The Mistress: Book Four in The Doll Collector Series

Chapter 34: Maria

*One Year Later*

Where to begin. So much had changed in the last 365 days. New name, new state, new home. The agents hadn't messed it up. As soon as the doctor cleared me, they moved me overnight to a new home in Cambria, California.

It felt so overwhelmingly nice to return to my home state. It was where I would be safe. Where Jordan could grow up, living on the beach and away from the clutches of his father. Cambria was a little seaside getaway near Central California. A small town meant closer relationships, and an easier way to forget about my past.

It was a place to heal and restart. The FBI had changed my name to Julianne Ramirez-Cortez and Jordan's name to Leo Ramirez-Cortez. I'd had him through a sperm donor, didn't know the father and never would. We'd moved to Cambria for a new setting.

Our story was short, concise, no need to go into unnecessary details.

Jordan, Leo I mean, was adjusting to his new surroundings. There was no sign of trauma, nothing negative to indicate that he remembered or missed Kris. He'd become accustomed to seeing me and only me for our first few months in Cambria.

I'd started a new position as a psychiatrist at the local university. The hours were flexible, and it allowed me to work in what I'd always wanted. As a plus, the university had a daycare program for its employees, so Jordan, Leo was always close. The agents had changed my credentials to reflect the perfect life of Julianne Ramirez-Cortez. No blemishes, never married to a serial killer. A professional through and through.

I was terrified the first few months, that it would all crumble; but the more mornings I awakened without Kris by my side, or the fear that he would return seizing me by the throat, I became more comfortable and enwrapped myself in our new life.

Jenny would visit as often as she could. Eventually she announced she'd gotten engaged to her doctor boyfriend and the date was set for later this year. She was over the moon to finally be settling down, her bachelorette days long behind her.

But I'd always know, and would tease her behind closed doors as best friends did.

I enjoyed her visits, as they would give me a break from the seething rage of living after the loss of my baby. It had been extremely hard. I'd named her Jordana, and buried her in Cambria. This was her home, where I could visit her often. It felt appropriate to name her Jordana, as she too had died that night in Tulsa. All of that was in the past, dead and buried in the ground.

I still hadn't come to terms with what Kris had done, however. He killed my child, our child, and had disappeared into the night. There had been no news about him or The Mistress. They vanished, as if they'd never existed, but I couldn't let it go. I always turned on the news hoping to hear they'd found his body or that he'd been captured.

He needed to be punished, to suffer. He'd taken from so many people, he'd taken from me. His freedom was a reminder that I had failed, that the FBI had failed. His face plagued my nightmares. He was always grinning, gloating that he had gotten away. His words always echoed. He was fixing the problem. Imagine that, our daughter had been a problem.

The fury he inspired was debilitating at times and it didn't help that the loss of the baby had been so hard on my body. I'd given birth to her and spent the next few months recovering from a 'normal delivery.' She was born dead. What the doctor had failed to mention was that not only had the knife pierced the amniotic sac, it had pierced her. She was always dead, there was no saving her. She wasn't too early, she was dead.

Perhaps she felt it would be too hard to hear, so she lied, but I had asked Jenny to get ahold of the records. I needed to know the truth of that night.