Chapter 19

Leo

I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

A couple of hours ago, I would have rather tied Kristen up and locked her away than let her see what’s behind the door under my stairs.

But it’s funny how getting shot really gives you a fresh perspective.

I know. It’s cliché.

The key is stiff as it slips into the lock—it’s not exactly like I open it very often—but with a forceful twist of my wrist, the barrel gives way. The unburdening of my secrets is heralded by a heavy ‘click’ that cuts through the tension in the room.

The door swings open, and I lean in to flick the switch. The light flickers on slowly, and a golden glow radiates from the naked bulb. It bathes Kristen’s face, illuminating the spark in her eyes as she realizes what she’s looking at.

“Oh, wow…”

For a second, a stab of guilt jolts through my body. But I brush it off, considering that the pain radiated from where a bullet was previously occupying my body.

Perhaps running away into the night with Kristen isn’t what a doctor would recommend. But I’ve got no time to lay back and enjoy some bedrest.

If I don’t leave tonight, I’ll die under Lawson’s thumb. Whether it’s tomorrow or in two years or ten.

It’s now or never.

I know what’s in the room in front of us—I’ve tortured myself looking over it. So, I watch Kristen’s face carefully as she studies each object. She steps forward, stepping over the threshold.

Her fingers trace over thick stacks of hundred dollar bills. It’s nowhere near the two million I’d been saving, but it’s no meager sum either.

Her eyes glance over my collection of guns—the handguns I’ve been keeping, even a rifle. The bullets are stored in the drawers under the cases.

But she can probably assume that.

But as Kristen follows the assortment of weapons and cash and some minor relics from my past, she inevitably reaches the source of her amazement.

This is what I had been hiding from her earlier.

It’s a relic. An artifact from another life—another Leo.

From back when I was still a kid and before Oberon Lawson had ever sunk his claws into me.

“What is it?”

Kristen motions to the woman’s motorcycle jacket hanging on the wall. The black leather is practically immaculate, but the shoulder and elbow armor show subtle cracks from use. The purple silk lining peeks out from the folded down collar.

It’s exactly the same as it was when I saw it last.

When it was left to me.

Beneath the jacket, on a small table, sits a sleek black motorcycle helmet with a reflective, one way visor. Not a single speck of dust sits on the polished Kevlar.

Last but not least, next to them all, is a photograph in a silver frame.

It shows a woman—wearing that same jacket and holding the shiny black helmet under her arm. In the other, sitting on her hip, is a little baby boy—dark curls haphazardly fall from his head and over his eyes, but nevertheless, he grins a toothy grin, a large gap smack center.

On her hip sits me.

“Leo…is that…?”

I nod my head and bite my lip somewhat. I’ve never told anyone about her before—I’d never found anyone worth telling.

But Kristen needs to know.

“That’s my mom.”

“And is that you?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I say, chuckling, despite myself. “What you can’t see in that picture is the bicycle she’s teaching me to ride, painted to match her motorbike…I used to daydream that, one day, we’d end up riding together.”

I can see Kristen trying to piece everything together, so that she doesn’t have to ask the inevitable question.

But it’s exactly that: inevitable.

“What happened to her?”

In my head, I run over all the different ways I could phrase it. No one’s ever gotten to know about my mother—much less been able to interrogate me about her life and significance to me. It feels odd to talk about her…but also freeing.

I feel like I’ve locked away a part of me—that kid in the photo—so that I could become the man that Lawson wanted me to be. But now I get to set him free.

“She died. When I was young.” I stare past Kristen and focus on the photo.

Looking at my mom there, it seems impossible that anyone so full of love—so full of life—was capable of dying. That’s how I felt at the time.

Yet here I am.

“And then you went to live with your dad?”

“That’s funny.” I laugh dryly. “But no…my dad was a deadbeat. I have no idea who is. Never wanted to know.”

“Then what happened?”

“After she passed, I was taken in by another one of Lawson’s ‘made men’. A guy from his inner circle and his family…but I was practically groomed from childhood to be his right-hand man one day.”

“Oh, Leo, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.” I shrug her off. “Lawson might have taken a lot of things from me—he robbed me of my chance of being a normal guy—but they can’t take away the last few memories I have of her.”

I sigh and reach out to take Kristen’s hand. I pull her against my chest, wincing as her body gently brushes against the bullet hole.

“And I won’t let them take you from me either.”

She buries her face into my chest, and I lean down for a moment, resting my nose on the top of her head and taking a breath. She smells soft and clean after the shower—despite my interruptions.

I do not deserve to have a girl like Kristen. I never imagined that such a perfect woman existed.

But I’m glad to be proven wrong, and I hope that no one ever realizes just how lucky I am—or else they’ll try to take it away from me.

“If you’re really sure about this, then I’ll sell all of it. The house and all my possessions. They’ll be gone,” I whisper into her hair.

I don’t know why I’m whispering. It’s not like Lawson can hear our conversation.

“But I won’t leave this behind. If you’re going to come with me, then you need to take her helmet and jacket.”

“Are…are you sure?” Kristen pulls back and looks up at me, on her face a look of disbelief.

But there’s a heaviness in my heart that tells me I’m doing the right thing.

“I’m sure.” I nod. “If she ever got the chance to meet you, I know she’d want you to have it.”

“Oh my god, Leo.” Kristen looks over her shoulder at the jacket that hangs on the wall.

I already know it’s going to fit her perfectly. All that’s left to do now is pack a bag of clothes and grab all the cash we can find before we set off.

I thought by spending that two million dollars to save Kristen, I was throwing away my second chance. I thought I was about to kiss my chance of a new life goodbye.

Perhaps getting shot and riding off into the night wasn’t quite the future I had in mind when I imagined starting a new life. There’s no chance of an early retirement in the life I’m about to choose.

But when I’m with Kristen, it definitely doesn’t feel like I’m working either. I won’t be able to put my feet up, but I’d run forever it meant I got the chance to be with her.

When the bags are packed, stuffed to the brim and straining with stacks of bills and enough clothes to last us both, I turn to Kristen. The closet door still sits open, the light shining on the jacket and helmet.

I stop and motion to her. “Go on, take it.”

Kristen takes the jacket from where it hangs on the wall and shrugs it onto her shoulders. It fits to her form like a glove, but as she takes the helmet and begins to walk towards the front door, she pauses.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking at my bike in the driveway, sitting patiently in the still early morning air.

“We can’t leave her behind.”

“What?”

Kristen turns suddenly, walking back towards the empty closet. I watch her curiously as she takes the photo frame and turns it around, popping open the back and lifting the photograph from where it rested. She slips it into her inside pocket.

She turns back to me, smiling contentedly, and as she walks towards the door, I pull her into my arms.

I can’t help myself. I press my lips down onto hers, holding her at the waist as she melts into my body and lifts a hand to hold onto my cheek.

“God, I fucking love you.”

Kristen smiles at me. “I love you, too.”

I let her go but slap her on the ass as she walks out of the door and toward the motorbike. Kristen giggles, and she climbs on behind me.

I kick the engine into life, and it roars in the silent midnight air.

“I want to be in a new town by sunrise, and I want to never look back.”

I smile. “Then what’re we waiting for?”