Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
This is it, I think as a sense of dread and desperation comes over me. I’m going to die.
The sound of a gunshot echoes through the garage like a clap of thunder. Frank topples over backwards and hits the ground behind me like a bag of wet meat.
“Close your eyes, angel!” Even through the ringing in my ears, I hear Cane’s voice call out and do exactly as he says. I clamp my eyes shut, and as I do, I hear the sound of a second gunshot.
Seconds later, I feel Daddy’s hand on my arm. He lifts me to my feet and pulls the gag from my mouth.
“You’re okay,” he whispers into my ear. “I’m here now, angel. “You’re okay.”
I’m in a state of shock as he tries to help me walk, and after a few steps it becomes apparent that my legs are simply not listening to me, so Daddy picks me up and carries me in his arms to the door.
The outside light is blinding, and I bury my face in his chest as the tears begin to fall.
“That’s okay, angel. You can cry. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
“How…how did you find me?”
“How could I not?” he asks, stroking my head. “I ran into a couple down by the beach. They said they saw a ‘mean Real-Housewives looking’ woman and a big guy being sketchy near their car.”
“Being sketchy? That led you here?”
“The Real Housewives thing made me think of your Janice Baxter,” Cane chuckles. “I thought she might have gone off the deep end and done something crazy, so I had Paul quickly look up her and Harold’s real estate holdings in this area.”
“You can do that?” I ask.
“I sure can,” he smiles. “That led me to this place.”
His explanation lands on me like a security blanket. I take a deep breath and remind myself how lucky I am to have this man.
“You’re my treasure, Mari. And I know this may not be the best time for this, but I have to ask you something.”
Cane gently places a finger under my chin and lifts my eyes to his. “Will you marry me, angel?”
Happiness swells through me, temporarily brushing away all the pain and fright. A flood of tears explodes from my eyes as I nod furiously.
“Yes,” I cry out. “Of course I’ll marry you, Daddy.”
Epilogue
Cane
Five Years Later…
* * *
I’m a changed man. She changed me. Mari…my angel.
Not only did she make me question everything I believed about women, about family, about my future, but she also showed me levels of happiness I never thought possible. I thought I had it all, and I never would have known any better had I not met her.
Now I stand on our bedroom balcony that overlooks the back yard and watch my wife playing with Andy and Emma, our two kids, and I realize I couldn’t be more blessed.
After “the event”—that’s what Mari and I call the unfortunate day with Janice Baxter and her henchman, Frank—I wasted no time marrying my angel. I had a ring for her the next day and we were on a plane the next week. No, not to Vegas, but to France.
It was Mari’s idea. I asked her where she’d always wanted to go, and she said France, so we went. We honeymooned in Spain, rented scooters and went up and down the coast, went sailing and visited all the best local restaurants we could find, and came back home completely spent and ready to just lie around the house and have sex for weeks on end while Mike made us three meals a day.
It was incredible.
Then, one night when we were going to bed, I pulled my wife into my arms and told her, “Let’s do it.”
“We just did,” she giggled.
“No,” I replied. “Let’s make a baby.”
Less than a year later, Emma was born.
It was pure magic watching my wife through the pregnancy. At first she thought I’d somehow lose some of my attraction to her as her belly grew, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, seeing her body change only made me hornier. I could not keep my hands off of her. In fact, I was coming home from work during lunch breaks just to get a quickie in before I had to go back to the office. Sometimes I’d even make up an excuse to head home around 3:00 just so I could see her.
“You’re insatiable,” I remember her moaning into my ear one day when I came home and found her at the kitchen sink and tugged her sweatpants down to her knees.
“You do it to me, baby,” I told her as I slid inside. It took everything I had to make it a quick visit and get back to work. All I wanted to do was stay there with her. That’s all I ever want to do.