Page 51 of Taking Adalisa

“No.” She shakes her head again. “He is gone. He is out of my life. He’s in prison or he’s dead. Either way, he is out of my life.”

He.

The person who poisoned her is a male. That narrows it down a little, but not by a lot.

“I will know eventually. I want you to tell me who poisoned you,” I demand.

“And what are you going to do when you find out? He’s in prison. He is living in a cell and I’m perfectly fine with that,” she replies.

“I’m not.”

Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks at me in surprise. I’m not okay with knowing the person who almost killed Adalisa, my love, is alive. He should be six feet under. He should be tortured and go through an agonizing death for putting Adalisa through that torrid ordeal.

He needs to suffer.

By my hands or someone in prison, I do not care, but he will suffer. All I need to do if find him.

“I’m not telling you. You don’t need to do anything,” Adalisa finally huffs.

“I don’tneedto, but Iwantto and I’mgoingto,” I tell her. “You can tell me, or I will find out. Either way, something is happening.”

I’ll have to tell Ethan what I’m planning in case something comes back on us. I don’t plan on anything happening to us or our loved ones, but you can never be too careful.

Adalisa opens and closes her mouth several times.

“You can think about it and give me his name when you are ready, but just know I will be looking into it. I will find out with or without you,” I confirm. “If you don’t want to know anything, that’s fine, but if you do then I can tell you what will happen when I find him.”

She stares at me, and I know I’ve just unloaded a heap of information on her. Probably wasn’t the best idea after she told me everything, but I need her to know that there will be repercussions to him.

I can’t help but feel the rage inside of me as I think of him poisoning her. Unacceptable.

“You can’t do anything,” she whispers.

“And why not?” I place both of my hands on the counter on either side of her, boxing her in. “Why can’t I do anything?”

“Be-because he is in prison and you are here. You can’t go into the prison and kill him. You’ll end up in prison, too. You don’t need to do anything because he is already suffering for what he did to me,” she explains.

“He hasn’t suffered enough,” I tell her matter-of-factly. “I want him to suffer even more than he already has. I need him to suffer more and know that what he did to you is unacceptable.”

It is about taking care of Adalisa, but it’s also setting an example. Not everyone will be afraid, but maybe it will discourage a couple of people who were thinking about trying something so heinous.

“I don’t.” She pauses. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything. I will take care of it all. You just need to tell me what his name is. I will do the rest.” I cup her face with my hands. “Tell me his name so I can go take care of him.”

She stares at me, and I know then she isn’t going to tell me.

“That’s okay. I like a challenge. But don’t be surprised when I find him.”

Adalisa nods and looks away from me.

“Let’s go get you home so you can eat and get settled.” I kiss her forehead again.

If I could have Adalisa strapped to me so I could give her forehead kisses all the time, I would. But it would be impractical.

I help Adalisa off the counter and lead her toward my car. I don’t want her to go back to her apartment and be away from me, but she won’t eat here. But that isn’t going to last long. She will be living in my house soon and she won’t be able to go back to her apartment. I’ve already been speaking with her landlord, informing him that she will be moving out soon.

Adalisa isn’t going to like me, but she will see that it’s for the better.

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