Page 12 of Back in Blood

“Thank you.” Her voice was hoarse. “I’d like to call my parents and siblings and give birth to my child with my family present. I won’t say anything about where I was. I promise.”

I stared into her puffy face. The agony in her eyes matched mine. Every time I looked at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes were what stood out to me the most. I’d always heard that the eyes were windows to the soul. My orbs told me that my soul was gone and from the looks of it, so was Lisa’s.

I left the room to pay G. “I’m going to take her to the hospital. Thank you for coming.”

“Anytime.”

Back in the room, Lisa was still on the bed. More than likely, she didn’t possess the strength to stand. I scooped her off the bed into my arms and carried her out to my car. Inside the car, she turned her body towards the door and rested her head on the seat. I drove to the hospital in silence not even caring if she went to the police or not. I had no fuckin’ idea what my life had become. I was losing it. My mind wandered to Sintonio inthe bar in another woman’s face while his pregnant fiancée was missing. If Lisa did go to the police, my only regret would be that I didn’t get to kill Sintonio first. As long as he was dead, I could go to prison with a smile on my face. Fuck it.

When I arrived at the hospital, I pulled up near the entrance and put the gear in park. I exited the vehicle and rounded the car, so I could open the door for her. “You want me to get a wheelchair, or can you walk?”

“I can walk. Can I use your phone to call my father? He’s had the same number for more than ten years. It’s one of the few numbers that I know by heart,” she mumbled.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and unlocked it. I didn’t want to leave her alone, but I didn’t really have a choice. I watched her as she blocked my number before calling her father. Her voice cracked as she spoke to him. “Hey, daddy. I know everyone has been worried about me. I’m at the hospital. I um, I was kidnapped, and I managed to get away. A kind stranger brought me to the ER. I think something is wrong with the baby.”

I listened to her lie and cover for me. I knew the hospital had cameras and that bringing her could have gotten me in a world of trouble, but I didn’t really care. I knew I should have wanted to be better for myself but without Caprice, I didn’t care about shit. Being free or being in prison. There wasn’t too much of a difference to me. When she ended the call, Lisa gave me a small smile and handed me the phone.

“Thank you.”

I stared at her as she got out of the car. I didn’t know what to say. Our stories weren’t the same, but they were way too similar for my comfort. Caprice was older than her son, but we were both parents that experienced a loss. After watching Lisa walk into the hospital, I got in my car and pulled off.

CHAPTER 8

LISA

My mother calledSintonio after her and my father arrived at the hospital. I had only been there for about an hour before they gave me the medication to induce my labor. It seemed as if almost immediately, the contractions started. The nurse came in and gave me an epidural. I kept the information that I gave my parents short and sweet. The situation with my son took precedence over everything else. Even where I’d been for the past few days. Capri could have killed me, but he didn’t. For that reason, I was going to keep his name and the truth about what happened our little secret. I had a job, so I damn sure wasn’t going to pretend that I abandoned my own car and ran off by choice.

I didn’t possess the mental capacity to concoct a believable story, so I remained silent. It was assumed that I was too traumatized to recant the details, and that worked for me. I knew after I gave birth, the police would eventually make their way to the hospital, but I had to worry about later, later.

I had already planned to describe my kidnapper as six feet, blonde hair, and medium build. Hell yes, I was going to put it on a white man. White women did that shit all the time. Everything about my kidnapper would be a lie from his description to hisvehicle. I didn’t even care to get the police involved, but I knew I had to. I was worried about my son and didn’t want anyone making a big deal out of the kidnapping. No one would ever understand Capri snatching me or me protecting him, so that he didn’t get arrested for it.

Sintonio rushed into the room just as a contraction ripped through me causing me to grit my teeth and moan as all kinds of foul names ran through my mind. My epidural obviously hadn’t kicked in, and I was feeling everything. The sight of Sintonio infuriated me. I didn’t feel he had the right to be present for the birth of my child, but I couldn’t get into everything in front of my parents. No matter how I felt about Sintonio, I couldn’t just go around telling people that he’d accidentally shot a child.

“Lisa, what happened? Where have you been?” He actually had the nerve to appear frantic. His eyes darted back and forth across my face as he waited for an answer.

I didn’t have anything to say to him, but the pain of the contraction was a good distraction. As soon as the pain subsided, my brother walked into the hospital room and went over to Sintonio. Me and my parents gasped as Malik punched Sintonio in the face.

“Malik!” my mother cried out with one hand flat on her chest as my father rushed over to grab my brother.

I had no idea why Malilk hit Sintonio and while I was shocked, I was far from pissed. Had I not been so on edge about delivering my son, I might have smiled.

“Fuck wrong with you?” Sintonio spat as he placed his hand on his lip while looking Malik up and down. My father was holding my brother back and from the glower on Malik’s face, he was contemplating punching Sintonio again.

“My sister was missing, and there’s pictures of you on a local gossip page out at the bar flirting with a bitch! You knew my sister didn’t just leave on her own. Her car, cell phone, andpurse were found on the side of the road. And rather than being out looking for her, you were out drinking and talking to other women.” Malik’s nostrils expanded from anger. He was pissed and rightfully so. He was my brother. I was so focused on my son that I couldn’t find it in me to care about anything Sintonio did. He’d already hurt me as much as he’d ever be able to.

“It wasn’t even like that.” The fire blazing in Sintonio’s eyes made me aware that he was thinking about taking it there with my brother. Of course, I didn’t want security to toss my brother out, but I couldn’t care less if they made Sintonio leave. “You really going off what a gossip page says?”

Sintonio was a regular person. Ordinarily, no one would care where he went or what he did but since my disappearance made it to the news, eyes were on Sintonio. I was sure that before I was found, someone had tossed out the narrative that he had something to do with my disappearance. Being out in a bar after I’d only been missing for a few days wasn’t a good look on his part. I didn’t doubt it for one second. In a matter of months, Sintonio had turned into a totally different person. He wasn’t the man that I fell in love with and while it was disheartening, my primary focus was my child and his situation. I had shed enough tears for my son that I refused to cry one tear for Sintonio and his antics.

“I’m not going off what theysaid. I’m going off what they showed! You didn’t look like a man in distress, and that told me everything that I need to know about you.” Malik’s gaze shifted to me. “Sis, this nigga isn’t shit.”

“Malik, this isn’t the time. Please stop,” my mother begged while my father simply shook his head.

“He’s already shown me who he was,” I spoke up. “I didn’t call him here. Mommy did. Since he found out about our son’s disorder, he hasn’t been to the doctor with me or even took amoment to ask how I was feeling. When the doctor told me I might want to terminate the pregnancy, he basically agreed.”

My mother looked on in horror while Sin’s eyes widened. “You really gon’ do me like that? You know it wasn’t his diagnosis. I have a lot going on right now. What you’re doing isn’t even fair.” He had the nerve to appear hurt.

I couldn’t even respond because the nurse walked in. “I’m sorry, but I can hear shouting all the way down the hall. I’m not sure what’s going on, but someone has to leave.”

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