Beyond Revenge (The Ransom Series) (23 page)

Morgan looks at me nervously as I put
the
Jeep
in park and shut off the engine.

“It’ll be fine,” I reassure her.  “You
need to eat something, and we need to take care of Dante.”

With a reluctant nod, she gets out of
the Jeep and pulls our sleeping baby in his car seat out of the back while I
grab the diaper bag.

As if we’re right back in the acting
days of our time with Mark, we put our game faces on the moment we enter the
diner, warm smiles on our lips and well-mannered responses coming from our
mouths
as
the waitress seats us in a booth by the
window and takes our orders.

We spend most of our time eating in
silence, our bodies taking in the nourishment we know we need
while
our minds
are
completely elsewhere. 
Morgan
constantly
looks at Dante in the car seat
lodged between the table and the back of the booth
, concern written all
over her face as if he might disappear at any moment
.

He starts to stir by the time our
plates are almost clean, and he is full-on crying when she takes him in the car
seat to the restroom to feed him and change his diaper.

With the baby’s cries no longer fill
ing
the space around me, the diner suddenly seems overly quiet other
than the occasional clinking of plates and the hum of the small TV behind the
counter.  The minutes I’m sitting here are almost calming given the chaos of
the last few hours.

I’m fishing out cash from my wallet to
pay the bill when something catches my eye.  It’s a new
s
broadcast, a breaking story.  The volume on the TV is too low for
me to hear what the reporter is saying, but I see the words displayed clearly
on the bottom of the screen: “Decorated detective arrested on suspicion of
conspiring with criminals.”  They show a mug shot of Robert’s stern face, and
my heart instantly drops into my stomach.

I’m beyond grateful that Morgan isn’t
out here seeing this
. 
I’m already planning how quickly
I can get her out of the diner when I see something else on the TV, the worst
possible thing that could appear there.

It’s a picture of the three of us:
Morgan, the glowing mother, and me, the proud father, sitting on the bed
at our house
with Dante held between us
on the day he was born.  They must have taken the picture from
Cindy
’s cell phone.

I know we were caught up in the
exciting
moment of Dante’s birth, but how could we have been so stupid
to let
her
take our picture?

I scan the room around me as if at any
second someone will recognize me and realize we’re here.  I look for anyone on
the phone, people who could be calling the police at this very moment. 
Everything still seems normal around me, but I know our situation has just
become even more precarious.

This diner is no longer safe.  A hotel
is out of the question.  Any public place is now a risk, and I don’t know what
to do about it.  We have nowhere to go and only one person we can turn to.

We need Jack.  He can help.  He’d do
anything for us.  He always finds a way.

I quickly check my phone, but there are
still no missed calls.  I try dialing Jack’s number again, but it
keeps
ringing until it
goes to voicemail just like it has every
other time I’ve called since we got on the road.

When Morgan emerges from the restroom
with the diaper bag and car seat in hand, I’m immediately up and out of the
booth, leaving cash on the table and leading Morgan toward the door.  The
waitress says goodbye to us, and rather than giving in to my instinct to cringe
at the attention, I give her a brief smile instead.  We otherwise manage to
slink out of the diner without drawing the gazes of anyone else.

“You okay?” Morgan asks as we work
together from each side of the back seat to get the car seat secured in its
base.

When it finally clicks in, I look
Morgan in the eyes and debate for a full and painful five seconds whether I
should tell her the truth now or wait.  “I need to tell you something, but
let’s get on the road first.”

We
jump into
the front seats, and I pull us back on the main road.

Morgan keeps looking at me expectantly
. 
I know I need to tell her the news, but I almost can’t bring
myself to say it.  I don’t want to devastate her any more than she already has
been over the last year.

“They’ve arrested your dad,” I blurt
out.  “They have a picture of the three of us on the news.”

Morgan turns her attention to the road
in front of us, nodding silently.  No tears fall down her face.  No cries
emerge from her throat.  Her chest rises and falls with her steady breathing,
but no sobs rack her body.

She’s numb to it.  She’s beyond
devastation.

She’s losing hope.

I grasp her hand in mind and hold on to
her with everything I have left.  “I’ll keep you and Dante safe.  We’ll be
okay.”

Morgan looks at me with empty eyes, but
then we both jump at the sudden ringing of the cell phone in my pocket.  I reluctantly
let go of her hand to retrieve the phone and answer the call.

