Page 20 of Roman

“Yeah? Well, I’m at your place. Put your mom on kid.” I wait for Pria to answer and when she does, I can instantly tell she is shaken up.

“Roman. I stabbed him,” she whispers.

“That’s good Pria. Good girl. I’m on my way to you now, okay? Do you think you can pull over some place safe? Find a crowded place. I will be there as soon as I can, okay?” she doesn’t answer and I start to get worried. “Pria?”

“Hey Dad. Mom is pulling over.”

“Good. Stay in the car. Do not get out. That’s important. Stay there and I will be there as soon as I can. I’m only minutes away.” I look down at the phone and see it does say twenty minutes. Damn it too fucking long. I get into the car once again and put the phone on speaker, glancing over at Kasin who takes it from me. He doesn’t ask questions just holds the phone so I can drive and talk at the same time.

“Got it, dad. Hurry though, mom is acting weird. I’m worried.”

“Yeah. Stay on the phone with me while I drive to you.” We don’t say a whole lot on the drive but just staying in contact is enough to keep me calm until I reach the location my phone tells me they are in.

Pria parked her car in a strip mall parking lot and is easy to spot as I drive up next to them. I pocket my phone and take my duffle bag out of the rental when I leave it. I toss the bag into the back seat and eye Pria as I go to open the door. She is staring ahead blankly as I pull open the door.

“Pria?” she doesn’t look my way. “Pria look at me, babe.” I drop down to her level and gently stroke her cheek. There is a faint hint of blood spattering on it and as I look her over more, I notice her shirt is soaked all the way through. “Are you hurt?”

“I stabbed him.” She says again still in shock.

“You did what you had to do. Can you hop out of the car for me? You can lay down in the back while I drive. Sound good babe?” she nods slightly and starts to move. I take hold of her as she does, making sure she doesn’t slip through my fingertips. When she is standing, I frame her face with my palms looking her over further. “My brave girl.” I kiss her forehead,” Let’s get out of this shirt, ok?” she doesn’t agree or disagree, so I take the hem of the shirt in my hands and pull it up over her head tossing it onto the floor of the car. Making a mental note to make it disappear later. Pria shivers a little before I tug off my sweatshirt and pull it on over her, sliding her arms through the sleeves as best I can without the help. “Let’s get you in the back seat, you can rest while I drive.” I get a nod from her and hold onto the fact she responded. “Rhy, I want you in the back here with her, ok?”

“Is she going to be okay?” Rhylee asks as she crawls in back to get her mother’s head onto her lap.

“Yeah kid. She will be. You both will be.” I make this promise with everything I have left in me because by God if I will let anything else happen to them. “Neither of you are leaving my side from now on, understand?” I get a nod from Rhylee and a slight smile.

“Okay dad,” she tells me making my heart skip a beat. I place my hand on Pria’s head and stroke her hair back a little before stepping away and shutting the door.

“Kasin?” I open the rental car door and look in at the kid. “I need you to take back the car then get on that plane and go home. Got it?” he responds with a quick nod of his head and hops over to the driver’s seat. I watch as he drives away and pull out my phone to make a call.

“Yeah?” the rough voice answers on the second ring.

“I’m going to need some help.”

21

Pria

We seem to drive for days until Roman stops the car. I’m not sure. Everything is a blur, but when I wake up in an actual bed I almost start to feel like myself again. Like the past whatever days didn’t happen. That maybe my daughter was never kidnaped by the man who I thought was my boyfriend. That feeling of sticking the knife into him still plagues me and it’s not because I’m ashamed of what I did. It’s because I want to do it again, over and over until the man’s body is completely drained of blood and I can be sure he will never take another breath. “Hey.” Movement beside me has me turning to face the owner of the voice. Roman lays there in bed with me, smile on his face.

“How long have I been asleep? And where are we?” I do remember what the rooms looked like in Rhino, and we are definitely not there.

“It has been a couple days. You were in and out. Ari said that your body just needed rest.”

“Ari?” I haven’t heard that name before.

“Yeah. We are in Cental. Ari is an ER nurse; she is married to one of the brothers.” Cental. I do remember some of the guys from here.

“Why did we come here?” I push myself up further from the mattress and pull the covers up to my chin.

“It was closer. I thought that you could use some actual bed rest instead of sleeping in the car.”

“Where is Rhylee?” I try to get up off the bed to search for her. Only Roman pulls me back down.

“She’s fine. She is downstairs helping with breakfast. I’m sure the women are keeping her busy. Relax.” I do as he says and let myself fall back to the mattress.

“I can’t believe I put her in danger like that. I’m so stupid.”

“Nope. You don’t get to do that Pria. None of what happened is your fault. That fucker played you. All you were doing is giving our daughter the best life you could. And baby, you did an amazing job. Don’t let that asshole make you believe otherwise,” he tells me, getting up from the mattress. The man has on a pair of shorts and nothing else and I can’t help but keep my eyes on him.

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