. "I'm thinking about how to begin." We were silent for a few minutes as I considered where to start and what I would say.

"Okay," I sighed, bracing myself for the story that I was about to share. "You remember how furious Enzo was after he found out what I had done. Well, he wasn't letting up. He gave me a deadline and he was sticking to it, so I did the unthinkable. I asked his sworn enemy for help."

"Who?" He asked, clearly curious.

"Can't say. Anyway, everything was fine for a while, things were calm until Enzo found me. Found us. He told me that Lucas was dead and I had no reason not to believe him, Eric. I did believe him and things got messy with the person who was helping me, so..." I trailed off. "We got into an accident." At this point I think he knew not to ask me for clarification on any of the hazy details. "I ended up in the hospital with a broken leg," I motioned to it with my hand. "I was a mess, but Lucas was there. I guess the person who promised to keep him safe kept their word because he was alive. He is alive, I saved him."

"Well that's good." Eric interrupted. He must have seen the defeated look on my face, and the tears that had begun to well up in my eyes. "That was the point, right? To make sure that he didn't die."

"I guess." I sighed. "At this point I hadn't seen Enzo. I didn't know where he was or if he was even alive. But then he came back and–" I stopped talking suddenly, afraid that I wouldn't be able to go on without sobbing. A few tears were fine but I didn't want to start hyperventilating from them, so I just shook my head. "I saw it, Eric. I watched him die." 

"How?" His voice was very soft.

"Shot." I said quietly in an attempt to control my weak voice. "In the head." I then made an imaginary gun with my fingers and pressed it against my temple. "The bullet was meant for me but he put himself in between us."

"I'm so sorry." Eric moved over onto the couch that I was sitting on as he tried to comfort me, and although I could see the million and one questions behind his emerald eyes, he didn't say them aloud.

"I wish I could tell you who did it." I tried to wipe the tears away, but they fell too fast for my slow hands. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Where is he now?" Eric sounded upset again. "Did the cops get him?"

I let out a strangled laugh. "No. Besides, snitches get stitches, remember?"

"Right." He frowned. "Well, where is he?"

I just shook my head. I couldn't tell him what I did at the cemetery. Everyone knew it was me, but I would never admit to it. "It all got away from me, Eric. There were times where I felt like I was loosing myself in my husband's world. I was always afraid that one day it would get to me, that one day I would become one of them. That's why I ran away the way I did. Yes, I wanted to save Lucas's life, I couldn't let him die for a mistake that I made, but I thought that if I did win, if I did save him then maybe that would prove that I wasn't a bad person. That I hadn't lost myself.

"Little did I realize that in order to succeed I had to do all of the things that I condemned my husband for. I became the very thing that I hated, the thing that I was trying to escape. And I don't mean I was trying to escape from Enzo himself, but I did want to get away from the world that he lived in." I stayed silent for a moment before I said, "I failed. Dante was right. I did save Lucas, but that doesn't mean I won. I failed, Eric. I let myself get consumed by all of it, and now look at me, I'm a disaster."

"I don't believe you're a bad person, Evelyn. You're not a bad person." He insisted.

"You don't know the half of it." I countered.

"I can see how much you regret whatever it is that you did. Doing a bad thing doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. A bad person wouldn't care, but you care so much."

"If you say so, but either way, I can't be here anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I have nothing but this big, empty house. And I'm sure that's all you see, a house, but when I look around, I'm reminded of all the people who walked through those gates and never made it back out. I'm reminded of the fact that Enzo is gone and I'm alone."

"What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?" Eric asked without missing a beat.

"I want to travel the world." I confessed. "I want to see something, anything that will take my mind off of the things that I witnessed."

"Backpacker style." He stated, a smile suddenly brightening his saddened features.

"Yes." I smiled back at him. "What do you say?"

"Let's go!"

THE END 

You guys have no idea how excited I am to finally finish this story!! I'm sorry for any heart break that I may have caused, and I'm sorry for my inconsistent updating schedule, but I really do appreciate all of your comments and support. 

I don't really have much else planned at the moment aside from finishing one other book and then editing "Five Star Hotel," but if you want to stay up to date with whatever I'm doing, follow my instagram @ maya.apples. That's where I usually post.

Stay safe and healthy <3