“Jack?”

“Thank God,” he says with a sigh.  “Did
you get out?  Where are you?”

“We’re on the road
, just over
the border in northern New Mexico
.  We stopped at a diner
. 
I saw Robert’s arrest and our picture on the news
there
.”

“I’m afraid it’s worse than that,” Jack
says gravely.  “The picture is going viral on social media.  Your faces are
everywhere.”

I’m speechless for a moment.  I can’t
even process this information.  “Why?  I don’t understand.”

“The world is outraged about the baby. 
No one likes the idea of a newborn in the hands of two known criminals.”

Fiery rage burns beneath my chest.  The
thought of anyone believing for even a second that I would do something to harm
or endanger Dante makes me absolutely sick.  He
is everything to me
and one of the happiest things to come into my life.  Why should
my past automatically define me as a threat to my child?

“He’s our son,” I plead with Jack
through clenched teeth.  I know Jack is well
-
aware
that we would never hurt our baby, but I need to vent.  I need to know that
someone understands.

“You’ll keep him safe.  I know you’d do
anything to protect that boy.”

My temper is flaring, my breathing
escalating to rapid draws of breath.  I need to calm the fuck down and form a
plan.  “I was going to drive a few more hours and take them to a hotel,” I say,
“but of course that’s out of the question now.”

If only I could will all of this away. 
We could be back in our house relaxing and enjoying our time together instead
of being on the road and running for our lives.

I feel lost and defeated.  I hate the
anxiety pulsing through me and my complete lack of control of the situation.  I’m
losing the strength I’ve tried to muster to get us through this.

“I don’t know where else to go,” I
whisper.

Jack interjects before I can say
anything more.  “Leo, I want you to listen to me.  Use the GPS.  There’s an
address in Crownpoint already programmed into it.  When you get to that address,
keep going south
and follow
the road
all the way to the end.”

“To where?”

“You’re coming to my house.”

His Persistence

∞

Once you’ve seen
it all,

little can surprise.

But life still has
its ways of testing you.

Setting you up to
fail.

Putting the world
against you.

Obstacles and
awful things.

Hell on Earth.

We endure and
persist.

We continue on as
we always have.

Striving for that
which is both near and far.

Against all odds.

It’s there,
awaiting discovery.

He and I will find
it.

Someday.

∞

By the time we pull up to the large
modern house tucked away
in a valley
in the desert
terrain, Jack is already outside the front door smoking a cigar.  It’s good to
know that even in this world of chaos around us
,
some
things don’t change.

Jack abandons his cigar to approach us
as Leo parks in front of the garage. 
I’ve barely stepped out of the
Jeep before
Jack pulls me into a hug, and I hug him back
fiercely.  He may as well be family at this point.  He’s done so much to
help
us and especially to
help me: from keeping me company and
maintaining my sanity when Mark took me, to providing a home for me and Leo to
live in when I was freed from Mark’s grasp, to helping me through hours of
labor and delivering my son into this world.  After everything he
’
s done for us, we’re back here yet again, on his own doorstep this
time.  I feel awful about it but am eternally grateful at the same time.

“I’m sorry we’re dropping in on you
like this,” I say over Jack’s shoulder as we continue our embrace.

“Don’t be sorry.  I have this big empty
house to myself.  It could use a little more life in it anyway.”  He pulls back
and gives me a warm, fatherly smile.

“Thank you, Jack.”  Leo holds his hand
out to Jack, who grasps it but pulls him into a hug instead of a handshake.

“Glad to help you three.”  He pulls
back from Leo
but keeps his hand on Leo’s
shoulder. 
“You know you’re like the son I never had, and now you have a beautiful
family.  I’ll do whatever I can for you.”

The lack of moving vehicle and
vibrating engine seems to have disrupted the sleeping baby in the back seat
of the Jeep
.  I peek inside to see Dante’s eyes open and the
beginnings of a cry in the adorable grimace on his face.

By the time I have his car seat out and
Leo has our bags in hand, Dante’s letting us know just how hungry and upset he
is.  As his cries echo into the
valley
around us, I’m
suddenly grateful for the seclusion of Jack’s home from the
nearby town
.

“The boy still has some power in those
lungs, doesn’t he?” Jack observes as he lets us into the house.

