Love's Journey- Makaila's Story

by Sherell Lynn

  I parked my truck a couple blocks from one of my construction sites, where the drop off was to take place. It was nothing, but a hollow metal shell on a concrete foundation. My workers had left for the day. The only thing remaining was the equipment they used to clear the land and build the building. Once done, it would become a supercenter employing hundreds of workers. My plan was to watch the guy get the money and then ambush him. Before I had seen the picture of Bella, this jerk had a chance of walking out of this alive. There’s no way of that happening now.

  I was hiding behind a dump truck waiting for his arrival. I didn’t have to wait long because I could hear a car driving up to the site.

  “What the hell?!”

  A familiar car pulled up. The driver’s side door opened and out stepped Ava. What was her connection to the man I had a conversation with over the phone? I wasn’t sure, but I was going to find out. Maybe she was here for something other than the money. That idea quickly got obliterated by watching her pick up the money in the duffle bag.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I had sneaked up behind Ava and roared out my question.

  “Adam!” She huffed in surprise. Her hands started shaking, almost dropping the bag. I stared her down trying to figure out what I was going to do with her. I had been prepared to kill the bastard who kidnapped the love of my life. This shit had really thrown me for a curve ball. I would never hit a woman, yet this one standing in front of me deserved nothing less than a cap in her ass.

  “Answer the question. What the fuck are you doing here?” Her body trembled in fear from my outburst. I grab her by the arm, yanking her out of shock.

  “P-please…please don’t hurt me Adam.” She cried out giving me her puppy dog eyes. It wouldn’t work this time. She was not getting out of this.

  “Tell me what’s going on and I might let you live.” I demand.

  “Okay, do I have your word on your family’s name that you will not hurt me?” she asked through tears.

  Damn her, she knew from my family’s long history in this town that when a De Luca gave you his or her word on their family, it would be honored.

  “You have my word,” I regretfully agreed.

  She shook her head back and forth. “No, no, Adam you have to say on the De Luca family’s name, say it and I will tell you everything and anything you want to know.”

  What was with these people and their demands? I was sick of it. I swore soon that they would pay. And they would have to abide by my rules, but for now while they had Bella, I had to wait for that time to come.

  “Yes, Ava you have my word on the De Luca name, now open those lips and tell me everything.”

  “Okay. Right after you called me asking if I had heard from Bella, a guy showed up.”

  I squeezed her arm a little tighter. “What did this man look like?”

  “He was tall and muscular with dark skin and grey eyes,” she answered.

  “And what was his name?”

  “He said his name was Chris.” She looked up at me, waiting to see if I had any more questions. When she saw that I didn’t have any she kept going. “He told me that he had been watching me for some time and knew that Bella and I had a falling out.” Her eyes averted to the sky.

  I interrupted her right there. Something about that bothered me. “What gave him that impression?” I asked. She gave me some bull crap story about this guy Chris, observing her at work and stalking Bella, and just putting two and two together. It made sense about this guy stalking Bella and the people in her life. I just felt like she was holding something back. She went on to tell me, Chris had apparently threatened her life if she didn’t help him. She claimed she only agreed to help him if he didn’t hurt her or Bella. I had a feeling that Chris and Ava were closer than she admitted. I just had a nagging feeling they were.

  “Where is he?” I questioned her hoping she would tell me the truth.

  “He is at the private airport my father uses to fly across the country, for his work when he is not at the local hospital.”

  I pulled her towards her car. “Take me to him.” I demanded. One hour later, we were at Ava’s private airport. She had sent the text to Chris confirming she had the money. Not long afterwards, Chris texted me with the address where I could find Bella. I forwarded the text to Alex and he was on his way to rescue my girl. Very soon, this would all be over.

  42

  Ava

  Finding Adam at the construction site had been a surprise. He was supposed to have dropped the money off and be on his way. He must have gotten someone to retrieve his precious Bella. It goes to show how important she really is to him. He would rather be with his money than with her. I laughed in my head, not wanting him to get suspicious. As we approached the tarmac I saw Chris standing there waiting on my arrival and for the pilot who would never come. Boy was he in for a treat. To my dismay, Adam suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at me.

  “All right, Ava, you are going to step out the car and stand beside Chris. Do as I say and you will make it out of here alive.” I nodded my head reaching for the door handle. I guess he was going back on his promise to not hurt me.

  I stepped out of the car and so did he. He walked around putting the gun in the small of my back and pushed me forward. Chris studied him for a moment before setting his eyes on the bag full of money in my hand. I could tell he was wondering if he could escape with the money. When we reached Chris, Adam pushed me to the side. The force he used was strong enough that I fell to the ground. Then a popping sound rung through the air followed by a loud scream. I looked over and saw Chris had fallen to the ground holding his kneecap that blood was spilling out of.

  Adam dropped to the ground, delivering punch after punch with the gun in hand, adding more power to the blows Chris was receiving. I watched in amazement.

  “Did you really think you would get away after what you did? Putting your dirty hands on Bella.” Chris grunted out in pain. Fear washed across his face when Adam stood and pointed the gun toward his head. Chris tried to speak, but after suffering from a gun to the face several times no words came out. Tears streamed down his face as he pleaded with Adam to spare his life.

