Beyond Resistance (The Ransom Series)

by A. T. Douglas

  I need to get home to my family. We need to run, to abandon this place and get far away from here.

  Then I remember where my grandfather is and how I put him there, and suddenly it’s all too much. I can’t take it anymore. The emotions and pain and guilt build to a breaking point within me, and I shatter apart completely.

  “Marini,” I whisper, and Lily freezes next to me. “My last name is Marini, and my parents aren’t the dangerous criminals the world thinks they are.” My voice builds with each word, anger and pent-up frustration seething through each syllable. “They loved me and cared for me since the moment I was born, so fuck the rest of the world for thinking otherwise.”

  “Dante…” Lily pulls me into her embrace, and I grip her back just as tightly. Silent tears stream down my face, but they’re not caused by something I expect. They’re fueled by relief. After keeping this secret locked inside for my entire life, it’s liberating to finally tell it, even though I don’t know what it will mean for my future.

  “I don’t know what happens now,” I admit after a few minutes, immediately prompting Lily to pull back from me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have to tell my parents you know about my family. I have to tell them about my arrest today… and my grandfather’s accident.” God, my parents are going to fucking kill me. “I can’t hide these things from them. If they think the risk is high enough, then we’ll have to run.”

  Lily immediately shakes her head. “No. You have to trust that I won’t say anything about this. I would never do anything to put you or your family in danger.”

  I shift in my seat uneasily. “I want to trust you, but look at it from my perspective. You’re a damn journalist. That’s almost as bad as if you were a cop.” A heavy sigh escapes me as I realize the other part of all this that I’ll have to tell my parents. “I haven’t even told my family that you work for a newspaper. That fact alone will make them want to skip town.”

  “Then I’ll quit.”

  I look at Lily incredulously. “What?”

  “I’ll stop writing the column for the paper. I’ll send in my resignation tonight, effective immediately.”

  I’m stunned into silence for a moment by Lily’s suggestion. “You can’t give up your dreams for this. I don’t want you abandoning your career.”

  Lily shrugs. “Lately I’ve realized it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and it doesn’t mean I have to stop writing completely. I’ll just steer clear of journalism and stick to other forms of writing.”

  Peering out into the dark and quiet parking lot, I struggle to find the right answer. I don’t like the thought of Lily changing the course of her life like this, but it would go a long way toward proving to my parents that she has no intention of selling us out to the public or the authorities.

  With a heavy sigh, I reluctantly nod. “I just want you to be happy.”

  “Being with you makes me happy.” A content grin flashes across Lily’s face just briefly before a more serious look returns. “I love you. I would do anything to protect you.”

  I lean in to kiss her, my lips doing all subsequent talking for me as they show her all my love and how deeply I care about her. By the time I pull back from our exchange, I know I can’t push this off any longer. It’s time to make the phone call I’ve been dreading.

  Lily watches me fish the phone out of my pocket and immediately stands up. “I can go wait inside if you want.”

  I shake my head and encircle her waist with my free hand to pull her back down to the bench. “I want you next to me. I want to hold on to you for as long as I can.” I don’t want to acknowledge that this is the end, but it could be. The next five minutes will dictate the course of the rest of my life, and I can only hope that Lily will be a part of it.

  As I dial the number, Lily entwines her arm with mine and grasps my free hand, giving me exactly the support I need at this moment. My heart races within my chest as I wait for one of my parents to answer the call.

  The call connects, and after a few seconds of muffled shuffling, I hear my dad’s raspy voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “Sorry to wake you.” I figure I’ll start out small before I really lay this on them. “Did I wake up Mom, too?”

  There’s silence for a moment before I hear my mom on the line. “I’m here. You’re on speaker. What’s going on?”

  “A lot’s happened today,” I start out before realizing how much of an understatement that truly is. “Before I say anything else, I need you to know that despite everything that’s happened, I truly believe we’re going to be okay.”

  “Dante, you’re scaring me,” my mom says shakily.

  With a deep breath and a glance to my side at Lily’s comforting face, I press forward. “I was arrested today. A guy was feeling Lily up at the tavern, and I snapped. They booked me at the station, but Lily convinced the guy not to press charges.”

  “What were you thinking?” Dad says under his breath. “Jesus Christ, Dante. They could have discovered you.”

  “But they didn’t,” I interject. “Robert doesn’t think they will, either.”

  “He already knows about this?”

  “That’s the next thing I need to tell you.” My throat instantly constricts at the memory seared into my brain of Robert stuck in that hospital bed. “I called him from the station. He was coming there to help me, but there was an accident. A drunk driver hit his SUV and ran him off the road. He’s got a concussion and some bruises and a broken arm, but they think he’ll be fine.”

  The faint sobs of my mom crying fill the otherwise silence of the call. I can hear my dad speaking in hushed voice to my mom, but I can’t make out what he’s saying.

  “Does Cindy know?” Dad asks calmly.

  “Robert’s going to call her. He thought he should break the news.”

  “He’s at the hospital now?”

  “Yes. We’re there with him.”