“He’s not shy about what he wants,” I
respond with a laugh before my attention switches to the inside of Jack’s
home.  It’s not quite what I expected given the gray, contemporary-style
exterior.  The innards of the house are cozy and relaxed with worn furniture in
the living room and old paintings on the walls.  In a strange way
the
décor reminds me of Jack’s wardrobe, which is dated but appropriate
for a man his age.

When I take Dante out of the car seat
and pull him to my chest, his screams start to settle into general fussiness,
and he quiets completely when I take a seat on the couch to let him nurse. 
Jack offers me and Leo something to drink, which we both decline, before he
takes a seat in a large recliner across from me with a cup of tea in hand.

Leo sits down next me, wrapping his arm
around my shoulder before turning his full attention on Jack.  “Any news since
we last spoke?”

Jack’s smile fades
as
his gaze dips to the cup of tea he’s holding.  “They found the
house.”

It physically pains me to hear these
words.  I loved that house.  It was the perfect place for our family to begin. 
It was secluded and more than we could have
ever
dreamed
to have for ourselves had Jack not stepped in to help us.  The thought of the
police and FBI tearing it apart makes me
livid inside
.

“Can they trace it back to you?” Leo
asks worriedly.

Jack shakes his head, still staring at
the cup.  “You’re lucky you got out of there when you did.”  He finally looks
back up to our faces with a deathly serious expression.  “I probably don’t have
to tell you this, but it’s going to be almost impossible for you to contact
Robert and Cindy now.”

Leo’s hand immediately finds its way to
my free hand in my lap.  Though I’ve known the reality of what Jack’s saying since
the moment Leo got the call from my dad, it’s still hard to hear the words out
loud.

“I think it would be best if we got you
three far away from here.”  Jack’s clearly not in a mood to sugarcoat any of
this for us.  “Think about where you want to live.  Pick anywhere in the
country, but the f
u
rther away, the better.  I’ll help
you find a new home there.”

I look down at Dante for a moment
before finding Leo’s eyes.  I feel lost, more so than I have ever been.  It
hasn’t even crossed my mind where else I would want to settle down with my
family.  The Southwest has always been home to me.  We have the entire country
to choose from, and I don’t even know where to begin.

“What about Maine?” Leo suggests.

I stare at him blankly.  To me, Maine
means lobster, and that’s about it.  I don’t even like lobster.  That is the
full extent of my knowledge of Maine.

Leo seems thrilled about it, though.  “It’s
as far as we can get from here in the continental U.S.  We could find a
secluded place, a small house in the woods.”

My body stiffens, and my eyes go wide. 
Just the thought of being back in a cabin in the woods makes me shiver.

When Leo sees my reaction, he rubs my
arm soothingly, lowering his voice.  “Sorry.  That was a stupid idea.”

“It’s okay.  I just…”  I pause,
desperately searching for the right words.  “I don’t even know where to begin
this conversation.”

“You don’t have to decide at this
moment,” Jack interjects, “but we shouldn’t wait too long, either.”

I nod at him as I look to Leo and then to
the baby happily feeding at my breast.  I don’t know why, but it seems
at
this instant my body has finally decided to give in.  The tears
I’ve been holding back come crashing down on me, but the sobs remain at bay. 
These are the silent, petrified tears that have been forced out of me by the
uncertainty that surrounds us and the worry that we’ll be caught and my family
will be taken away from me.  They’re the acknowledgement of the painful truth
that I may never see my parents again.

Leo cradles me to him.  Even through
all of this, he’s still my rock.  He brings me back, whispering comforting
words in my ear and rubbing my skin until the tears and shivers subside and I
am back to center again.  Dante has fallen asleep in my arms, and seeing him in
peaceful slumber makes me want to join him.  I’m ready to turn off, to let my
mind and body rest so I can process all of this better at another time.  It’s
pushing off the inevitable, but it’s what I need.

“I just want to sleep for a little
while,” I mumble, my brain feeling almost too far gone to get the words out
properly.

Jack sets down his tea cup on a side
table and motions me to follow him.  “I’ll show you to your room.”

Before I can
even
stand up, Leo’s hands are
already
sneaking
underneath the sleeping bundle in my arms, pulling Dante to him with a smile. 
I’ll never tire of the proud, glowing expression on Leo’s face when he gazes
upon his son.

