by Pavan Kaur
***
Jackson and I stand at the end of the tunnel as Hope talks to her friend. I look at my watch for the millionth time now. It’s just hit one, he’s about to come. When we were kids and he told us that he would be back at a certain time, he was never late.
“It’s nice to know that I’ll be taking Hope right in front of you.” I focus on the other end of the tunnel. Jack has a few men next to him. His eyes move to Hope and I feel relief run through me as her friend steps in front of her.
Jackson slowly starts walking over to Hope, as I start walking toward Jack.
"I have to admit, I do like how people fear you, Leo. There's a lot of talk going around about a man that does unthinkable things to people."
I too enjoy that people fear me, people like them should fear men like me.
Standing a few steps away from him, I see the men have their guns out, and I smile. "Can't fight your own battles?"
“Looks like you need help too.” He looks behind me.
I shake my head. “No, they are here to keep your men away from me so I can kill you.”
Jack starts laughing, and I stand there watching how the fucking asshole is so full of himself. He thinks that no one can touch him, but he's wrong.
Without a second thought, I punch him hard; hard enough for his face to be knocked to the side. One of his men takes a step closer but stops when Jack puts his hand up. “This one is mine.” Just as the last word comes out, he punches me in the face; he has a strong punch on him, he’s made my lip bleed.
He goes to grab my collar, but I move back making him rip a little of my shirt. “I’m going to make sure that you die slowly.”
I grin. "I'm going to make sure that you die fast." I swing my right hand over connecting with his jaw, and before I can swing again, he punches me back.
One of his men pulls me away from him. “I told you he’s mine!” Jack shouts.
One of Hope's friends yanks him off me, and I run back over to Jack and throw a few more punches, and Jack does the same. We connect hard knocks, and I can feel my face throbbing.
I yell out in pain and look down at the knife stuck in my side. I hear Hope scream out my name. Pulling the knife out and throwing it behind me, I hit him again. I grab my gun and hold it in front of me. I hear people running behind me, stopping Jack’s men from getting close to me.
“As much as I want to hurt you, torture you, I’m ready, we’re ready for you to die!” I shout at him. Before he can fight or his men can get to me, I pull the trigger and hear the sound echoing in the tunnel.
"Come on!" I hear Jackson, but I take the gun up to his chest and shoot again. I want to make sure the fucker is dead, and I'll never have to see him again. "Get off him," Jackson shouts and takes the gun from me and pulls me up, but I immediately fall to my knees.
“Leo.” Hope sobs as she cups my face, “Leo.”
“I’m fine, I promise.”
“You have to be fine because for the first time I have someone that I love. I love you Leo, so you better not leave me."
Sitting up a little, I take the back of her neck and kiss her. "I love you too." My voice comes out shaky, and I hold my side in agony.
"Yeah, yeah, get the fuck home, all clothes in a bag. I've got the gun," Jackson talks at a rapid speed; he knows the police will be here. "John, take him. Hope holds the gun, put your prints on it." I watch Jackson wipe mine off and hand the gun to Hope.
With a shaking hand, Hope takes the gun, as John helps me to my feet. "Wait, wait," I tell him before he drags me to the car. "What about them?"
"We have enough witnesses to say you were never here, the plan is fine, and they won't do too much talking, they know what happens to pedophiles in prison." Jackson looks at them. "Now get the fuck home, and John will clean you up," he shouts at me, and I look over at Hope once more as she stares down at Jack.
She’s just staring at him; I go to take a step closer. “Leo, what the fuck, John take him now! Fucking kick his ass if you have to.” Jackson pushes me away.
As John pulls me away, I look at Hope’s friends holding down the four men Jack brought with him.
“We all have the same story, yes?” I hear Jackson shout and they all nod.
Hope’s plan worked.
This is over. Five years is over and the weight that has been lifted off me, it’s like I’m breathing so much more freely.
The man that hurt me is dead.
The man I’ve hunted is dead.
The man that’s been hunting Hope is dead.
We won.
Epilogue
Leo
One year later
I’m lying on the floor as I watch my daughter on the play mat. At three months I would think her being here wouldn’t do anything, but her eyes are moving around so much as she looks at the animals spinning at the top.