  Adam gave him a sinister look right before he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet landed right between his eyes, his body stilled. Adam then threw the gun on the grown staring at Chris’ dead body. All the commotion had left Adam distracted. If he had been paying attention, he would have saw me grab the gun that was strategically placed on the side of my calf, underneath my clothes. Boom! The gun goes off, no warning to Adam. One shot through his back, piercing him right in his lung. I wanted him to die slowly while I gave him a bedtime story. His body had fell face first on to the ground. I rolled him over watching him gasping for air.

  “Who’s surprised now, Adam?” I wiggled my eyebrows just to show him my humorous side. “Hah you…hah.”

  Adam tried to articulate his words, but nothing was coming out clear. Placing a finger over his lips I say, “Shh, my love, save your breath. It might be your last. I really didn’t want to have to kill you, but you left me no choice, when you chose that slut over me. The two of you ruined everything by trying to get a happily ever after together. If you would have given me a chance that night of your catering event, we all could have been happy. Bella and I still would be friends. And I would be the one engaged and pregnant with your child.”

  I took a second to look at his handsome face. “You both are to blame for leading me down this path. I tried to be happy for you two in the beginning, thinking you might notice what a mistake you were making. Time went on and no light bulb had gone off in your head.” I tapped the gun on the side of his head and laid down beside him wrapping his strong arms around my body.

  “Doesn’t it feel good to just lay together?” I wasn’t expecting a response so I continued. “Anyways, I got restless waiting for my time to come to be with you. Therefore, one day I invited Bella out to dinner. I am a great ac
tress, if I must say so myself. I really had her going with my story of heartache about Luke dumping me. When I sent her to the bathroom, I slipped something special into her drink. You see my daddy is the chief of medicine and has access to all sorts of drug cocktails. There are days where I take what I need and no one ever knows it’s me. Bella was supposed to die that night. That way she would no longer be in the picture. I’m your ride or die baby.” I sat up on my elbows and offered him a kiss on his lips.

  He tried to turn his head in the opposite direction. I can’t say I’m not disappointed “Adam don’t fight our chemistry together. Oh, I get it! You want to hear the rest of the story, right?” I give him my incredible smile. “Okay, so as you know Bella doesn’t die. However, I did manage to turn you away from her. It worked for a while any way. Then I met Chris. He had come by my company to talk shop. At first, I thought he was another Bella worshiper. After letting off a rant about the beloved Bella, he gave me the best proposition I have ever heard. Hey, did you know that’s not even her real name? And that she and Chris are married? Chris wanted his wife back, which worked out perfect for me. Again, we would have the opportunity to be together.” I notice Adam’s breath had become more labored. Thinking to myself, I had better wrap this up I pick up where I left off.

  “Then Chris had to get greedy and ask you for money. He had the nerve to want to leave her here in this town with us. I planned to kill him myself. Thanks for taking care of that for me. You see we make a great team. Although you did rather ruin my plan by showing up, I forgive you. If you hadn’t shown up, I would have come here to kill Chris myself and then circled back to town and kill Bella. This new plan I have in my head could work. Listen up and tell me what you think. You die instead of Bella and we both grieve over your death. We realize we are stronger together and repair our broken friendship. I help her raise baby De Luca with the added five million and we live happily ever after.”

  I checked to see if he was still breathing. Yep, he still is. Off in the distance, I hear sirens. How in the hell did the police know to come here? “Good-bye, my love. Maybe we will be together in the next life.” I kissed his lips for the last time. I ran as fast I could to get in my car, but I was too late. The police approached, demanding me to step away from the car. I dismissed their warning and got in any way. I knew I could out run them. I started my engine and glass begins to shatter as bullets soar into my car. I reversed the car bending my head down, so that the glass and bullets didn’t hit me.

  “Ahh!” I screamed out in pain, one of the bullets had struck me on my side. I hit the accelerator, thinking I must get out of here. Bullets were flying ubiquitously through the sky. I could hear them forging impact with the metal of the car. Blowing circular holes clean through the car hood, doors, and windows. Not being able to see, I had no idea if I was making any progress in my escape.

  “Oh my God! I don’t want to die,” I hollered. I beg to no one in particular to make it out of this alive. I had plans for my life. Suddenly, I felt a few more bullets infiltrate my body. By this point, I was hurting so bad I didn’t even know where the bullets had landed. Bullets were ricocheting left and right inside the car. The popping sounds were a nightmare to my ears. It was becoming harder and harder to breath. Gasping for air, I realized I might not make it out of here.

  My hands fell to my side and my foot eased off the gas. The taste of blood entered my mouth at a rapid speed, so much so I couldn’t seem to keep any of it in. It came spewing out of my mouth like lava in a volcano. Time felt like it was slowing down. I was trying desperately to keep my eyes open, but my eyelids were so heavy. I noticed the blue sky up above, a beautiful sight to see. In a flash, the gun firing stopped. The cops were probably getting ready to approach the vehicle. The sky, oh, it was so pretty. Inhaling and exhaling made more blood rush in my mouth and out my nose. The clouds were floating, big and white fluffy clouds. I could feel my body slumping over and I tried to sit up, but no matter how hard I tried it did not happen. The car door opened and there was a man at the door. I saw that he was a cop right before everything went black.

