Johnathan

I was in love.

There was really no denying it any longer, and frankly no point in trying.

I was dangerously happy ever since Veronica had come into my life. To the point that I felt like the world revolved around the two of us and our love. Maybe that was my mistake...

Thinking that my happiness was the world's happiness. That as long as the two of us were together, nothing could ever go wrong. Nothing could ever get in the way of what we shared.

You would think, so soon after I'd lost Lydia to cancer, that I would have learned my lesson by now.

But of course, some lessons simply take a lot longer to sink in than others...

That night I'd told Veronica that I wanted to spend some quality time alone with Julie. Which was true, I did. But it was also the perfect excuse I needed to get away from her for a while, and carry out what I was actually planning without her being any the wiser.

I was standing at a jewelry counter, my knees shaking just a little bit as I attempted to come to a decision. My eyes roving over a display of engagement rings, trying to figure out one that would be right for the woman who'd effectively saved my life.

Was I moving just a little bit too fast? I'll let you be the judge of that if you wish.

But I sure as hell didn't feel that way.

I was madly in love with that girl, and though I was confident she felt the same way, I felt like I needed to be as clear as I could about the fact if I wanted to keep from losing her.

Besides, it wasn't like we would need to get married right away. I knew how fragile I must still seem to her, and maybe I was. The actual wedding could wait a year, or maybe two, just to make sure we were both on the same page about things. There was no doubt in my mind, but I knew it was only fair to Veronica to give her as much time as she needed to come to a decision about what was right for her.

I had my secretary Rita from work with me to help me keep an eye on Julie. I also had it in my head that it would be good to have a woman's perspective on this kind of thing, since I really wasn't any good at it. But once I actually got in there I took over the responsibility completely, wanting this gift to the girl I loved to be a completely personal one.

“This one is nice,” I said, tilting the gold band around in my grip, my heartbeat quickening as the diamond glinted in the fluorescent lights.

“It is an excellent choice,” said the woman behind the counter, beaming at me.

Then I frowned, though. Second guessing myself as I had been that entire evening. As I always seemed to do whenever it was a matter involving Veronica. Nothing in the world could ever be too good for her...

“Do you think I could take a look at that one?” I asked, pointing to another ring behind the glass.

“Of course,” said the jeweler, smiling a little bit too hard. I was beginning to feel like I must be getting on her nerves, but if I was she certainly didn't let on. I represented a potential sale for her, after all, and almost definitely looked as though I was good for it. She’d probably be more than glad to stand there showing me expensive engagement rings all night if it meant her walking away with a fat, juicy commission.

She took the ring I'd been holding and placed it back in the display case. I turned over to my daughter while the jeweler reached in for the next ring I had my eye on. Julie's eyes had been half closed, but they sprang open again when I looked at her, and she gave me the most adorable little smile.

My heart had never felt fuller...

Rita grinned at me, clearly moved by the affection I had for my little girl, and I smiled politely back. It was at that very moment that I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and for the first time in months the threat of having everything taken away from me was made vividly real.

I froze as I unlocked the screen, and stared into the closed caption security footage being streamed into my wide eyes.

I'd always had security cameras up around the mansion, but ever since Celia had been murdered I'd decided to up my protection to the next level. I added a few more cameras to different rooms, and found an app that let me know if someone was in a certain area while I was out, and directly uplinked the footage to my phone.

And so, I found myself looking down into the room with the safe where I kept my Picasso painting, as well as some other, pricier valuables. Standing there was the woman I loved working frantically at the combination to the safe, as a man in a ski mask stood behind her with a gun pointed at her back, clearly growing impatient from the look of his body language.

In that moment, I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs. Like leaping through the screen of my phone, and tearing that man's head off before he even knew what hit him.

I knew for a fact that Veronica didn't know the combination to my safe. I'd never given it to her, or to anyone for that matter. Not because I didn't trust her with my life, but because I'd honestly never thought of her needing to know it, and she'd never made a point of asking me.

But God how I hated myself now for failing to tell her. It might just be the thing that ended up saving her life.

If that didn't, I knew, then I had no choice but to save her myself...

I must have stood there for about half a minute, wrapping my head around the scene unfolding before my eyes. Then, without giving it another thought, I bolted from the spot, sure I could get there before the police, and wanting to get my hands on the son of a bitch before they beat me to it.

“What's going on?” I heard Rita call to me, just as I was leaping out the door.

“An emergency! Watch Julie for me and make sure you keep her safe!”

This must have scared the bajeezus out of her, but I was too preoccupied to stand still long enough to explain.

I needed to make it to my wife-to-be before it became entirely too late...