CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

NATALIE

Sol didn't come home until after midnight. 

He had been sullen early in the day, deep in thought and I knew he was seriously planning his strike on Antigua. 

Ari wanted to stay up waiting for him and I let her think she could, but the little cutie was passed out cold by ten.

Leah's death felt like it numbed me, but I put on a warm, smiling face for Ari. It wasn't fair to put the burden of my loss on her.

Sol seemed a bit distant to me that day but I figured planning the death of my former owner and the murderer of my friend didn't put him in the most affectionate mood. 

I wasn't even sure if I wanted affection or comfort anyway. All I wanted was to have Leah back, alive and free. If I couldn't have that, I'd have the music of Antigua's last breaths in my ear if it was the last thing I did. 

When Sol finally did come quietly through the doorway, I had been sitting on the couch trying to distract my somber mind with a lighthearted romance novel. 

Seeing his face after such a long, tiring day of wearing my happy face gave me immense relief. Like I could finally take my mask off and be myself again. 

I stood to greet him and he came over to me immediately, wrapping me in a loving, protective embrace that felt like home. 

"How are you, beautiful?" he asked me with a tender stroke of my cheek. 

"I don't know," I admitted. "Okay, I guess. Just numb."

His eyes lit up with sympathy and care. He felt my pain and he was really there for me. 

"I've been setting a plan in motion," he said. "We'll get justice for your friend, I promise. And for you."

"Thank you," I said sincerely. 

Two words couldn't even begin to express my gratitude for him. Not only for carrying out justice for me and Leah, but saving my life in the beginning. For showing me how to feel again. For loving me. For simply being the ruthless, protective man that he was. 

"Ari's asleep?" he asked. 

"Mm-hm." I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders and pressed a kiss to his mouth. I wanted to feel now. I didn't want to be numb anymore. "We should get to bed, too."

"Can't, babe." He gently pulled away and looked at me intensely. "We're moving on Antigua tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" I couldn't believe my ears. 

He nodded. "Pack a bag with yours and Ari’s stuff. Netta is coming too. You all have to stay in a safe house until this blows over." 

"What? Why?" 

My chest ached with panic. A safe house? This all suddenly felt too real, too much.

Sol put his forehead to mine and held me with a tight grip. He spoke in a low, serious voice.

"If anything happens to me, they'll come after you and Ari next. I have to make sure they won't find you." 

My blood felt like it froze in my veins. Despite all my time in Antigua's possession, I never felt fear like this. 

I didn't fear for my own life, but what my life would be if I lost Solomon. 

Before I could say anything, he kissed me again and reluctantly let his arms drop from being wrapped around me.

"I'm going to Netta's to get her moving. Pack some clothes and toys for Ari, then get her up in ten minutes tops." 

I nodded but quickly grabbed his arm as he started for the door. I wanted to plead with him but didn't know what to say. To not risk his life for this? To promise to come back to me and Ari? The reality of those situations weighed on us like bricks in our pockets. I couldn't ask him to make promises he couldn't keep. 

Instead I just said, "I love you." 

One corner of his lips lifted in a smartass, signature smirk and he planted a final quick kiss on my lips. 

"It's too early to say goodbye, babe," he said, looking as calm as any other day. "I'll be back in ten minutes, I promise. Be ready to go." 

I raced upstairs and stuffed a duffel bag with all the clothes I owned. In a small, hidden zipper compartment I hid the cash Sol first gave me when he dropped me off at the shelter. I tried to give it back earlier but he insisted it was a gift. 

When I gathered my things, I quietly opened Ari's bedroom door and flipped on the light switch. 

She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing them. 

"Hey sweetie. You gotta get up," I whispered, sitting next to her on the bed and rubbing her shoulder as I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to tell her.

"What time is it?" she mumbled. 

"Late," I said. "Your daddy's taking us on an adventure."

"Hmm?"

"It's like we're going camping, or a vacation," I said. "Netta's coming too. But we have to go right now." 

"But I'm sleepy." 

"I know, honey. You can sleep in the car." 

I began opening her dresser drawers to pull out her clothes and stuff them in the duffel bag. After that, I began pulling toys and books from her shelves. Who knew how long we'd be staying in that house. 

When the duffel bag was stuffed to the brim, I carried it down the stairs and left it by the door. Ari was not getting out of bed and appeared to have fallen back asleep. Without bothering to change her out of her Barbie footie pajamas, I peeled her limp body up from the mattress and carried her downstairs to wait for Sol. 

