Page 67 of Taking Adalisa

“On good behavior,” I reply. “He showed them that he had changed and wasn’t going to go after you.”

“But he found me.”

I sigh. “I know, baby, but nothing is going to happen. I am going to keep you safe. Everything is going to be all right.”

Silence fills the car as I pull up to the gate, not rolling down my window to talk to the guard. There’s no time. I want her safely behind these walls.

“How did he find me?” she asks. “I paid for everything in cash when I moved here.”

I’m glad she knew enough about the situation not to leave a trail. Not that it matters now. He still found her. She said she paid in cash, but she could have withdrawn some cash and he was able to find it.

“I don’t know, but I am going to find out. I’m going to take care of him,” I promise her after I turn off the car.

Once I know Adalisa won’t leave me, I am going to teach her everything so she knows what to do in a situation like this again. Not that she’ll be in one if I have it my way. No, I am going to keep Adalisa safe for the rest of our lives.

“We’ll figure this out,” I gently tell her. “No one is going to get you in here. There are too many guards and a state-of-the-art security system to catch him if he tries.”

What she doesn’t know is that I messaged Ethan to let him know. They are coming home a little earlier than planned. It isn’t ideal, but something that needed to happen. She’ll get to see her friend, and Ethan and I will be able to hunt down Adalisa’s brother.

“I just don’t know how he found me or why he wants to find me now,” she mumbles, looking so lost. “I haven’t seen him since I was really little, and he tried to kill me. I’m grown up now, and he doesn’t need to take care of me anymore. So why is he coming after me?”

Adalisa has tears in her eyes, and it breaks my heart. I cup her face with my hands, running my thumb across her cheek every once in a while. “I don’t know why he’s after you, but Ethan and I will find out, and we’ll take care of him. Everything is will work out..”

She leans her face into my right hand, closing her eyes as she takes a deep breath. Maybe… maybe this is exactly what we needed. Maybe this is exactly what Adalisa needed to see that I am made for her and will do anything to keep her safe. While I don’t like that her brother has come back for her, maybe in the long run, this will give her the push she needs to stay with me.

“Adalisa,” I whisper her name. “Everything is going to be all right. I am going to take care of everything and make sure nothing happens to you. You are going to be safe.”

She blinks open and looks at me, exhaustion weighing on her face.

“Let’s get you into bed,” I gently say.

“It’s only three in the afternoon,” she mumbles.

“And you need some place to just lie down and decompress. A lot has happened, and it’s okay to want to be somewhere quiet to come to terms with everything,” I tell her.

“Don’t leave me,” she begs. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Shhhh, I’m not going to leave you. Never.”

CHAPTER 26

ADALISA

Idon’t know how many hours Matthias and I have been lying here. am I going to do?

“You’re thinking too hard.” Matthias runs his hand through my hair.

I snuggle into his chest and let my body relax. Maybe then I’ll convince him I’ve stopped thinking. It’s hard to just stop. I can’t turn off my brain and not think about my brother being after me once again.

I can’t just not think about it. It doesn’t work like that.

“I never thought I was going to see him again,” I whisper. “I had fully prepared myself to never see him again, and to hear that he got out of prison, and I wasn’t even notified. I don’t know how to feel about that.”

Matthias continues to stroke my hair, calming me down little. If this was any other time, I would be half-asleep on his chest, begging him to continue even after I was asleep. Maybe later he’ll do this again if I ask… or beg.

“When I went to his sentencing, they told me he was going to be in prison for the rest of his life. That he would never get out. Then to hear that he has? It makes me sick to my stomach,” Imumble, wrapping one arm around my stomach as I adjust my head on his chest. “It shouldn’t happen. He shouldn’t be out.”

Tears pool in my eyes, and I blink several times, wanting to get rid of them. I don’t want to cry. It needs to go away so I can try to move on and live my life.

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