“I’m not sure yet. But you belong to me, you always have. Once we take care of this situation,” he murmurs, his fingers running across my rounded stomach, “I’ll take you away somewhere no one will ever find you.”
Tears well in my eyes and I want to hug my stomach. I pull at the ties on my wrists but they don’t budge at all. I’m trapped and for once in my life, I have no hope. None.
“Don’t touch me,” I hiss out. The anger comes more from fear than bravado, but Lance just grins at me, still crazy, still wicked.
“Lance, you have to think this through. We only wanted the money from the house, remember? We never needed her, and never counted on her being pregnant. You can’t-”
“I can’t what?” he shouts, standing and spinning around to face her. He takes two long steps toward her. “The way I see it, I can do whatever the fuck I want, with both of you,” he states. Pulling the gun from the waistband of his pants, he raises his arm, pointing the gun directly at Bryony’s head.
“Leave her the fuck alone!” I scream. Anger burning in my lungs.
Swinging around he points the gun at my head now. And it’s in this moment, I realize I can’t stop what’s going to happen. I can’t control him, I can’t even move, but I will never be what he wants, I will never submit. I am who I am, and I make no apologies for being me. I don’t want to die, but the thought of living the rest of my life in servitude, scares me more.
“You’re in no position to demand anything from me.” Lance waves his gun toward me, as though I might have missed it the first time. I don’t move my gaze from his eyes.
“Maybe not, but I’ll never be the quiet, simpering woman you want. I’ll always speak my mind.”
He grinds his teeth, anger bubbling away in his eyes now. I watch as Bryony slowly makes her way closer to me. Lance hasn’t noticed and I try to shake my head to tell her no, but she ignores me. So, I keep him talking.
“You want someone to submit to you, that was never going to be me. Why didn’t you find someone who had the personality you so badly needed?”
He rubs his temple with the barrel of the gun and I wonder why it can’t just go off at that point and shoot him in the head. No such luck.
“You could have been perfect, now you’re tainted.”
I open my mouth to reply, when I notice Kato slipping into the back room of the office through a window. My eyes widen and I panic, knowing Lance could kill him. I quickly rein my emotions in when I realize Lance hasn’t noticed.
“Why am I tainted?” I ask him, softly now. Deciding to take a different tact.
Lance turns to face me, his movements still as he focuses on my face, then his eyes roam down my body. I try not to shiver in revulsion.
“Because you stained your body with him, with that thing growing in you.”
Kato, who was stalking along the wall, stills when he hears the shit Lance is spouting. Bryony keeps edging toward me and thankfully she hasn’t seen Kato, because at this point I have no idea whose side she’s on.
“I love this thing,” I snap. I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it.
Lance twists his body, he’s about to turn and then he’ll see Kato, who has made it to the door of the back office.
“Let me give birth,” I bite out and Lance swings his gaze back to me. I heave out a sigh as Kato slips through the door and edges toward Lance. “Let me give birth, then… then I’ll put the baby up for adoption and it can just be you and I again.” The words taste foul, I want to heave just to get the necessarily evils away from me. I’m lying of course, but that doesn’t make it any better.
Lance gapes at me, and three things happen in that second. Bryony gasps when she spots Kato, Lance swings toward Kato and holds his gun up and Big Mike bursts through the other door, gun in hand, aimed at Lance.
“I’m going to kill you,” Lance promises, spittle flying from his mouth toward Kato.
“No!” I scream as tears build in my eyes and I pull at the ropes on my wrists.
Lance takes a step back, closer to me.
“Stay the fuck away from her,” Kato growls and it’s the first time since I met him that I see the danger he portrays. I see a side of him which shows his past, at least the past he explained to me, the one he doesn’t live anymore. But I can see the menace in his eyes and I’m sure Lance sees it too.
Slowly, unnervingly slowly, Lance raises his arm. His gun now points straight between my eyes. He turns his head to face Kato, but I can still see the evil grin he sports, it’s like he’s gleeful that Kato will get to watch him kill me.
There’s a click before a gun goes off. I didn’t know that before. Just a split second before the bullet leaves the chamber. In a silent room, you can hear it.
There’s a pain in my chest, but it’s not from a bullet. No, this is from the weight of another person’s body. The weight of my sister as she bleeds out in my lap.
Then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
KATO
“Are you watching me again?” Nola questions sleepily. Her eyes are still half closed as she lies sprawled across the bed, hugging her pregnancy pillow.
“Go back to sleep, gorgeous,” I murmur.
Hey eyelids droop and, before she can argue, her body takes over and she falls asleep again. It’s been a week since she was taken from me and yet I still cannot seem to move past it. For the most part Nola is okay. I’m the one who’s struggling to let her out of my sight.
I sit on the ledge of the window and watch her sleep.
I nearly lost her, I nearly lost them both. My gaze moves to her stomach. To our baby growing unaware of the danger they were in. Every single second of that night is etched into my brain and it plays over and over.