He was just pulling up the driveway with a sleepy and disgruntled looking Netta in the passenger seat. 

"Always a sleeping beauty," he said, kissing Ari's cheek that wasn't squished against my shoulder. She was out like a light with her mouth partially open and drooling slightly. 

"Let's get in and go," Sol ordered, picking up the duffel and tossing it in the trunk.

Ari stirred slightly as I buckled her in, although still mostly asleep. 

"Daddy, are we going camping?" she mumbled. 

"Almost, baby!" he said with forced enthusiasm. "We're going on a trip! It'll be kind of like camping."

He drove for what felt like hours. I must have dozed off at some point because the next thing I knew, we pulled up to a small house surrounded by hills and countryside. 

The house looked like it had been plucked up from an older suburban neighborhood by a giant hand and then plopped down in the middle of nowhere. 

It was a small cottage style house, painted yellow and with a wooden garage door that had to be pulled up by hand. Tall grass and brush came right up to the sides and front porch, showing how little time was spent here. There was no driveway to speak of. Sol just pulled up in front of the wooden garage door, flattening the knee-high grass in his way. 

Without a word, he shut the car off and got out. Netta did the same without any hesitation as if she'd done this before.

I carefully unbuckled Ari's seatbelt and secured her against my hip as I pushed my own door open. She was still dead asleep on my shoulder. 

I envied her as I followed Sol and Netta up to the front door. Ari had no idea of the danger her father was about to face, what I had faced before meeting her. I wished I could capture and bottle that innocence to use in situations like this. If I could, I would be going on a camping trip with the people I loved most, and nothing more. 

Inside the house were three small, minimally furnished bedrooms, a living room with an old TV set and DVDs, and a small galley kitchen. A clock on the wall read 3:23 am. 

Netta claimed one of the bedrooms and promptly went inside with her bag and shut the door. I was curious to hear her thoughts about this whole situation in the morning. 

I laid Ari down on the bed in the smallest bedroom without a peep from her, while Sol put the duffel bag in the remaining bedroom.

"There's plenty of food stocked up," he said, standing in the bedroom doorway while I sat on the mattress. "If anything happens, my underboss, Ivan will get in contact with you before long."

I could only look at him with longing, taking him all in and trying to photograph him in my mind. Should I expect this to be the last conversation I had with him, the man I loved?

"How long until we expect to hear anything from you?" I asked. 

His expression looked pained. He didn't want to be optimistic. He couldn't take that risk. 

"If everything goes well," he said. "We should be done by the end of the day tomorrow. I'll call you on the landline here." His smirk returned as if forgetting the seriousness of the situation. "Before I kill him, I'll let you say whatever you want to him." 

"When do you have to leave?" 

I hated how he stood so far away from me. I needed his touch if I was going to seal his memory into my mind. 

"Soon," he said apologetically. "We're heading out and starting early." 

"Can you stay for just a little while?" I asked in a small voice as I reached a hand out to him.

"Of course, my love." 

He came forward and I felt the sparks fly when his fingers touched mine. When he sat next to me, I clutched to him desperately. My touches were frantic and needy. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him, not after losing Leah.

By contrast, his touch was strong, calm and reassuring. His large hands rubbed in soothing circles across my entire back, holding me with a firm, sincere pressure against his chest. 

“You’ll be taken care of, no matter what happens,” he said just above a whisper into my ear. “I know you’ll be fine and you’ll take care of Ari. You’re the strongest, bravest person I know.” 

“Stop saying things like that,” I hissed as my hands dug into his shoulders. “You’ll come back to us. I know you will. You will kill him and this nightmare will end.”

“I really hope you’re right, my love.”

I hoped so too with all my heart. 

Was it brave or cowardly to hold onto that hope? To reject any other possibility except for my man coming back home to me alive? I didn't care.

With a firm grip on the back of his neck, I pulled his lips to mine. His mouth crashed down on mine with all the fierceness and intensity of an ocean wave. As his kisses and tight holds possessed me, my body felt swept under a powerful current and I never wanted to return to the surface. 

"Natalie, I need something from you," Sol whispered against my lips like a confession. 

"Anything," I said between pressing kisses to his hot skin. 

"If I don't come back--"

"Don't." 

"No, seriously. Listen." He cupped my chin in his hand to make me face him. All the playfulness was gone from his eyes and what remained was intense determination. 

"If I don't come back, a part of me will live on in Ari. But." He paused and lowered a hand to my waist, then slowly trailed his fingertips across my lower belly where he stopped.

"I want to live on in a life that I create with you."