Chapter 43

A loud bang jolted me out of my sleep, my ears ringing with the intensity of the noise it produced. Shooting to a sitting position, I reached for the gun I’d successfully hidden from Matthew, but a round of shots had me scampering to the floor.

Matthew’s wails were followed by footsteps towards the room I was in and my heart dropped as my trembling hands raised to aim the pistol at the door. Matthew had deadly enemies, making it hard to tell who was going to pop in.

My stomach was in knots, twisting at the same pace as the key turning in the lock. A click had me tightening my grip on my weapon as the door slowly flew open. Blinding lights shone on my face, voices screaming orders I could barely understand.

I shook my head, trying to focus and ignore the ring in my ears. “Ma’am, drop your weapon,” a voice yelled again, the words clear enough for me to ease my grip on the pistol, letting it drop to the floor.

“It’s her. Call him in, it’s her!”

“You’re safe.” Lionel’s soothing voice had my eyes flying open, the queasiness that had taken over me reducing immensely. The moment felt too surreal, my hold on Lionel tightening like he would vanish any second. I couldn’t bear it if it turned out to be just but a dream.

“You came,” I managed to say. “What took you so long?” I found my question laugh-worthy, seeing as I could barely believe my rescue had happened quickly and almost effortlessly. Not to forget I was hardly unharmed.

He let out a belly laugh. His hand stroking my face. “I told you I would. Better late than never.”

Hoisting me into his arms like I weighed nothing, he walked out of the room, asking me to shut my eyes. Was Matthew dead and he didn’t want me to see? That compelled me to peek when we got to the living room. A yelp escaped my lips when Matthew’s body in a pool of blood registered in my mind, nausea kicking in at the smell of blood.

“Is he dead?”

“I told you not to look,” Lionel scolded. “He’s still breathing, it seems like he has nine lives.” Paramedics rushed to him, hoisting him to a stretcher and scurrying out to an awaiting ambulance.

I was about to answer when my father spoke, “We just circled the perimeter. Three of his men surrendered. The area is secured.” With a beam on his face, he covered the distance between us. “Everything is okay now. You don’t have to be in fear anymore.”

I nodded, tears welling in my eyes. It was difficult to believe all my crises had come to an end.

He squeezed Lionel’s shoulder. “Take her home.”

* * *

The next couple of weeks were spent going back and forth court hearings. There were too many charges that had to be looked into with utmost care. Every time we went in, a new case was constructed against him; he was implicated in a lot of criminal activities, making it arduous for him to ever leave prison after the final verdict.

We moved back into our old house, leaving the beach house as a getaway for whenever we needed a break. I was delighted to resume work, Lionel frequenting the eatery more than the customers themselves. My highlight of the day was constantly serving him breakfast every morning after his workout sessions and getting ubered home every afternoon.

“Do you mind spending a few more hours with me after work,” Lionel asked as I cleared his table.

“It would be my pleasure.” I winked, loading the tray. “Let me drop this, change then we can go.”

He nodded, slipping his usual tip in my apron. “I will be right here.”

“Aren’t we going in your car?” I asked when he steered us down the street instead of the parking lot.

“Nope, but we’ll be coming back for it in the next hour.”

With our fingers interlaced, we strolled past the sea of bodies going about their businesses. A peaceful kind of silence settled between us, gleams on our faces and elation in our souls as we reveled in each other’s company.

We arrived at the park, the birds flying about heightening our jovial mood. “You wanna ride with me?” He pointed at the pedal boats at the shore of the lake.

A grin overtook me, bobbing my head in agreement. Once we were in our life jackets and settled in the pedal boat, we began steering it off the shore, cackling at the pressure we had to use to get it to move.

“I can do this every day,” Lionel teased, earning an eye roll from me.

“As if it isn’t already obvious. You work out every other day, so this is like a piece of cake for you.”

“Unlike some other people.” He reached out to pinch my cheeks but I swatted his hand away in time, his snickers filling the air, blending with the chatters from kids and parents basking in their glee.

“How far do you want us to go?” he queried.

“I’d love to explore the other side but we shouldn’t go too far. Can the boat flip over and capsize?”

“Yes, if the boat isn’t properly maintained and checked oftentimes, anything can happen.” His smile faltered when he noticed my sudden tenseness. “Can you swim?”

“Yes, I’m certainly a good swimmer but sharks freak the heck out of me.” I shuddered at the thought of anything going awry. I couldn’t have overcome all those hardships only to get swallowed by some fish.

Lionel threw his head back and let out a guttural laugh. “You watch way too many movies. Such things don’t happen in real life so easily. The sharks can’t go too far from their habitat which is miles and miles away. If they did, no one would be allowed to come near the lake.”

I nodded, suddenly feeling dumb for not knowing this. “Well, we can peddle to the tree over there.” I gestured at the said tree a few meters away.

“Sounds good to me,” he said, his expression shifting to a serious one. “If it’s okay with you, I would like us to talk about something important.”

I halted my motions, the boat coming to stop when he did the same. For some reason, my heart picked an offbeat. What if he didn’t like me anymore and wanted to give me the, ‘It’s not you, it’s me line?’

“Of course, I’m all ears.” I voiced out, managing to conceal my uneasiness.