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“What are you doing here, Michael?” Her voice made it clear she was done with his little game. “Call me a cynic, but I find it hard to believe you’re just an overzealous father caring for the son you almost beat to death. So what is it? It’s your brand of Twelve Steps? The first step: almost kill your son and his friends. Second step: get beat up by teenagers. Third step: drink your weight in alcohol. Eleventh step: hopefully off a cliff. Twelfth step: fight the devil for the Hell Headquarters. If it’s any consolation, I put my money on you. Satan has no idea what he’s up against.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint, but you’re too small a nuisance for me to still be hung up on what happened.”
“Is that why you’re trying to intimidate us when we’re alone? Because you don’t care enough?” That battle would be fascinating if I wasn’t so scared. That was the man who almost killed the man I loved so many years ago. He was the one who assaulted the small woman who was defending me. The man who not only knew who I was, but also that I was pregnant with his son’s baby.
“I’m just a businessman making up for lost money.” My confusion was clear, contrary to Mia, from whose profile I could see appeared unaffected. “One thing I learned: sometimes you have to put losers to rest. Pausing my life months ago to come to this forsaken place was a necessity. I just wanna do my job and count my profits. I’m not here for you.Yet. Although I must admit, seeing how grown up you are is definitely a bonus.” He gazed up at her scarred eyebrow, the result of his nefarious work. “Who knows? We have no use for Isabella and my son. Getting rid of them will be as easy as it’ll be a relief. Maybe we could let go of old scars, start over, and raise Benjamin’s kid together. I have so much to teach you both.”
He must have been an idiot—or incredibly confident—for not anticipating that threatening her family and trying to touch her face was a terrible idea. Right before he reached her scar, Mia grabbed his forearm, twisted it behind his back, and used the momentum to throw him against the wall, making one of the decorative plates fall. She kicked the back of his right knee, forcing him to squat until her mouth could reach his ear, and fisted his hair with her free hand.
“I advise you to leave this town before your son sees you. But I can assure you, whatever shit you try, no one, not even him, can stop me from coming at you.” She pulled his hair back and hit his head against the wall. Then she forcefully pushed him away, making him stumble.
All pretenses gone, he turned around and stared at her with hatred. “You should’ve let things go. Ending that piece of shit I call ‘son’ is long overdue. But destroying you is a pleasure I’ve been saving for last.” He stepped closer to touch her again when a police car passed by the coffee shop on a routine patrol, making him rethink his intentions. “I came to count my money, but I can’t wait to fulfill my old promises. Don’t even bother watching your back. I’m coming for you, and I’m not coming alone. This time, your big brother won’t be able to save you. He’ll be hardly able to recognize you after I’m done.”
“Just tell me the time and place, and I’ll be happy to put an end to this. But you’re sorely mistaken if you think you can come to my town, threaten my family, and get away with it.”
She motioned to go to him, and without containing himself, he stepped back. Noticing his show of weakness, he threw me a kiss to save face. “Such a pleasure to meet you, Isabella. I can’t wait for next time.” He pointed his finger at Mia, simulating a gun, and mimicked a shooting, blowing the tip of his finger. “I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Mia watched him until he was gone, walked to the glass windows to make sure he was far away, and mumbled his license plate to herself as he drove away, trying to memorize it.
Remembering I was close, she turned to me with worried eyes. “I’m so sorry for that. Are you okay?” Feeling like I could finally let it out, I burst out crying and let her envelop me in her small arms. “I’m so sorry for getting you involved in that.”
She calmed me down, although I was still weeping. “You have nothing to be sorry for. He was the one to...oh my God, all the things he said to you. About us. About you.” I broke out crying again, feeling it was getting hard to breathe.
“Don’t you worry about that. Focus on your Little Bean. Maybe we should go to the hospital and check that you’re okay.”
I shook my head emphatically. “I just wanna...get out of here.” She nodded and took my hand, guiding me to her car.
I let her help me inside. I barely registered that she was holding my wrist to feel my pulse, counting my heartbeats quietly. “The guys must be waiting at my place. But before we go home, I think we should get a couple of things out of the way first.”
She went back quickly to lock the front door of the coffee shop, then ran to her car, climbing onto the driver’s seat. We drove in silence, and I didn’t even have the strength to question her about where we were going. “Mia?” She glanced at me, her big doe eyes disguising her worry. “What do you think this all means?”
Under other circumstances, I’d be happy she was being honest. I wasn’t ready for her blunt truth, though.
“I think Michael just declared war.”
I felt a huge weight inside me, and that had nothing to do with my Little Bean. After our encounter with Michael, Mia tried to convince me to go to the hospital, but even though I was shaky, it wasn’t necessary. We had more urgent things to solve.
Like getting a restraining order.
After going to a pharmacy to measure my blood pressure (Mia was adamant about it), we went straight to the police station to press charges for harassment and stalking, and to file a report for a restraining order.
I was exhausted, afraid, hungry, and beyond sad, getting a glimpse of the hell Ben was subjected to. I rubbed my belly, thinking about my son and how much love and care he already had.
Between Benjamin’s father and my mother, we could barely amount to one parent, and the excuse of a parent that we had only hurt us. Even before being born, our son had more love than any of us could ever dream of.
Mia was visibly worried about me, glancing in my direction every so often, then looking back at the road as she drove to her place. We stayed quiet for a long time, both of us lost in our thoughts.
As I was trying to come to terms with what was going on, besides caring for my unborn baby, she was trying to hide her feelings. I knew it had to be hard for her. After everything Michael did to her and Ben, I knew she was having a hard time trying to think of ways to stop the devil.
But as I noticed was her usualmodus operandi, she was putting herself in the back of her mind to care for everyone else.
“Are you okay?”
I didn’t know how to respond to that.
“How did he live with that...thing? How was Ben able to survive that?” Mia was pale, her skin fairer than usual, and she looked sad at my rhetorical question. Not so rhetorical, as I knew the answer. “He was able because of you and your family.” My gratitude was transparent.
