Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
NONA
Five days had passed since Tristan and Blythe had been taken.
My babies were bouncing back better than I expected, but there was still the occasional bad moment.
Blythe was suffering from nightmares that woke her up every night for the past four nights, and she couldn’t be calmed down until Trick came in to talk to her.
It killed that I couldn’t soothe my baby girl in those moments, but I was so thankful that I had an incredible man in my life who could offer her that comfort.
I’d wanted to keep them with me at all times, but Trick had been right in insisting that we guide them back to their normal lives, so as hard as it was for me to let them go, they’d returned to school two days earlier.
And that had been the right call. Both my kids were social butterflies, so being around their friends helped.
Hell, Tristan was beside himself. Word of the kidnapping had spread like wildfire, and my kids were the talk of the town, taking their popularity stratospheric, and my boy was eating it up.
According to him, his friends thought he was the coolest for coming out of the situation as well as he had.
Trick and I had sat them down and given them the truth about that day, and while they put on a brave face for me, I’d reached out to a therapist and scheduled their first appointment anyway.
I knew something like this was bound to lay dormant, and I wanted to give my babies every tool they needed to deal with the pain of what they’d suffered through.
I wasn’t so prideful as to think I’d be unscathed by the events that had taken place, so I planned to seek professional help as well, but there was something I needed to do first if I had any hopes of moving past the nightmare we’d all lived through.
“You sure you’re up to this?” Trick asked.
“I’d rather be back at the salon,” I answered on a mumble. “But this is something I have to do. I can’t move on until this is done.”
A second later, the door across from us opened, and a shackled Chris was led into the cold, gray room by a prison guard. He kept his gaze pinned on me as he was sat in the chair across the metal table from us, refusing to acknowledge Trick’s presence.
I remained silent for a minute, giving myself time to look him over.
His entire face was covered in bruises, some deep shades of purple, others faded to yellow and green as they healed.
His nose had a splint on it from a bad break that I knew he’d gotten from Trick , and a nasty gash on his eyebrow had been stitched up.
There’d been a time in my life where I loved this man.
He never deserved it, and he took advantage of that love, but there was no changing the fact that I’d give it to him anyway.
Now, as I sat there staring across a table at him, all I felt was hatred.
“Surprised to see you here,” Chris said, breaking the silence.
“You look like shit.”
Chris’s eyes narrowed, and he looked to Trick for the first time since stepping into the room. “Yeah, well that’s because of your boyfriend and his buds,” he grumbled.
A knowing smile tugged at my lips, and I lowered my voice to say, “Really? From what I hear, you fell down a flight of stairs while running from cops like a coward.” I leaned forward.
“Or at least that’s what everyone in town is saying, and seeing as you like to blame everyone else for your own fuck ups, I’m inclined to believe all of them over you. ”
His head turned to the side, almost as if he felt too much shame and guilt to maintain eye contact.
Good, I thought. He deserved every ounce of pain he was suffering.
“How...” he cleared his throat awkwardly as he looked back down at the table. “How are the kids.”
“They’ll be fine,” I answered. Chris closed his eyes, his whole body sagging in relief.
“Because of me and Trick,” I continued, finally getting to why I’d come.
“They’ll be fine because of me and Trick, and because we gave them the truth, and are getting them the help they’ll need in order to cope. ”
Chris’s head shot up, his eyes going wide in bewilderment. “Y-you told them?”
My hands clenched into fists in my lap, and it took everything I had not to launch myself across the table and scratch his eyes out. As if sensing my rising fury, Trick reached over and placed a hand on my thigh to keep me centered.
My man, always having my back. “My kids were taken from their own home. A man broke in, scared the hell out of them, tied them up, and held them for over an hour until Trick found them. All because of you! So yes, I told them why that had happened, so they wouldn’t have to live in fear that it would ever happen again. ”
“I can’t believe you!” Chris had the audacity to shout. “You’re tryin’ to poison my kids against me!”
I let out a bitter laugh. “See? This is your problem. Everything that happens to you is someone else’s fault.
You’ve never, not once in all the time I’ve known you, taken responsibility for your own actions.
Poor Chris, he’s never to blame for anything.
Leaning forward and bracing my palms on the table.
“They’re no longer your kids. They’re mine.
As we speak, my attorney’s working on having all your parental rights stripped.
You will never see my kids again, Chris.
As long as there’s breath in my body, I’ll make goddamn sure of that. You put their lives at risk.”
“I was gonna get the money! I never would have—”
“You were caught trying to leave town!” I shouted, slamming my hands on the table hard enough to make him flinch. “You knew where they were, and you ran! You’re a coward, and I’ll do everything in my power to protect my babies from the likes of you.”
His throat worked and his eyes grew glassy. “You... you can’t just take my kids from me,” he said on a broken whisper. “Please, Nona. They’re all I have. Please.”
I couldn’t find it in me to feel the slightest bit sorry for him. “To late. You’ve already lost them. They want nothing to do with you, and you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.”
With that, I stood, causing the chair to scrape loudly across the floor as I pushed it back. Trick was right behind me as I headed for the door.
“No,” Chris called. “Nona, please! Just wait!”
But I was done.
The door closed with a sense of finality behind us. I managed to make it out of the prison and to the parking lot before the weight of everything that had just happened hit me. I sagged against Trick’s truck, and he was there within a second to scoop me up and wrap me in his arms.
“You okay, baby?”
“Not even close,” I muttered, burrowing into him. “But I will be, eventually.”
Pressing his fingers beneath my chin, Trick forced my head back so he could look into my eyes as he declared, “You know I love you, right?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my vision blurring with tears.
“Take all the time you need. You don’t have to be okay today or tomorrow or next week. You take as long as you need, ’cause I’ll be here to carry the burden for you until you think you’re strong enough to face it.”
“God,” I cried, burying my face in his chest as tears leaked from my eyes. “I’ve lost count!”
“Lost count of what, beautiful?”
With a sniffle, I lifted my head and wiped my cheeks dry. “The number of blessings I have in my life.”
Those gray eyes went quicksilver right before he leaned in and gave me a kiss that took my breath away. And just like that, he made everything better.