When Lance swung the gun toward Nola, I knew I was going to lose her. I moved to him and Rufe rushed him, but it was Bryony who was the unsuspecting hero. I tackled Lance, disarmed him and nearly killed him with my fists. Rufe dragged me off and called the cops. I didn’t need to restrain Lance, he wasn’t awake. In fact he was barely alive, and if it weren’t for the doctors and nurses who attended him after he was rushed to hospital, I’d be facing pretty serious charges. Thankfully, between my money and Mr. Clark, all the black marks against me get washed away as if they mean nothing. They stick to my soul though. Only this time, I don’t care. After what he did, taking Nola, hitting her, trying to kill her…them. He deserves more than jail time.
No. This is one black mark I’ll wear with pride.
A few stitches in the back of her head and a check of our baby later, Nola was allowed home. Lance was placed into custody and all should have been well.
However, as the light of dawn breeches the horizon, I know today will be hard for Nola and although, through her sleepy haze, she was oblivious a few moments ago, when she fully wakes up, she’ll remember everything and it will hit her.
I’ll do whatever I need to protect her, and I’ll do whatever I need to make sure she’s okay, that nothing like this ever touches her again. I will be the one to make sure the rest of her life is golden, but this next challenge… this I can do nothing about.
“Are you okay?” I whisper, coming up behind her. I slide her silky hair away from her face and kiss her neck.
“No,” she says, her eyes meeting mine in the mirror, “but I will be. I have to be.” She smiles sadly, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
“Aubrey and Chance are waiting and we’re all here for you today.”
“I know,” she whispers, her gaze dropping from my eyes to her hand as she holds it out in front of her.
I slid the diamond band, showcasing the emerald solitaire, onto her finger while she was asleep in the hospital. I’d picked it up from Cartier only a few days earlier. I hadn’t got the proposal perfect, because at the time the ring wasn’t ready. So, I had planned on proposing again, under the stars on the beach. That night, nearly losing her, I realized nothing was perfect, except maybe the love I have for her, and I
wasn’t willing to wait another day.
I’m a lucky motherfucker, because when she woke and noticed the heavy band on her finger, all she did was smile and say ‘finally’ to me. In that moment, in a hospital bed, at six am, she made all my dreams come true and I swore to her, swore, that I would always be the person she needed me to be and I damn well plan to live up to all her expectations.
I capture her hand, spin her around and bring it up to my lips, softly touching the hard stone. “I’m right here with you,” I whisper.
Tears fill her eyes and she reaches up on tip toes and presses her mouth to mine. “I love you.”
“Of course you do,” I smirk, trying to take the edge off.
“Cocky,” she mutters.
“Delightful,” I reply, grinning.
She kisses me again, far too swiftly for my liking. “Come on.” It’s a tired order. I nod, resting my hand on her lower back as I guide her toward Aubrey and Chance. She’ll need all the people she loves today.
“How’s she doing?” Chance asks, stepping next to me. I watch her across the room, talking to people, half of whom she doesn’t know, Aubrey standing sentry beside her.
“She’s doing as well as can be expected. She was never close to Bryony, at least not for years, but I think the fact she gave her life for Nola has fucked her up a little.”
“I get that, man,” Chance replies solemnly. “How do you work through something like that?”
“With a lot of love from the people who care.”
“She’s got that,” Chance tells me and I smile.
Nola’s eyes drift closed for a moment before she starts talking to the next person who moves to greet her. She’s tired – having been on her feet since early this morning and saying goodbye to a loved one, especially someone you were estranged from and whose final act was to save your life, would be enough to tire anyone out. On top of that she’s pregnant.
Nope. She’s done enough.
“I’m taking her home,” I announce to Chance.
He nods. “Yeah.”
“I don’t understand why.” It’s the first thing Nola has said since we entered the house. I’ve kept quiet, letting her know with only touches that I’m here for her, but not wanting to push her. Now, as I stand in the bedroom removing my dark suit, and she sits at her dressing table with Blanche curled in her lap, purring as Nola runs her fingers back and forth along the fur on her back, I look up and see the pain in her eyes.
I walk over and drop to my knees in front of her. Blanche meows, jumps off Nola and prowls out of the bedroom.
“Why what, gorgeous?” I question softly.
“Why would she work with him, be with him, hate me so much, then…. then… save me? I don’t get it.”
The tears drop off her lashes and skate down her cheeks so quickly I can’t track them. I kiss her wet mouth gently, tasting her hot, salty tears as I try to absorb her pain.
“Maybe, in the end, she gave the ultimate and only thing she could, to show you that she did love you, and always had,” I offer. It’s not much, but it’s the only way I can see the clusterfuck of that night.
“I guess I’ll never know.”
I shake my head. “We might never be able to ask her, but I will thank her, wherever she is, every damn day, for saving you.” I wipe her cheeks with my thumbs as her tears have slowed, and tuck her hair behind her ears. “I don’t think I’ll ever be more grateful to another human being in my life.”
“She saved me, us,” she murmurs, running her hand across her tummy. “And I’ll never be able to thank her. I just hope wherever she is, she’s at peace now. And I hope Lance never sees the light of day again.”
