by S. Van Horne
“Not happening.” I wrap my arm around Len’s shoulders and guide her towards the water.
We walk along the shoreline and are just content in the silence that’s between us.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Dante?” she says as we gaze over the water.
“So very beautiful that it takes my breath away.” She turns towards me and realizes I’m not talking about the scenery. “Come. I want to show you something I found.”
She nods and I guide her into the wooded area. I find the tree that I saw when I went for a walk earlier. I point to the tree that has our names carved into it and raise an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah, I was sixteen and you just left.” She blushes, and it causes me to chuckle out at her.
“Give me your left hand.”
She cocks her head, but holds out her left hand.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the box. I pull the engagement ring out and slip it onto her ring finger. I take a second and let the feeling of ownership run through my system. I lift her hand and kiss the ring on her finger.
“Len, marry me,” I say and drop down to one knee.
She stares at me and just nods while I hold her hand. I jump up and take her in a deep kiss while making sure I don’t crush Marcus who’s sleeping in the carrier that’s attached to my chest.
“We’re getting married as soon as we can. I’ll protect you from anything. I’ll die for Marcus and you if that’s what I have to do.”
She has tears falling from her eyes as she stares into mine, and I can see the love in them. I also see fear, and I know she’s worried. Let’s hope the detectives can help find this asshole so we can move on with our lives.
“I love you so much, Dante. I don’t know what I would do if something ever happened to you,” she whispers.
“I love you, Len, and I’m not going anywhere if I can help it. One more time.”
“One more time.” She leans her face up at me for a kiss.
I ravage her mouth in a deep kiss. I show her in that one kiss just how much she means to me and that nothing will keep us apart besides death.
A twig snapping pulls me out of the kiss. I glance over to see Sin off in the distance. He nods towards the house and walks away. I turn back at Len and grin.
“We need to head back, mio tutto,” I whisper to her.
We walk back hand in hand towards the house. Once we get to the clearing the Moms are rushing towards us squealing. I look over at Lucky who has this huge grin on his face. Fucker couldn’t keep a secret.
“Let’s see the ring!” Momma Connie yells out after she had smothered Len in hugs and kisses.
“Isn’t it perfect?” Len exclaims while holding out her hand.
“It is, and knowing he got it when he was overseas years ago makes it even perfect!” Mom tells her.
“What?” Len asks.
“I bought it overseas during one of our R and R times. I saw it and knew it was the ring I was going to put on your finger one day.” I shrug my shoulders at her and her face goes from confusion to disbelief.
This causes a new set of tears to trickle down her face. I walk over, frame her face with my hands, and lean down to kiss her again.
“I told you, I knew four years ago that you were it for me, but I had to wait until it was the right time. Now, dry up your tears and go show everyone your ring. I’m going to go and lay Marcus down.” I lay another kiss on her and walk away before the urge to take her upstairs with me gets too strong.
We have been going through the papers for hours now with the detectives. Len explained, yet again, what happened to her and what she knew which was harder this time since everyone was in the room to hear it. After her last breakdown, I made her go upstairs with the Moms and rest.
“I have a feeling that he might be back in Kansas City waiting for her to show up. I would think, since the pictures show that he knew where your parents lived, that he’s probably watching the houses. I’m thinking that maybe we should set up a trap for him to fall into. We just have to be careful about it. We don’t want it to look like a set up,” Edmonds roughly grinds out, looking at the pictures again.
“What do you mean a set up? What are you thinking about?” Doc murmurs out, leaning back looking over at him.
“We’re thinking of having Len be the bait, so to speak. This will draw him out and he won’t know…” Walters starts to say.
“Fuck no!” I roar out.
“I agree. You’re not using Len for this. Hasn’t she been through enough?” Carlo growls out and clinches his fist.
“You have to understand we’re thinking that this may be the only option,” Edmonds spits out.
“So, you want to put her in danger? And before you state you will be watching and protecting her, you can’t guarantee that she’ll be safe. We both know that shit can happen, and that isn’t something I’m going to allow with my fiancé,” I tell them though my clenched teeth.
“We could make sure she’s as safe as we can make her. I think this is the only way to get him. The faster we do this the better it will be for her,” Walters tries to tell us.
“No! I’m not going to allow her to do this. I just got her back, and I refuse to put her in danger. Think of something else.” I jump up and slam my hands down on the table.
“Dante, you have to…” Walters says, but is interrupted by a voice I didn’t expect to hear.
“I’ll do it.”
I spin and face Len who is flanked by Momma Connie and OPG. I start shaking my head and open my mouth to speak, but I’m cut off when she holds her hand out to stop me.
“Dante, I refuse to live in fear anymore. I have to help end this so we can move forward with our lives. I’m done looking over my shoulder. Don’t tell me not to do this, because I’ll go behind your back and do it, Dante. You want me to be safe then work with them and make sure I am,” she spits out, then looks over at Edmonds and Walters. “The plan was to head home in a week. So, can we hold off and do it then? I want to enjoy my family a little more before the chaos starts.”