My dad was right. Throughout the pregnancy, the only person I cared about was Hope, nothing else mattered to me, and I felt like I would be the worst father in the world. I didn't care about my own baby. But the day she was born and was in my arms, I felt like I had everything in the world. I knew she was going to have me wrapped around her little finger and I really didn't care.
I have two girls in my life that mean more to me than my own life and making sure they are smiling every day is the only thing I care about.
“Lunch,” Hope says as she sits on the floor next to me and hands me my plate. “I’ve put Jackson’s in the oven to keep warm.”
Leaning over to her I say, “Have I told you that you look beautiful?” Grabbing the back of her neck, I give her a kiss. Her hand rests on my cheek, as she kisses me back.
Hope still has her bad days. Sometimes she can't sleep in the bed. And sometimes she zones out, and it's clear she's thinking about the past, but I don't say anything to her about it. I mean it's only been a year; that shit will take some time to leave her, but she's not the same Hope I brought to this house. The darkness that I had around me, it's there for the same reason it is for Hope. It will take some time to really forget the past, but I don't care about it because I have light in my life now, that light's name is Hope.
She walks around with her head held high and smiles. Smiles every day.
“You have now.” Her smile brightens up my day. “You back to work this week?”
"Yeah, have a meeting with someone about them coming in to talk to the staff at We Are Loved." That place is doing so well, we have homeless people come in a lot for warm food and some stay to sleep for the night, but most of them eat and go. They let Doctor Adams check to see if they are okay, so that part is running smoothly. The other side of it is a little more tricky. We've had girls walk into the building, and we've won a few cases, but lost a few too. So, Jackson and I are getting the team together to talk about things.
“Back to being busy then.” She looks down at our baby. “Right, then Fleur it’s just you and me, huh?”
It didn't take us long to pick the name. Hope said she fell in love with the name Fleur the moment Jackson said it, but I wanted Nova after her mom, so in the end, we went with, Fleur Nova Masters.
“I’m sure I can work from home some days.”
“So, where’s my beautiful girl?” We both look up at Jackson as he walks into the room.
Hope smiles and rolls her eyes. “I’ll get your lunch.”
"Thanks, Hope." Jackson leans down and picks Fleur up. With him being around Fleur we've all seen a new side to him. We already knew that he would be protective, but if he's over—which is all the time—he won't let anyone else hold her. "So beautiful, what have you been doing today? I know you've missed me." He gives her a kiss.
“Why do you have a house?”
“You know why and I don’t want to talk about it in front of this little one.” He looks behind him to see where Hope is, then back to me. “You all ready for the weekend?”
“Yeah, I would ask if you’re ready, but looking at you that’s a stupid question.”
&n
bsp; I've planned a nice day tomorrow; we leave in the morning and come back in the evening as neither Hope nor I wanted to go for the whole night. We talked about getting married before Fleur was born, but Hope never really answered me. She would change the subject or make excuses to leave the room, so I thought she would say no and I left it. Even now, she doesn’t really talk about it, but I’m going to ask her. I don’t see my life without her in it; she’s the only woman I’ve loved and will be the only woman I love for the rest of my life.
“Jackson, your lunch.” Hope sits on the couch next to him to take Fleur so he can eat, but he stops her.
“I can hold her and eat at the same time.” Hope starts laughing as she makes her way over to me.
Leaning on the couch with my arm wrapped over her shoulder, I lean closer to her. “I love you.”
Turning her head a little she smiles warmly. “I love you too.”
Hope
A year has passed, and things have changed. Changed for the better. I mean I feared Leo the day he came into my apartment, but today I love him so much. I love the way he looks at me every day. I love him, even more, when I see him playing with Fleur. The way he smiles when he's with her, the way he laughs. I love everything about Leo.
I still have my down days, and I still have my bad nights, but they don't bother me as much anymore because my day is filled with so much light. That light's name is Leo.
"You ready?" He wraps his arms around me from behind, and he kisses my neck.
“I’m still worried about leaving her for the whole day.”
“I’m not, have you seen Jackson with her?”
I start laughing as Leo has a point; Jackson with Fleur is the cutest thing I've seen. Leo said that he wanted to go out for the day, just us. When I asked where he said we're staying in the city because he wants to show me, New York. Since I've been here, I haven't really experienced the city, and he wants to show it all to me. I didn't fight with him, as I'm really excited to see it.