I kiss her cheeks, her nose and her lips and run my hand over her hair. And I promise upon all that is holy, I will do everything within my power to make sure Nola’s last statement comes true.
Epilogue
NOLA
The magic hour. Just before sunrise. It’s a real thing, well, to me it is.
The sun hasn’t yet blessed us with its first few rays, but the sky is somehow brighter already and it’s enough that I can see my husband and my daughter in the stream of light coming through the window. It bathes them and I feel my tears well at their combined beauty.
“You like that? Daddy will fill your tummy, and then you’ll sleep and let mommy rest, okay?” Kato coos at our daughter.
Aruelia Black, Rue as we call her, was born with a soft mop of black hair, olive skin and big blue eyes which have now changed to a bright green. She’s laid back like her daddy, but also sassy like her mommy. She is love and light all rolled into one. At nearly six months old, she’s already a character.
I walk back to our bedroom and climb into bed.
“You waiting for me, gorgeous?” Kato’s voice is lazy and loaded as he prowls into the bedroom and climbs up and over me on the bed.
I smile up at him. “I was just about to go back to sleep,” I lie.
Reaching down and grabbing my wrists he pulls them above my head, securing them in one of his hands. “No, you weren’t,” Kato nuzzles my neck, “you want to make another baby?”
Giggling, I gaze up into his eyes “Already?”
He shrugs, “We have the money, this place is big enough for one more kid, and after tomorrow, there’s nothing holding us back.”
Narrowing my eyes on him I sass, “I’m sorry if our wedding tomorrow has been holding you back.”
He smiles, “You wanted to get married when you weren’t pregnant, otherwise we would have done it months ago. Don’t sass me woman.” He leans down to kiss me and I turn my head so his mouth hits my cheek.
“Now, now, that’s not nice, gorgeous. Tomorrow you become my wife, so I’m sure your pretty mouth should be all about me, right now.”
“Cocky,” I mutter, rolling my eyes.
“Delightful.” His reply has a tone which I know very well, a tone which tells me tonight we’re going to do everything to try and make another baby. Then tomorrow, we’re finally getting married and I couldn’t be happier.
NOLA - TWO YEARS LATER
Rue runs around the garden squealing as Aubrey and Chance’s son CJ chases her. I love how close they are, although Kato eyes up CJ who is only six months younger than Rue, with far too much disdain seeing as he’s his godfather. I hate to think what he’s going to be like when Rue is a teenager.
A year ago, we moved. Kato wanted us to have a bigger place so we ended up with a massive house which was beachside. It’s beautiful, but I wouldn’t give up Gran’s place. So, for now, we rent it out.
“Hey, how’s he doing?” Kato asks, sitting on the arm of my chair.
My gaze moves to the bundle in my arms. Wren Black was born only four weeks ago. Just like Rue, he has his daddy’s dark hair and olive skin, and right now he has blue eyes, but I’m sure they’ll change to green in time, like his sister’s, like mine.
“He’s a content baby, he’s loving just lying in my arms,” I tell him.
“I get that,” he smirks.
I shake my head, but can’t help the smile that blossoms across my face.
A startled cry echoes out of the baby monitor. Blanche Meows and jumps down from her place on the top of the wall in the sunlight. Hissing, she runs away from the noise.
“That’s for you,” I smile up at him as Wells, our other son, wakes from his nap.
Wells is eighteen months. Unlike the other two, he was born with my blond hair and his daddy’s almost black eyes. Like the other two, though, he also got the olive skin tone. Where Rue was always a calm, contented baby, and Wren seems to be the same, Wells is a live wire. I can already see so much of my personality in him.
Aubrey curls up in Chance’s lap and I smile over at her.
A few years ago, I didn’t know where my life was heading. Hope felt like it was out of reach. Now, each day, I count my blessings and I live like any day could be my last.
My bakery is thriving. Sammy runs it now, and I leave that
to her. A relationship formed between Big Mike and her, although after three years it seems to be firmly stuck in the friendship zone. Poor Big Mike.
Kato waltzes out of the house with Wells in his arms, but it takes only a second for him to wriggle away from his daddy and join CJ and Rue running around the garden.
Kato seats himself right back where he was, laying his arm across the back of my chair. “Maybe we should go for number four,” he grins down at me and Wren.
“Erm, no. I told you after this one, that was the last.”
“But we could even up the numbers.”
“And you can kiss my ass, buddy,” I tell him.
His head moves down until his lips are next to my ear, “I have no problem kissing your ass, and as far as I remember, you love it.”
“Cocky,” I mutter.
“Delightful,” he replies. Then he kisses me like he might die without me, just like he did the first time.
I pull back and look at my husband, the man my world revolves around. The man I love like no other. He is everything to me. His eyes swim with love and happiness, showing me he feels the same.
Kato changed my world with a single kiss and I changed his with a flip of the bird.
THE END
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Cocky Delight: A Hero Club Novel Page 19