  43

  Bella

  Whoever said that the second trimester gets easier I would like to personally kick their behind. I was getting ready to approach the third trimester and pregnancy symptoms were still lingering. This little De Luca was constantly fluttering around my stomach. Add that to the heartburn, fatigue with bouts of nausea and you have one tired and cranky mama. Even with all the changes my body was going through, the good and the bad, I felt blessed.

  Outside factors had tried to end my life along with my child. But we stood strong and we survived. The day I got out of my storage prison unit was a day I thought I would never see. When Chris left that one day to follow through with his plans he didn’t return until the next day. He only came back to give me one bottle of water and a lukewarm TV dinner. This persisted on for days. Those meals had no substance and the water never really quenched my thirst, it wasn’t enough.

  My body hurt from laying and sitting on the concrete for a whole week. I became weak from the lack of food and water. I heard the door unlock and feared what would happen next. It wasn’t Chris’ normal time to come. It was not like I knew what time of day that was, but I could sense he was earlier than normal. He must have lost the key because he came ramming into the door.

  “Bella, Bella are you in there?” I heard what sounded like Alex on the other side.

  “Alex is that you?” I screamed. He confirmed that it was and a few minutes later the door swiftly opened and Alex came running inside. He picked me up in his arms, gently removing the hair from my face and carried me outside.

  “Thank God I found you!” He whispered as his forehead touched mine. All at once, his soft lips kissed me. I could taste the peppermint flavor that lingered on his breath. Alex deepened our kiss. Moreover, I let him because in that moment, I felt his love and I was so thankful for it. Alex carried me to an unfamiliar car, where a man opened the back, passenger door. He got in while still holding on to me. He directed the man to take us to the hospital.

  At the hospital, I was treated for dehydration. Dr. Q, came by and reassured me that the baby was okay. I was kept there for observation. It was during that night, I had found out Adam had gone after Chris and as a result had been brought to the hospital due to his injuries. Adam was in critical condition therefore the doctors thought it was best to place him in ICU. I initially thought that he didn’t care to find me. After learning that he went after my captor, risked his life, while ending Chris’ to make sure that he never tried to hurt me again, my mind was changed. Adam spent over two weeks in the hospital. He had to have a type of surgery called thoracotomy, due to a bullet and blood leaking into his lung. If that wasn’t bad enough, he developed an infection, which they had to treat with antibiotics. It was touch and go every day that he spent in there. I tried to stay by his side the whole time, but Alex and Mr. Garett demanded that I went home and rested. They also persuaded Dr. Q, to come and lecture me about the risks of staying at the hospital with Adam while pregnant. I begrudgingly went home to rest, but every day I returned.

  Alex tried many times to come comfort me. If he wasn’t doing that, he was asking me what the state of our relationship was. I didn’t have answers for him. I truly didn’t know. On one hand, he had stuck by me when the man that vowed to make me his wife had not. Then on the other hand, that same man happened to be his brother. How messy was that? I decided to wait until Adam got better and out of the hospital before I made a decision. The police decided not to press charges on him determining that it was self-defense. That was something to celebrate within itself. The day he was discharged we were beyond thrilled. I stayed with him throughout the day. I cooked and cleaned up before I told him I had to go. Adam pleaded with me to stay, but I declined. He let us continue this way for three days before the alpha male in him came out.

  We were now sitting across from each other at Adam’s dinner table. I had made
one of his favorite meals. Garlic basil chicken in a tomato butter sauce with asparagus, and risotto as side dishes.

  “Tesoro, sweetheart,” Adam said getting my attention after several minutes of eating in silence.

  Looking up from my food, I stared into his blazing blue eyes. “Yes, Adam.”

  “We need to talk.” I knew what was coming so I put my fork down and gave him my full attention. He did the same.

  “I want to start out by telling you how sorry I am for the way I treated you when the car accident happened.”

  I stayed silent, I wanted to forgive him, but this talk was long overdue and there was a lot that need to be said.

  “By my actions, I allowed another woman, Ava, to get between us. I also allowed Alex to drive a wedge between us too. That’s the worst part because he is my brother. I love him, but I love you more and I am willing to fight for you, for our love.”

  Adam got up and spun me around in the chair, until I was facing him. He placed his body between my legs and held me by the waist. He eyed me to finish pleading his case.

  “Bella, I can’t lose you. After I realized what a fool I was for doubting you, I wanted to personally kick my own ass. I know my brother loves you, if you want to be with him, I guess I will have to accept that. I want you to be happy. That’s why I had to make sure Chris never bothered you again. I didn’t want you to have to ever look over your shoulder or be afraid. No matter what you decide, I will always be here for you and our child and I will love you both until the day I die.” By now, Adam was in tears and so was I. His message was heartfelt. His hands came up to caress my cheek wiping my tears away with his thumbs.

  It broke my heart to see Adam, who was so strong succumb to tears. My mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. I was overwhelmed, there were too many emotions flowing through me to get any words to come out. I tried once again.