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“I’m sorry, I can’t.” I shot his words from all those years ago back at him.
“Mia.” My name came off his lips in a cry. I could tell he was starting to see that my mind was made up and there wasn’t anything he could do.
“I’m sorry, but it has to be this way.” Tears began forming in my eyes. I blinked once, letting them all fall. “I hope you can understand and one day forgive me. Please don’t hate me.”
“I could never hate you. But I don’t accept this.” I could hear the tears in Terry’s words. He was crying too.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I will let you do this. I will let you walk away from me. But I don’t believe this is the only choice you have. I think when this is over—and it will be over—that we could be together. I believe Jackson will take care of him for you, just like he said he would. And l believe that you and I could be together forever. But if this is what you need to do right now, if this is how you need to cope, then I will let you do it. But please know I will be here for you, waiting for you, when the dust settles. It’s you and me until the very end.”
“I’m sorry,” was all I could manage.
“Yeah, me too. I’m sorry he’s making you think that you have to do this. I’m sorry you feel like you have no other choice, even when you and I both know that you do.”
“Terry.” My voice picked up an edge.
“If this is what you want, I won’t force anything. I’ll just be waiting here for you when you decide it’s safe.”
“Goodbye, Terry,” I said before clicking off the line. I couldn’t hear his voice when he told me goodbye. I wasn’t strong enough.
I let the phone fall from my hands and onto the floor with a thud. My head went into my hands, and I lay on the couch sobbing.
At some point, the door opened and Hawkeye entered the room. I don’t know when he came in or how long he watched me fall apart.
“Mia, you don’t have faith in Jackson and the team, do you?”
I looked up and he was back to sitting on the armchair across the room for me.
“I’m sorry?” I said, not sure I heard what he had said.
“If you had any faith in Jackson and the rest of us, you wouldn’t have just told that man goodbye.”
“It was the only way,” I told him, my chin jutting out in defiance. I brought my hand up and wiped my eyes with the back of it. “I don’t want him to hurt anymore.”
“Mia.” His tone was a touch condescending, and it made me want to snap at him, but he continued before I had the opportunity to. “Jackson will take care of Chad. He may not kill him, but trust me, Chad is going somewhere they’ll never allow him out of. He’ll never have the chance to hurt you again. Jackson has promised you that, and I promise you that. Now have some faith.”
I laughed. “Have some faith? I don’t have a lot of faith left. I trusted guys like you before, and look where it got me.”
“Those men that you trusted, sure, they were some shady mob boys. But they weren’t us. They weren’t military men with the resources to hide scum like Chad where no one will ever find him. So have some faith and don’t give up on that man just yet.”
I watched him, my eyebrows raised.
“Mark my words. This is the last time you’ll deal with that piece of shit.” With that, he picked up the book from the table beside him and began reading. Conversation closed, I thought to myself.
I lay there, my mind heavy with worry, waiting for the call that all of this was over. Over forever or for the time being, I wasn’t sure which. Only time would tell.
