Chapter Six
“Daddy, why didn't you come back home?” Melissa cried holding onto a white teddy bear he'd purchased for her before he left on his last deployment. “Mommy won't stop crying. Please come home daddy, please...” She begged.
Jack's heart painfully pounded against his chest. He opened his mouth to answer, but no words came through. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and he'd been watching her from afar.
“Then come home...” Melissa wiped her tears with the back of her hands.
“Jacky come home!” His parents shouted appearing out of nowhere.
“Don't you think is fucking time for you to man up, come home and reclaim what's rightfully yours?” Jeremy said sternly watching him from the backdoor.
Jack stared at his family his eyes full of tears, and then he saw Kayla sitting on the swing set. “It's okay babe. It's time to let me go.”
Cindy walked out through the door. “Why didn't you fight for me?”
Jack's gazed at Kayla and Cindy with eyebrows cocked in confusion. Why would he let Kayla go and why would he fight for a woman who’d carried on with her life with another man?
“Daddy!” Melissa screamed at him regaining his attention. “Do you love me?”
“Yes,” he mumbled. “You're the reason I hung on so long.”
Jack bent down on his knees and was about to hold his little girl for the first time in eight years, and then Melissa disappeared out of his reach. He rapidly searched for her, “Melissa!” He ran across the backyard looking for her, and he noticed everyone he loved was gone. “Melissa, Kayla...” he called out of breath. “I'm coming home!”
In a sudden move, someone covered his head with a black bag—he couldn’t fight back. Jack's lungs were closing in on him, his breathing became shallow.
He gasped out loud, scaring himself out of his sleep. Jack sat up in the middle of his bed as his chest heaved rapidly. He looked around still searching for his little girl until he realized it had been a dream. His dreams were getting more and more vivid. He turned his head glancing at the clock on his nightstand, it was two in the morning. His daughter and family had been haunting his dreams for months. He touched the side of the mattress Kayla usually slept on, wishing she was there to smooth his guilt away. Closing his eyes for a few second, he envisioned his daughter, then he threw the sheets to the side and got out of the bed. He couldn't continue living like this wondering about the what if's. If he wanted to heal, he needed to go home and confront his past, instead of running away. Jack thanked God, he barely remembered the years they held him in captivity, but at times, those days he forgot appeared in his dreams.
He walked into his office and opened his laptop. It took a minute for his machine to load up and he clicked open a link he'd built looking at Cindy's backyard. The time difference between them was nine hours, Melissa usually played on her swing set and doll house around this time. The video popped up and his daughter was sitting on the back porch with her head on her knees. Jack smiled until she lifted her head and tears ran down her cheeks. His heart ached at the sight. Jack touched the screen wanting to console her, the video wasn’t clear. Without second guessing himself, he picked up his cell phone and dialed.
“It's too early in the damn morning,” his friend spat.
“I need your help.”
“When don't you?” Rabbo chuckled. “Where's my apology?”
Jack pinched his nose. Why did he have to apologize for Rabbo entering his home without announcing himself? He needed his friend's help. “I fucking apologize.”
“Now that we got that out of the way…” Rabbo laughed. “What do you and your crazy ass girlfriend need now?”
Jack stretched his back. “I need a passport.”
“For?” Rabbo rushed his word. “Are you leaving Dubai?”
“Remember what we’ve been talking about for months?” Jack replied as he entered his bathroom and peed.
“Are you serious?” Rabbo answered excited.
“We've been planning this for over a year, and I think it's time for me to make my move.” Jack strolled into the kitchen, washed his hands and started the coffee maker. “Move all my money little by little to Kayla's off shore account without telling her.”
“How do you expect me to do that? That woman can sense whenever we're up to something.”
Rabbo was right Kayla knew when they were up to no good, but something was off with her lately, he could probably pull this off without her knowing. After he went home and spent time with his family and little girl, his next stop would be to surprise Kayla.
“She's been too busy to worry about us,” Jack said preparing his coffee. “I made a promise, and I can't let another day go by without telling my family the truth.”
“Finally,” Rabbo yawned.
“How soon can you have my passport ready?” He took a sip of his coffee. Jack was good at what he did, but his buddy was a master. If he needed something done right, he counted on him.
“I'm working on it as we speak.”
He heard Rabbo moving around.
“Your wish is my command. We both will go grab your future.”
“Both?”
“Heck yeah, you're not leaving without me,” Rabbo demanded. “You and your crazy ass girlfriend are my only family. I have nothing keeping me here.”
Jack chuckled, he wouldn't have it any other way.
“And you're going to need a body guard and someone that can actually enter the US legally.”
“Fine, to new beginnings.” Jack was on a mission to regain his family and win over the woman that won his heart in the mist of misery, when he had nothing to give or offer. Kayla became his everything after he lost all that he was, all that he loved and now he was going to recapture his life and her.