“Yes, Ms. Shields, I think that’s great and will give us time to plan everything, as well as go over all this evidence that we now have from the car,” Walters says quickly before I can, yet again, demand her not to do this.
She nods then turns and goes back up the stairs. I’m way too pissed to follow her, so I go for a walk. I storm outside and head into the woods. I can’t believe she’s willingly putting herself in danger. I can’t allow this to happen, because it would destroy me if something happened to her again. I’m thinking about tying her to the bed to keep her from doing this, which really is sounding good for more than the reason of keeping her from going, but I know that wouldn’t go over well.
I hear footsteps and turn to my right. I see OPG standing there watching me with understanding on her face.
“You can’t stop her, honey. We both know if you try she’ll fight even harder. This is also her way of showing him that she isn’t afraid of him and that she’ll defeat him. She needs to do this so she can move on,” she quietly tells me.
I stare at her and take in her words. I know she’s right, but I don’t have to like it. I’m just not sure if I can handle the possibility of her being taken again. I just got her back, damn it.
“What you need to do right now is go and work out the best plan to keep her safe. After you get that worked out, get your ass upstairs and make sure Len knows you’re on her side.” She turns and walks away.
“OPG, can you let them know I’ll be in shortly? I just need to think things through before I can go in there. Also, tell Len I love her and will be up shortly.”
She turns back to me with a smirk and nods before walking away. I head deeper into the woods because I have a lot of thinking to do if I’m going to be okay with Len doing this set up.
Twenty-Seven
LEN
My head pops up when I hear someone coming up the stairs. I’
m hoping it’s Dante, but a second later the door opens and OPG steps into my room. She gives me a sad smile as my face falls.
“He went for a walk. No worries. He told me to tell you that he’ll come back once he calms down.”
I nod at her, then walk over to the window, and stare at the woods. I knew he would be pissed, but I didn’t think he would want to be away from me. I just can’t stand being in hiding anymore, and I’m ready to get back to life.
Marcus starts to fuss and I know it’s time to feed him again. Walking over to the basinet, I pick him up and comfort him while I head over to the rocking chair. I glance back out the window as he eats and I wonder how long it will take Dante to get back to us.
“Stop worrying, Len, he’ll come when he’s ready. Your Pa used to do the same thing with me. I learned over time that it was better to let him go off to calm down some,” she murmurs and pats my shoulder.
I just nod because I can’t talk around the lump in my throat. I try not to think about how upset he is with me. I hear OPG quietly leave my room and I know that she’s giving me time to process things.
By the time Marcus is done eating, I still haven’t worked through how I feel about Dante leaving. I’m just hoping that he won’t hate me for the choice I made. I see that the sun is starting to set, so I get Marcus ready for bed.
After a bath and another feeding, I place him in his basinet. Dante since he hasn’t come back and that makes my mind start to wonder to just how upset I might have made him.
I’m trying to decide if I want to go downstairs or just stay here. I know they have to work out the plan for the set up and I should be a part of it. I just don’t want them to see the disappointment on my face if he isn’t down there.
I jump at the sound of the door opening and turn to see Sara, Julia, and Ashley standing there with narrowed eyes. My breath catches at seeing my best friends after being away from them. I try to swallow but it’s like my throat’s closed and I can’t pull my emotions together. Not being able to hold off any longer, I immediately jump off the bed and run to them with tears running down my face.
“I can’t believe you didn’t call us when you got away. What the hell, Len?” Julia growls out and she engulfs me in a huge hug.
“I was scared. I’m sorry, and I’m so glad you’re all are here,” I sob out and I’m yanked from her arms and straight into Sara’s.
“Never do that shit again, do you hear me? We would have never told anyone, you know this,” Sara murmurs into my ear and holds me close to her.
“Give her to me, and then I want my nephew!” Ashley pulls me gently from Sara and wraps her arms around me.
“Yes, our nephew! I can’t wait to see just how cute that bugger is!” Julia squeals out.
“Since when do you use the word bugger? You’ve been hanging out with Eagle, haven’t you?” My eyes narrow at her.
“No comment,” she murmurs, and walks towards Marcus.
“What do you mean no comment? Julia, he has a girlfriend!” I harshly whisper to avoid disturbing Marcus. I forgot that he was sleeping when I saw the girls.
“He doesn’t, actually. They broke up a month after you left. She didn’t understand and hated that he was spending so much time trying to find you,” she sadly tells me and gently runs her hand down Marcus’s head.
“Speaking of your situation, we need to be filled in on what’s going on,” Ashley demands and sits on the bed.
“Wait, who told you where I was?” I ask.
It worries me because Steven’s still out there, and I know he’s been following them.
“Well, when Eagle didn’t text or call me for a day now, I knew something was up. So I texted him saying we were coming down, which honestly, we were going to leave tomorrow anyway. He then texted and said to be careful and keep an eye out on anything weird. He said that if we were to see something off to pull over to the nearest stop and use a different phone to call him,” Julia explains. “I knew something was up. After the girls and I talked, we headed down here. Nothing was out of the ordinary that we saw. When we pulled in the guy’s ran out and Dante is the one who ended up telling us.”