  “Who’s we?” Dad asks with concern before there’s a sharp intake of breath over the line. “You have Lily there with you in the same building as Robert? What the hell are you thinking?”

  “Dad, you need to calm down.”

  “Calm down?” he says in disbelief, his voice escalating. “You’ve got yourself arrested and landed your grandfather in the hospital all in the same day. How the fuck am I supposed to calm down after hearing that?”

  I remove the phone from my ear and close my eyes, finding it physically impossible to continue in this conversation. The tightening in my chest becomes unbearable, and I have to let the emotions out. I burst into a sob, unable to collapse my hand over my mouth in time to prevent its escape. Lily’s arms are instantly around me, and while I want nothing more than to find comfort in her presence and her touch, it feels like nothing can make this situation better right now. I’ve failed my family in every possible way. My dad has every right to be furious with me and disappointed in me.

  I ruined everything.

  Before I even realize what she’s doing, Lily grabs the phone from my hand and puts it to her ear as she stands up and walks away with it. “You need to understand something about your son,” she says forcefully into the phone as I get up to chase after her into the parking lot. “He’s the kindest, most caring person I know. He protects me and makes me smile and fucking makes life worth living. Sure, he made a mistake or two, but you need to hear him out and cut him some slack.”

  Lily doesn’t wait for a response. She stops in her tracks and hands the phone back to me. Even in the darkness I can tell she has a fiery look on her face.

  In the shock of what just happened, my emotions come completely back in check. I reluctantly put the phone back to my ear and clear my throat. “That was Lily, by the way.”

  Silence fills the line. I begin to wonder if they hung up the phone, but my dad’s voice finally comes through again. “She’s right. We need to hear you out. You said everything was going to be okay, and we trust you. Just tell us the rest of it.”<
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  Pacing back and forth a few steps each way, I work up the courage to tell them the final pieces of my failures today. “Lily knows who we are. She never saw Robert, but a nurse called him by his full name and Lily recognized it. She knows our family’s history.”

  “How did she–”

  “She’s a journalist,” I quickly interject, ready to get this over with. “She writes a monthly column for a newspaper in Bangor.”

  “A journalist? You’ve been dating a journalist for the last three months?”

  “An investigative journalist, to be exact,” I clarify, wincing at my own words. “She has no intention of telling anyone who we are, though. She’s even willing to quit her job at the paper to prove it to us.”

  “But can we trust her?” Dad sighs heavily. “If she turns us in, there are no second chances. It will be the end for us.”

  “We’re in love,” I admit simply as my eyes find Lily’s. “I don’t know what greater level of trust you can have between two people than that.”

  I wait anxiously as I hear my parents in a hushed discussion on the other end of the line. Lily watches me with concern, and I’m immediately drawn to her, closing the distance between us so that I can pull her against my chest and hold her close to me. I’ll hold on to her for as long as I can while my parents decide my fate.

  “It’s okay, Dante,” my mom finally says, though her voice is unsteady. “Everything will be okay. We’re just glad you’re safe.” She takes a deep breath, clearly having a hard time with this, and I wish nothing more than I could be there with her right now to comfort her. A half-laugh, half-sob escapes her. “Tell your grandfather to hurry up and heal already. We can’t risk coming to the hospital if they figure out who he is, so tell him we wish we could be there.”

  “I will. I’m so sorry about all of this.”

  “Don’t be sorry; just be careful,” Mom replies. “We love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  As I drop the phone from my ear and end the call, Lily looks up at me from where I still have her held to my chest. “You doing okay?”

  I nod in response, pleased to find that despite the trying events of today, I really do feel okay. “I don’t have to leave town. We can still be together.”

  “Thank God.” Lily sighs in relief and snuggles into me even more. “You’re always protecting me and making me feel safe and loved. It’s time you let me do the same for you. I’ll protect your secret.”

  Lily pulls back just enough to look up at me with her loving eyes before she presses her lips to mine. I could stay like this forever, our mouths meeting and our bodies embracing and our souls colliding, but I know I need to go inside the hospital and check on Robert. I pull back from Lily and glance to the emergency room entrance. “I should go back inside.”

  With a smile and a nod, Lily takes my hand and walks with me back toward the hospital. “Let’s get you back to your grandfather.”

  24

  In the few days it’s been since the snowballing events that threatened to change the course of my life, I’ve found myself torn apart internally, and the emotional toll it’s taking on me has been utterly exhausting. I’m grateful to have had Lily by my side and the support of my parents when I went to see them the day after everything happened, but despite the encouraging words they’ve thrown at me and the fact that Robert is out of the hospital and recovering at home, it’s hard to push past the guilt I feel over what happened.

  No matter what they say, I know it was all my fault. Everything that happened that day was because of me, and no matter how long and hard I think about it, I can never change that. It’s a devastating feeling.

  “I can’t take it anymore,” Lily says in frustration as she plops down on the couch next to me. I guess she’s caught on to my aimless staring out the window in the living room for the past half-hour. She looks at me with expectation, as if I’m missing my cue to jump in and ask her what she’s talking about, before she sighs and demands, “We’re going out. I’m taking you somewhere. Well, actually, you’re taking me there, because I don’t know how to get there.”

