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It felt like they were moving at a snail’s pace, and it was agonizing to just have to sit there and watch.
I pushed back against the urge to run in after them, and instead, waited with bated breath as they entered the dark, quiet house.
And then—nothing happened.
All remained perfectly still and silent, and I looked at Harry, as if he could somehow know better what was going on inside that house. The seconds ticked by, and I felt a cold drop of sweat running down the side of my face. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” Harry said. “But we just have to—”
I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the car door. “Zane, what are you doing?”
Saying nothing, I stepped out onto the sidewalk and took off sprinting towards the house. Harry had gotten out of the car too, and he whisper-yelled after me, “Zane, get back here! Let them do their jobs!”
I tuned him out as I ran. I was on a mission and nothing was going to stop me. I might not have been able to stop that 18-wheeler from crashing into Sarah, but there was still a possibility I could do something to save Katya.
I burst through the front door to find the SWAT team in a standoff with Aleks. He had a gun pointed at Tom and one arm holding Katya and Luca back. I took them by surprise, and Aleks broke his staring contest with Tom and turned his attention onto me. This gave the officer just enough time to rush forward and tackle him to the ground. The gun went off, but thankfully, the bullet went straight through the roof over head and nobody was struck.
I ran to Katya and Luca who were huddled together in the hallway. They were crying and rocking back and forth when I reached them. “Katya, honey, are you okay? Did he hurt you? Please look at me,” I begged.
She looked up through tear-stained eyes and shakily said, “I.. I.. I’m ok.”
I noticed a red mark on her cheek so I gently turned her face to get a better look. “What is this?” I asked, still holding her face. “What did that son-of-a-bitch do to you?”
Nervously she said, “It’s nothing. He slapped me when I wouldn’t let go of Luca, that’s all. I’m fine, Zane. I promise.”
The sadness in her eyes begged me to let it go so I did. Besides, the cops already had him in handcuffs and were marching him out of the house, so what else could I do? Instead of walking over and punching him in the gut like I wanted to, I pulled Katya and Luca closer and held them while they cried in relief. Their nightmare was over and I was going to do everything in my power to make sure they never re-lived it. When their tears stopped, I lifted Katya’s face to mine and kissed her.
“Katya Belinsky, I promise you here and now that I will protect you and Luca. Nothing like this will ever happen to you again. As long as I have breath in my body, I will keep you two safe,” I said, choking back my own tears.
I looked at Luca and smiled, hoping the gesture would help him understand that he was out of danger now. He squirmed out of his mom’s grasp and put his arms around my neck and hugged me so tight, it actually restricted my breathing. Not that I cared. It suddenly hit me that I loved Luca too. In a short time, he had become my own, and I knew at that moment that I would do anything to make him feel loved and safe. I might not be his father, but since when did biology matter? It didn’t. Not in this situation anyway. From now on, Luca would know he had a dad who’d always be there.
I kissed his forehead and told him, “It’s okay Buddy. I’m here and nothing bad can happen. The cops have taken Aleks away and he will never hurt you or your mom again.”
Luca sniffled and said, “Okay. Zane?”
“Yeah, Buddy?”
“Can we go home now?” he asked.
I looked at Katya and Luca before responding, “Yeah, let’s go home.”
“Zane,” she said, her lower lip still trembling. “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this. It must’ve been so scary to wake up with Aleks there, holding a gun. I just—I’m so sorry.”
“Katya,” I said. “Don’t worry about that now. I’m fine, you and Luca are fine, and that is all that matters, okay?”
Still seemingly shaken by the day’s events, she said, “Okay. You’re right. Everyone is okay and that is what is important.”
About this time, Harry walked in to see what was keeping us. He came over to where we were huddled up together and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “Hey… Tom is outside. They’ve already hauled Aleks off, but he said he needs us all to go down to the station to make a statement. I know you all probably just want to go home, but he said it’s best to do these things when everything is still fresh in your mind.”
I looked at Katya, who nodded and said, “I can do that.” She got to her feet and picked Luca up, holding him tightly in her arms. “We’ll be happy to go make a statement, if it means we have a better chance of sending Aleks away for good.”
Harry nodded and walked out of the house. Katya started to leave as well, but I touched her arm and said, “Katya, wait…”
She turned and looked at me with confusion and said, “Yes?”
“I just want to say… before anything else happens—I—I love you.”
She smiled at me with watery eyes, then ran her hand down the back of Luca’s head and said, “I love you too, Zane.Welove you.”
