Page 26 of Unbound

“Breathe, baby,” I cupped her cheek. “I put you first. You’re number one, you got me? I am taking all this shit very fuckin’ seriously. This is not what I want for our lives. But the sooner we shut this shit down, the sooner these sick fucks are out of our lives. You know?”

She was trying to nod but she was trembling so hard that her movements were jerky, erratic.

“We go, we’re there a few days, we gather information, and then we leave. In a couple months you may need to take the witness stand and tell the judge what happened to you. I don’t know yet how it’ll all play out because we don’t want to reveal we helped take them down but that’s to be determined and might not be in our control. But right now, we just control what we can control. We take a step at a time and you do so knowing you got me with you every single step that you take.”

She swallowed.

“Or…” I started, not premeditating what came out of my mouth at all, “Fuck it. We run. I have enough money to set us up. You tell me you can’t do it and we’ll go. We’ll disappear. Forever.”

A minute earlier I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but she started to shake even harder. And she looked shocked. I’d fuckin’ give her anything, anything in the world she wanted.

I got her tighter against my body. I ran my hands up and down her back. She was glued against me.

“We have to stop them,” she said, her voice steady.

I was so fucking proud of her.

“We will get through this,” I promised her and she nodded and burrowed in deeper to me.

“I promise, we’ll be okay.” I kissed her tears away. “And I’m gonna make them pay, Angel. I mean that. I’ve had to play it cool, but do not mistake that. I want those fuckers taken down. I’ll blow the place up if I have to. You get me?”

She shuddered but nodded again. “I just want it over.”

That she wasn’t begging me to fuck her or bring her to orgasm was shocking to me. She held me tight and shook like a leaf, crying quietly. It was almost as extreme as the first night we were here, when I told her that she wasn’t a slave any longer. This news was cutting deep, rocking her fragile world.

There was no way she could handle news about Holly on top of all that. I’d talk to her about that later. Maybe much later. Unfortunately.

More than anything, I wanted to give her life a solid foundation, nothing to fear, nothing but goodness. I wanted that more than anything.

“Tess is really okay?” she whispered.

“She’s gonna be,” I said. “Even if she’s not right now, we’ll make it so she is.”

Angel’s body locked tight, the meaning of my words clear. I didn’t know what the fuckers who had her had done but we’d make them pay, too.

The fact that Romero had helped was still a lot for me to wade through, but one thing at a time. I’d control what I could, one step at a time. And by the end, Kruna would be dust, an unpleasant memory.

And hopefully, my wife would have her baby sister back.

5

I’d just woken up. I was wearing a pair of track pants and nothing else, standing in the kitchen trying to get my first mouthful of coffee into me.

Tia was in one of my shirts, sleeves rolled to her elbows, sitting at the table, munching on toast with peanut butter.

“God, I’m hungry today. I had two bowls of Sugar Crisp before this. I want pizza for dinner tonight, from Venetia. Oh, and what do you think about the name Bella for a girl?”

“Hm?” I was half-asleep, still.

“If we have a girl. Bella. Little baby Bella.” Her eyes were shining with hope but that didn’t occur to me immediately.

“I want her name to have meaning,” she continued.

“Uh, no.”

“No? Why? I think it’s beautiful. It means beautiful in Italian, doesn’t it?”

“A, I fucked a Bella. Twice. The second time was a mistake. Most annoying, grating voice I ever heard. B, we’re not havin’ a girl. Fuck that noise.”

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