  I give her a sideways glance. “Where is there?”

  “Your favorite place in the world. Your special spot in the woods.” She looks away and seems to think for a moment. “Though I’m bringing something soft to sit on this time. That damn rock bench is great for serenity but doesn’t do much for comfort.”

  I laugh as Lily grabs my arm with both hands and forcibly pulls on me, though I don’t budge an inch. “I don’t know.”

  “I do know. Girlfriend always knows best.” She stands up and doubles her efforts to yank me up with her.

  When it starts to feel like my arm might come out of its socket, I give in and stand up with her. “Okay. We’ll go.”

  Lily bursts into a smile and kisses me briefly on the cheek. “Perfect. I want you to relax, and if you’re a good boy and do just that, maybe we’ll have a little fun while we’re there.”

  She winks at me before strutting away, highlighting her backside to me with each step she takes toward the stairs in the snug yoga pants she’s wearing.

  That alone is enough motivation for me to go along with this.

  After getting dressed and packing some drinks, snacks, and a blanket, we head out in my car to my hidden entrance to the waterfall area. It’s a beautiful fall day as we drive through the woods, the air’s temperature taking on a bit of crispness but maintaining enough heat from the sun to make it feel like earlier in the fall than it really is.

  I park the car and grab our supplies before following Lily down the overgrown path painted with fallen leaves into the woods. We’ve only been here a few times since the day I first brought her here over two months ago, but by the way Lily is taking the trail, you’d think she’d been down this path a million times already.

  I have to resist the urge to skip straight to the fun part of this outing as we walk past the grassy area near the waterfall. Making that stop first would defeat the purpose of this trip. Lily’s right. My rock bench along the creek is where I’ll have the best shot at finding clarity in my thoughts and some amount of peace with what I’ve done. I need to face that battle first before I move on to other more welcome distractions.

  When we arrive at the rock bench, I lay the folded blanket down on it to make the seat more comfortable before helping Lily up onto the rock and taking a seat next to her. The moment I’m seated, I can already feel the calm taking over me. The subtle sounds of nature and the flowing creek play a beautiful soft soundtrack in the background as I close my eyes and focus my thoughts.

  Lily wraps her arm around my back and gently rests her head against my shoulder, but she doesn’t say anything. We sit like this in silence for a while until I’m alerted by a sound nearby. My eyes shoot open and immediately scan the woods around us.

  “What is it?” Lily asks quietly, sitting up with concern.

  “Something’s out there,” I whisper before jumping down from the rock. “Stay here. Let me check it out.”

  She nods with worry as I pull a switchblade out of my back pocket. I’d rather have my dad’s hunting rifle in my hands, but this will have to do.

  With soft steps on the dirt, I make my way silently up the path in the direction of the sound I heard. The adrenaline coursing through me hits its peak and my heart skips a beat in my chest when I see the source of the sound.

  My parents are walking down the path toward me. They’re coming here from the house.

  I look behind me to gauge how far I’ve moved from the rock bench, but it isn’t that far. I can see Lily straining her eyes to see where I’m looking in the distance. It’s possible she’s already spotted my parents’ approach.

  Bolting into a quick run, I close the distance between me and my parents as quickly as possible, looking up just in time to see their shocked faces at finding me here.

  “What are you doing here?” Mom asks as Dad scans the woods around us.

  I ignore
the question and get straight to the most important point. “Lily’s here. She’s at the rock bench. She may have seen you.”

  Mom’s hand flies to her mouth as she turns to my dad. They seem to be having some kind of silent conversation between them before Dad nods and addresses me. “Can we meet her?”

  “What?” I don’t know why I’m questioning him. I’ve dreamed of introducing Lily to my parents, though I’ve never let myself acknowledge that it could ever be more than just a dream.

  “We’ve wanted to meet her for a while now,” Mom explains, “we just didn’t know the right way to go about it. This seems like a good opportunity.”

  I’m completely stunned. My jaw is hanging open and likely hitting the dirt path below. This isn’t how I envisioned this going down. I never saw this happening at all.

  “Sure,” I blurt out. “We can do this now.”

  My mom laughs and pulls me to her in a hug. “Don’t look so terrified. I promise we won’t scare her away.”

  “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting this. We’ve never done this before.” When we pull away from our embrace, I look back and forth between my parents. “You’re sure about this?”

  Dad pats me on the shoulder before motioning to the path ahead. “Let’s go meet your girlfriend.”

  It feels a bit like I’ve entered an alternate reality on the opposite side of the universe as I take the first steps back down the path toward the rock bench, my parents following closely behind me. I can barely process this situation let alone figure out what I’m going to say to Lily when we get to her.

  When we emerge about fifty feet away from behind a tree, Lily looks up and spots us. The initial confused expression on her face quickly dissipates into a look of understanding mixed with shock. She hops down from the rock just as we approach.

  I clear my throat awkwardly, struggling to find my voice to say the words I never dreamed would leave my mouth. “Lily, these are my parents, Morgan and Leo.”