“We then told them to tell us where you were and not to bother us for the night, because he had you for over a day now. It’s our turn. We pulled the girl posse card,” Sara states, walks over, and looks down at Marcus who has ended up in Julia’s arms.
“Oh, well, I’m really not wanting to discuss it. But I also know you three won’t stop asking until I talk. So, get comfy, because it’s going to be a long talk.” I crawl up the bed, lean on the headboard, and just start pouring out everything.
Hours later, after lots of hugs and tears, I’m finished telling them what happened. I’m so emotional drained and just want to go to sleep.
“Why don’t we take Marcus so you can get some rest? You’re tired, and he will be fine with us,” Sara says, she stands up and walks over to the basinet.
“Yep, we got this. It’s Aunty time!” Julia squeals.
Ashley is already packing things up in a bag for him.
I give him a kiss on his forehead and watch the girls walk with him out the door. I debate if I want to go find Dante, but decide that I just want sleep. So I crawl back into bed and, the moment my head hits the pillow, I drift off into a deep sleep.
Twenty-Eight
DANTE
I hear footsteps and see the girls coming down the stairs.
“We got Marcus tonight because Len’s drained,” Ashley says as she puts down the bag she’s carrying.
“Is she okay?” Neil asks.
I jump up from the table to head to the room to check on her.
“She’s fine, just exhausted. She told us everything that happened. I want to kill that fucker. I can’t believe that…” Her voice trails off behind me.
I take the stairs two at a time to get to Len. I slowly open the door and see a lump under the covers. I quietly close the door and then begin to undress. I make my way to the bed and realize that I haven’t talked to her since I went for my walk. I feel like a complete asshole that I haven’t expressed that she really wasn’t the reason I was pissed.
I gently get into bed and wrap my arms around her. I hear a slight snoring coming from her. I kiss the back of her neck and decide to let her get some sleep. It’s been a difficult day for her, but come morning, she won’t be leaving this room until I’ve told her just how much she means to me.
“Dante, help me! Please, HELP ME!” Len’s screams have me jumping from the bed and rushing out the door.
I head in their direction and end up tripping over something. I glance down and see a body drenched in blood. Slowly and fearfully, I turn the body over and see it belongs to Ms. Cindy. With two fingers on her throat, I feel for a pulse, but can’t find one. A cry sounds and I know it’s Marcus.
“Len, where are you, mio tutto,” I yell out in the calmest voice I can muster.
Carefully, I scan the room, wondering where in the fuck the guys are. There is no way someone could get into the cabin with all of us here. I stand up and rush towards the stairs.
“Dante, please, he’s going to kill us!” Len calls out as I hear a piercing scream coming from the back porch.
I rush towards the sliding door and see Adams there with a gun to Len’s head. She’s trying to shield our son, holding him close to her, and trying to sooth him.
I start to take a step to them, but stop when she looks at me. My breath hitches at the pure terror in her eyes.
“Take another step closer, and I end both of them,” Adams growls out at me and makes my eyes snap back to him. “I told her she was mine, and I won’t let her go. You can take the child though. I won’t have him in our home with the children we’re going to have. Len, put the baby down, or I will shoot him.”
I watch her as she gently lays Marcus down on the porch and slowly turns towards Adams. My mind races, trying to figure out how to get Marcus to safety, an
d then get Len away from Adams. I begin to take a step towards Adams when she takes off running towards the woods. I hear a loud crack fill the air and see her fall to the ground. Adams turns the gun on himself and another sound fills the air. He falls off the side of the porch.
I run to Len’s side, turn her over, and see blood pouring out of her.
“Dante, you’re shaking.” I barely hear the words coming out of her mouth.
I try to speak, but can’t get anything to come out of my mouth. Why can’t I talk to her? I need to tell her how much I love her, that I can’t lose her. I close my eyes hoping I can get my words together.
“Dante, amore, come on open your eyes.” Her voice is coming out stronger now and I try to open my them.
“Dante, please, your scaring me.” Her voice is full of panic which has me snapping my eyes open.
I’m covered in sweat. Wildly, I look around and spot that she’s above me. Concerned is etched on her face as she gazes down at me searching my face to make sure I’m awake. I realize that I was having a nightmare.
I feel sick at the memories of my dream, seeing her bloody on the ground isn’t something I ever want to think of. My heart feels like it is going to thump out of my chest, and my breath is coming out in heavy pants. I reach out and hug her to me, hoping it will calm my emotions down.
“What were you dreaming about, Dante? You kept screaming out my name, and it took me a while to wake you up,” she murmurs in my ear.
“Just a nightmare, Len.” I blow out a breath and hold her tighter. I’m not going to tell her about it.
She gives me a kiss below my ear, and I grow hard immediately. I need to make love to her to get that image out of my head. I pull her head back by her hair and begin kissing her gently on the lips. The moment I feel her melt into my chest, I gently turn us so I’m the one on top.
“Dante, are you sure? You just had a nightmare,” she moans out as I nip her neck.
I don’t answer her. I just decide to show her that I need this, that I just need her.
