V Is for Vengeance

crystal flutes, and they toasted their own joy. It felt wicked to sip Champagne at this hour of the day. “Almost forgot,” Dante said. He got up and went into the bedroom, returning moments later with a handful of travel brochures he dropped into her lap.
    “What are these?”
    “The Maldives. That’s where I’m going when the time comes. Maybe the Philippines, I haven’t decided yet. I brought brochures for both because I thought you might like to see them.” He sat down on the edge of the chaise and loosened his towel.
    She opened the first brochure, which showed photographs of the Maldives, teal and aquamarine waters with islands like stepping-stones spread out across the sea. She sent him a curious look, wondering how serious he was. “I thought you were under indictment. They’re not going to let you go out of the country.”
    “Just because they won’t let me doesn’t mean I won’t go.”
    “Aren’t they holding your passport?”
    “I’ve got another.”
    “What if they intercept you at the airport?”
    “They can’t intercept me if they don’t know. I’ve got a fortune in offshore bank accounts. I’ve been planning this for years.”
    She held up the brochures. “Why the Maldives? I don’t even know where they are.”
    “The Indian Ocean, two hundred and fifty miles southwest of India. Temperatures run between seventy and ninety-one year round. They don’t have extradition treaties with the U.S. There are other choices—Ethiopia or Iran, if you’d prefer. You like Botswana, I’ll throw it in for laughs.”
    “What in the world would you do with yourself?”
    “I don’t know. Rest. Read. Eat. Drink. Make love to you. Study the language.”
    “Which is what?”
    “Don’t know yet. I’ll find out when I get there. I’ll have Lou Elle call you with the details, but only if you’re coming with me. Otherwise, the less you know, the better.”
    “You think I’d go?”
    “Why not? There’s nothing keeping you here. All you need with you is an overnight case. I’ll take care of the rest.”
    “Let’s talk about something else.”
    “No problem. I understand you need time to consider. I’m laying it out so you know what we’re dealing with.”
    “You know I’m not going.”
    “I don’t know that and neither do you.”
    She sat up, pulling the towel around her. “Don’t turn this into something it’s not.”
    “What is it ‘not’?”
    “It’s not deep or complex or even very significant. It’s a way to spend the morning when I’m not getting my hair done.”
    “So I’m just a trivial screw?”
    “I never said you were trivial.”
    “But I’m just some guy you’re screwing. It doesn’t mean anything more to you?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “You’re lying.”
    “Yes, I’m lying. Let’s just leave it at that.” She knotted the towel in front and got up.
    He grabbed her hand. “Don’t go. Don’t walk away from me. Sit.”
    “There’s no point in talking about a future when we don’t have one.”
    “Listen to me. Would you just listen? Don’t hide from me. Don’t hold back. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this is just a fling, but that’s not what it feels like to me. If this is all we have, then let’s be honest with each other. Can’t we do that?”
    She looked down at him. His was a face she loved, but she couldn’t tell him that. He tugged at her hand and she sat down beside him.
    He lifted her hand and put her fingers against his lips. “Nora, whatever happens—whether you go with me or not—you’ve gotta get out of that marriage. Maybe that’s what I am to you, a midwife, delivering you from him.”
    “We’ve been through a lot together. You don’t throw away a life because it’s rough now and then. History counts for something.”
    “No, it doesn’t. You think being in a bad relationship for a long time makes it worthwhile? It doesn’t. It’s more time wasted. Fourteen years of misery is fourteen too many.”
    “Channing and I have had good years. I don’t cut and run.”
    “What about your ex? You don’t think divorce is a form of running away?”
    “We didn’t divorce. He died.”
    “Of what?”
    “A fluke; a heart anomaly he’d had since birth, something the doctors missed. He was a banker. He had a great job. He was thirty-six years old with no idea whatsoever he was living on borrowed time. I thought life was perfect. We had each other, we had our boy. We also had a hefty mortgage and a lot of credit card