Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

She takes it from me silently. She stares at the picture on
the screen. Her throat works, but she doesn’t make a sound.
“Swipe left. There’s more.”
Her finger moves across the screen. She pauses, then
swipes again. She keeps going for several moments, her face
growing more and more pale until it’s white.
She stops swiping and says, “Who are these people with
him?”
When she turns the phone to face me, I brace myself. Then
I look her in the eye.
“His wife and kids.”
Her lips part. The clock ticks. My heart bangs inside my
chest like a drum.
“His…wife.”
“He was married when he went into WITSEC. Claudia still
lives in the same house. Has no idea what happened to him.
He left everything behind, including her.”
Her voice raw, Nat says, “And his children.”
“Yes.”
“He was married with children when we were together.”
“Yes.”
“He embezzled money from the mafia, turned state’s
evidence, put Max in jail, abandoned his family…then came
here with a new identity and…and…”
“Met you. Proposed.”
Gripping the phone, she lowers it to her lap and closes her
eyes. Then she sits there, not moving or saying anything, pale
as a ghost and just as lifeless, except for the vein throbbing
wildly in the side of her neck.
I’d slit my wrists and bleed out on my knees in front of her
if I thought it would make her pain go away, but I know it
won’t.
The only thing I can do is keep telling her the truth.