Alani had gone through her entire life guarding her trust, and the one time she let someone in, she opened the door for chaos. It felt like there was a hole in the center of her chest. She sat in the same spot all night, sobbing, as she replayed every interaction with Ethic over and over in her mind.

“I’m not a good man,” he had told her.

She hadn’t believed him then, but he had been right. I should have listened, she thought. Alani had thought she had a keen sense of who people were. She was normally such a good judge of character. She had always avoided the fakes and pointed out the real in people. How was I so far off with him? The man I thought he was could never hurt a child… my child. Oh, God, my baby, she thought, in despair.

Her thoughts tortured her through the night, and when the sun light crept through the hospital windows, she stood to her feet. She hadn’t slept a wink and knew that she wouldn’t for many nights to come. “I really wish you would wake up, Nannie,” she whispered, as she bent down to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I need you.”

She didn’t know how she made it home. She didn’t even remember driving there, but as she pulled up to her house, she saw Ethic’s Tesla sitting in her driveway. It hurt her that fear was mixed with her pain. He had gone from a man she had thought would never hurt her, to one that was unpredictably dangerous. She knew he had committed murder. Was he there to console her or to finish the job and make sure he was never connected to her at all? Alani’s heart beat furiously inside her chest. She thought of driving off, but she had nowhere to go. This was home, and no one was about to scare her away from her home. She looked out the window and noticed the group of kids playing basketball on the rollaway hoop in front of her house. She would, normally, run them away from her house with all their noise, but today, she was grateful for their presence. They made potential witnesses. Ethic wouldn’t dare hurt her with so many eyes watching. She saw him, slowly, climb out his truck and the pit in her stomach deepened. She held her breath momentarily to calm the falling feeling within her. She didn’t know how she hadn’t noticed how intimidating, how looming, how terrifying Ethic was until now. She exhaled and placed both hands on the steering wheel, as she lowered her head. She couldn’t look at him. She was afraid of the devil that would reflect in his eyes. He opened the door and she could smell his Armani cologne. The scent repulsed her.