“I’ve got him.  You get some sleep,”
Leo says encouragingly as we both stand up.  He kisses me briefly on the cheek
before he begins his slow rounds around the room, observing Dante in his strong
arms and whispering his own fatherly versions of sweet words and lullabies to
him.

Over the next
day
I seem to do a lot of resting, which I’m grateful for, but at the
same time it makes me uneasy.  I’d like to know that I’m actively doing something
to move us forward to get us out of this mess.  Remaining idle is something I
can’t do anymore since reentering this
existence of living in
fear and the unknown.  In the times I
’
m
awake, I get nervous, often pacing around the house lost in my own thoughts and
worries.  Jack and Leo both scold me constantly for forgetting to drink enough
fluids and not eating a lot at meals.  I can’t help it, though.  My body and
state
of mind
are no longer conditioned for this kind of life.

Back in the beginning when everything
in my life changed at the prison, when I was only responsible for myself, I
could handle
the
uncertainty and face the danger with
steadfastness and determination.  I was willing to take risks, often throwing
caution to the wind and almost flippantly disregarding any concern for my own
safety, making plenty of stupid decisions in the process.  I stood up to Mark
and his bullshit, and even though I paid for it, I was the only one paying that
price.

Then there was Leo.  When the lust
between us turned into something more
,
he wasn’t just
another one of my captors in that prison.  He was someone I cared about,
someone I wanted to help get out of there just as much as I wanted to be
freed.  I had to factor him into my decisions and keep his safety in mind, and
that made everything harder.  My decisions affected him, and I couldn’t afford
to make the wrong choices.  I had to do what seemed right to help
us
both
.

Then there was Dante, the only person
who is truly innocent in all of this and the one who could be destroyed the
easiest.  If the authorities find us, they’ll take Dante away before they can
even get the handcuffs
around our wrists
.  Being
separated from Leo
again
would be hard enough, but I
cannot even fathom being separated from my baby.  The thought of Dante growing
up in a foster home calling strangers his parents absolutely guts me, and I
can’t get past it.  I will not let it happen.  I will do absolutely anything to
keep us together as a family.

But what can I really do?  Our faces
are plastered across every social media site, news program, and police station
all across the country.  People are outraged that we as two fugitives from the
law decided to bring a child into this world.

I wish I could respond.  I want the
world to know that we love our son and that we’d do anything for him.  I wish
they could understand that even though this was my choice and I couldn’t
imagine life without Dante now, he wouldn’t have been a thought in our minds if
it weren’t for Mark and his plans to steal me from Leo
to create
his own child.  Asking Leo to plant his seed first was the hardest
decision I ever made, but it was also the best one.  It was a choice made
sooner than I would have liked, but I’m so glad I made it.  I wouldn’t have
that part of our lives be any other way.

It’s the rest of our lives that I wish
I could change right now.

“Come sit with me,” Leo offers,
settling
in
on the couch and patting the cushion next to him.  He’s
got that
sly
grin on his face like he’s up to
something, and I can’t help being a little excited to find out what it is.

I have a feeling it may be something
that requires some privacy though, so I glance around the open floor plan of
the house just to make sure Jack’s not around.  I hear his muffled voice from
down the hallway.  He’s been closed up in his office most of the day on the
phone with his attorney, the man who helps work Jack’s magic when it comes to
securing secluded places to live, getting fake identification papers created,
and accessing Jack’s
abundant
funds in hidden bank
accounts.

He seems occupied enough, and Dante is
happily sleeping in a laundry basket serving as a makeshift bassinet in one of
the spare bedrooms, so
I
give in and take the offered
seat next to Leo.

He
pulls me
to
him so that my back is against his chest and my head rests comfortably
on
his shoulder.  His strong arms wrap around me, consuming me with
warmth and balancing out the worry within me.  I rest my hands over where his
connect in my lap and I let him hold me with my eyes closed for a few minutes.

One
of his hands
ventures
away from mine
and
sneak
s
under the lining of my bra to cup my breast.  My eyes open and I
inhale sharply at his touch.  His other hand finds its way beneath the lining
of my underwear, tickling me all the way down between my thighs where he rubs me
gently, igniting my body like a firework.

“Leo…” I begin to scold as I turn my
head toward him, but he finds my mouth with his lips and interrupts any further
attempts at speech.