“Do I need to change?” I ask him. He’s not telling me where we’re going or what to wear.
"I said jeans and a t-shirt, comfy clothes." Turning me around, he gives me a kiss. "You still want to go to the cafe?"
“Please.” I want to see Adam, he was the first person to talk to me without judging me and I’ve finally started to get the confidence to look at men, maybe not all of them straight away, but Adam is one that I want to see.
“Let’s go then. I have something nice planned for this evening.”
Taking my hand, he leads me downstairs, hands me a travel mug which is empty. I started drinking coffee a little after having Fleur to keep me awake. “Why is it empty?”
“We’re going to the coffee shop, we can get some there,” Leo tells me, then turns to Jackson. “Right, you call us and—”
“I will, I will. I think Hope got to me the second I walked through the door.” Jackson gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Have a nice day beautiful. Now, my little princess and I have a day full of cartoons.” Walking into the café, I hear Adam say, “Hey Hope, not seen you in a while.” Leo’s hand is on my lower back as we walk over to the counter.
I look up at him. “Hey Adam, two coffees please.” Adam smiles as his eyes roam over my face.
“I did say that you’re beautiful and I was right.”
"Thank you, Adam, and for the first time looking at you, you're handsome." I turn to Leo as he starts coughing and I give him a smile.
"I'll get you your coffee."
I lean into Leo, and he wraps his arms around me. "See it wasn't that hard, was it?"
“No.”
Once it's ready, I take our order from Adam. Leo pays and leaves him a big tip. "See you next week Hope."
“Yep.”
Taking Leo’s hand in mine as we walk down the street, I stay close to him.
One thing that I do enjoy now is coming out into the city during the day and being able to see what people are doing. Before I would be looking at the ground, but now I'm looking at the buildings. I never knew how tall they were. I get to see how amazing central park really is too. I missed a lot in the year that I hid away, and there's one person to thank for giving me the chance to see it, and it's the man next to me.
“Okay, this is the last place,” Leo tells me as I look up at the building.
Today has been amazing; Leo took me to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. I’ve been on the bus to see everything and I’ve loved every second.
“I really enjoyed today,” I tell him. I’ve told him so many times already, but this could almost be the best day of my life, after having Fleur.
“Well, it will only get better.” Leo takes my hand and pulls me closer as we step into the elevator and the door closes. Nuzzling my neck, he wraps his arms around my waist tighter so I can’t move away from him. “You know I can always book a hotel for us, I’m sure Jackson will be fine for the night.”
“As nice and perfect as that sounds, I’m sure that whatever you have planned, you’ll still do tonight at home.”
Leo starts laughing. “I suppose. Fleur tends to sleep for a few hours before waking up, but those hours you have to promise are mine.”
“I promise.”
The doors open and Leo turns me around, my back against his chest as my eyes widen.
"Leo," his name escapes in a whisper, and I can't take my eyes off the path of rose petals leading to the balcony.
He has to push me to move as I freeze on the spot. We walk, and my heart beats faster as I look at the candles flickering. I gaze down at the rose petals on the ground, and I wipe the tears escaping my eyes.
As we reach the end of the balcony, I turn to find Leo on his knee holding a box in front of him, and I gasp as I bring my hands up to cover my face.
"Hope, I promised you that I would never let anyone hurt you, I kept that promise. I now want to make new promises. I promise to make you smile every day, I promise to love you more than life itself. I promise that no matter what, you'll always be my life. You are the light in my dark world, and I promise to always be your light until the day I die. Hope, will you marry me?"
“Leo, yes.” Standing up, he wraps his arms around me as I cry into his chest.
“I love you.”
Where there is light, there is hope. Leo is my light.
The End
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgement
Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
Martin Luther King Jr
Thank you so much to the support that I get from my reader in my reading group, they are always there for me.
To my beta readers, telling me what was wrong and what was right, what they hated and what they loved.
To my cover designer for making this amazing cover I love it so much.
To everyone that read this book, you’ve taken the time out to read my baby, so THANK YOU xx
Pavan
xoxx
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