“It’s only me baby,” I said. “Your words don’t go beyond these walls.”
“I shot Rico, Anthony. I killed Nikki’s boyfriend and I just admitted to you I would do it again. My sister will probably never speak to me again, and still I’d do it again because I have lived apart from you for too long. I survived without seeing you every day but I always knew you were somewhere and one day I could be with you again. I can’t live with the knowledge I’d never see you again,” Her voice cracked and the tears finally fell. “To live and never touch you again, to never stare into your eyes or hear you call me Reese’s again. I couldn’t do it.” She shook her head adamantly. “Somewhere throughout all these years you stopped being the guy I loved and instead you became the other half of me. I know there are so many reasons you and I should have given up already but as long as I’m breathing I won’t ever give up on you,” she wept, poking my chest with her finger. “And you know what else? I looked into your eyes tonight and realized that every time you pushed me away and tried to make me believe you were giving up on me, you weren’t. You were fighting just as hard as I was only difference is you were fighting for my safety and not my heart. You have always had my heart and you knew that. But you weren’t so sure you could keep me safe and that wrecked you.”
I took her face in my hands and silenced her as my mouth crashed down onto hers. I kissed her because she had rendered me speechless, her words burning a permanent imprint on my heart and soul. I wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, all the while never breaking our kiss. Lifting us both off the floor, I stood up holding her against me and stepped out of the shower. We were drenched, but we were too wrapped up in one another to even notice. I set her down on the counter breaking the kiss, I pulled back to look at her.
“I love you Adrianna. I’m sorry I didn’t fight hard enough but I swear to you I will from this point forward and not just for your safety but for your heart too.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but I shook my head and continued. “I may already have your heart but I’ll fight with everything in me to keep it.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine: 2015
The harsh sound of knuckles rapping against the door woke me from the restless sleep I had succumbed to. I groggily listened again for the door, making sure my ears weren’t playing tricks on me and glanced down at Adrianna who was fast asleep in my arms. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, the last thing she needed right now was to be woken up only to relive the nightmare she was featuring in. I unraveled my arms from her body and reached for the pillow behind my head. I gently lifted her head from my chest and laid it upon the pillow, carefully slipping my legs from under her. She curled onto her side, clutching the soft blanket to her body and continued to sleep.
I stood up and grabbed my pants, which were laid out by the fire so they could dry and stepped into them. Another hasty knock came from the door as I zipped the front of my pants. I reached for my gun that was on the coffee table and padded barefoot across the wooden floor to the door.
I kept my gun cocked, aimed it at the door and peeked out the side window to see who it was. The first person my eyes zeroed in on was the man holding Luca in his arms, a young guy in his mid-twenties, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. He wore a baseball hat backwards and the ends of his dark hair curled under the hat. I had never met the man before but he was just as Jack had described Riggs would be. He looked over his shoulder at the woman behind him. My eyes widened when I saw my mother, her hands tied together in front of her, and bandana tied around her mouth. I tucked my gun into the back of my pants and pulled opened the door furiously.
“Why the fuck is my mother gagged?” I barked at the man who held Luca out like he was a foreign object the moment I opened the door.
“First, hello to you too,” he said, depositing Luca into my arms.
“Ant-nee!” Luca exclaimed, clapping his chubby little hands the second he was in my arms. My anger disappeared as I looked down at the little boy and smiled.
“Hey buddy.” I kissed the top of his head before looking back at Riggs, treating him to a deadly glare.
Riggs turned around, took my mother by her wrist, and pulled her forward shoving her towards me. “I believe this one belongs to you too,” he said, snarling at my mother before he rubbed his eye. I peered at him noticing the purple bruise that surrounded his eye.
“Next time you mob folk ask for help, remind Madea over here that we’re the good guys.”
“Who the fuck is Madea?” I asked.