“She needs me,” I said. Nerves fluttered inside me. Taking AK’s hand, I got out of the bed. I was dressed in a long nightgown that Bella had given me. My body ached, but I had to get to Sapphira.
When we arrived at her closed door, my hands started to shake. I turned to AK. “What if I cannot do it?” He looked at me curiously. “What if I am bad at this . . . at being a mother?”
“Impossible.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “You were fucking made for this moment, Red. All the shit, it led you right to this moment.”
He was perfect.
I slowly turned the knob and opened the door. I could not contain the emotions that hit me as I saw Sapphira, clean and awake in the center of the neatly made bed. Her brown eyes were scared and large, but when they saw me nervously enter the room, they filled with something else entirely. Gone was the fear, and in their place was . . . love. Love and happiness . . . and it saw my heart soar to an unknown height.
“Sapphira,” I whispered, my voice breaking as the sob I tried to hold back came forward. I walked as fast as I could to her bed and sat on the edge. Careful of her injury, I stared down at my daughter. I had never felt so blessed.
Her fingers twitched on the bed. As if they craved my touch, as if they needed me. I softly threaded my fingers through hers. I sighed and she sighed. Meeting her watery gaze, I said, “I thought I had lost you.”
Sapphira smiled and shook her head. Then her hand gripped mine tighter. “I thought I had lost you too.” Her voice was as sweet as it had been in my dream.
“You saved me,” I said, feeling my heart break at the memory.
“I had to.” She tried to get closer. I moved for her, placing my hand on her soft cheek. Marks still remained, but she had been cleaned. She looked like an angel. My angel. “I could not imagine a world without you in it.”
My eyes snapped to hers, and her skin blossomed with an embarrassed blush. “You could not?” I whispered, and I felt each of her words cement a permanent place in my heart.
“No.” A single tear fell down her smooth cheek. “You . . . you are my mother.”
I watched her try to smile through her tears. An elated laugh came from my throat, and I kissed her head. “Yes, I am,” I said and could not help but smile. I sighed and moved back. Sapphira looked to the doorway. I followed her gaze and saw AK standing there. I smiled when his dark eyes met mine. “That is AK.” He tilted his head in a hello. Turing back to my . . . daughter, I said, “He is my love. A part of my heart.”
“The one you told me about?” she asked shyly, ducking her head from his attention.
“Yes.”
“I met my aunt, Lilah.” She smiled. “I like her. She cleaned me when I woke.” I closed my eyes, embracing the wash of joy I felt as I thought of my beloved sister caring for my precious daughter.
I heard AK move from the door, and Sapphira watched him go. “Do we get to live the life you spoke of now? The one you told me existed if we only survived?”
“Yes.” I squeezed her hand. “We get to live the way we always should have.”
Her eyes fell nervously. “I . . . I get to be your daughter here?” A pause. “A real daughter?”
“If you want that,” I said, praying with every fiber of my being that she said yes.
She looked at me again through long lashes. “D-Do I get to call you . . . Mama?” The last word was a whisper. But it was a grace. A blessing, pure and simple. A softly spoken pardon for all of my wrongs.
A new start.
“Yes,” I said and took her gently in my arms. “Yes.”
Then my heart bloomed when she whispered, “Mama.” I closed my eyes and savored the sound. Fourteen years. Fourteen years to hear that uttered from her lips.
“Mama? What about the others? The other sisters that had been captured?”
My heart broke. “They have gone, sweetheart. No trace . . . and I fear no hope. The men here have tried to seek them out the best they can, but their whereabouts are tragically unknown.” Sapphira was silent at that news. I was not sure she could take anymore sadness. My daughter had had her fill in her young life.
“Mama . . . ?” Sapphira said softly, a few moments later. “Can you stay with me while I fall to sleep?”
“Of course,” I said, almost breaking with joy. I laid my body beside Sapphira on the bed and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She fell against me and gave a happy sigh.
“Will you tell me about this world?” she asked, tiredness in her quiet voice.
“It is like nothing we ever knew, sweetheart.” I closed my eyes and thought of AK. I thought of his kindness, his laughter, his pure heart. I thought of Lilah laughing as she ran over her lawn with Grace. And I told her of it all. All the good we were robbed of in our lives, and I knew my girl would now get to see these things too.
It was not long before I heard her breathing steadily with sleep. I looked down at her asleep in my arms, and a realization hit me. I had finally done it. I had stayed with my daughter, telling her a story as she fell asleep.
And I would never have to leave her again.
She was safe. And I was forever changed, all because of one man.
I bent down and kissed her head. “I will never let you down. This is my solemn vow.”
Leaving her to rest, I made my way from the bedroom and followed the smell of AK’s cigarette smoke. He was sitting at the kitchen table, lost in thought. He wore a white shirt with his leather vest and his dark jeans. His long hair was resting on his shoulders.
All the time, all I could think was he is mine.
He must have heard my feet on the floor, as his head turned toward me. I moved beside him and placed my hands on his cheeks. I saw the confusion in his eyes and said, “You have saved us.” My voice caught, but I kept pushing through. “You did the impossible and gave me my daughter. You gave me a chance to be a mother.” AK swallowed and exhaled deeply. “And you gave me back the beat to my heart.” I kissed each of his cheeks. “I love you, Xavier Deyes. I love you more than I knew was possible. You are my grace. You are my redemption.”
“Red,” he said roughly. I sat on his lap, sighing when his hands wrapped around my back.
I stared into his beautiful eyes. “You have given me this gift, this moment where my hell has ended. And now you need it too. Save yourself the way you try so hard to save everybody else.”
He looked away, but I guided him back to me. “I will be here with you. As will your family.” I pointed out of the window. “Viking, Flame and Asher. And Sapphira too. We will all be here for you.”
He watched me. He watched me for so long that I knew he had become lost to his thoughts. Then he kissed me, gently, reverently, before bringing me to my feet. “I gotta make a call,” he said and walked outside. “
Tan?” I heard him say. “I need your help in tracking someone down.”
And I smiled as I sat at the wooden kitchen table and looked about the cabin. I heard the birds singing outside. I heard the sounds of Flame and Viking coming over to talk to their best friend. And I knew this was it. This was the life I never thought I would gain.
AK and Sapphira, forever by my side.
I was home.
Chapter Twenty-Four
AK
Two weeks later . . .
I pulled my bike to a stop at the address Tanner had given me. Fucking Austin. The house had been in Austin.
Right beside me all along.
Phebe’s arms tightened around my waist, and her mouth came to my ear. “Are you okay?” I closed my eyes, and all I could see was Dev and Tina. I saw them only in my head now that the terrors had stopped. Nothing would stop the nightmares, the memories, but things were . . . better.
“Yeah,” I said and knew we both understood I was a fucking liar.
Phebe’s arms came from my waist, and she got off the bike. She stood on the sidewalk, dressed in leather, her long red hair back in a French braid.
Fucking perfection.
She held out her hand. “We are here now, AK. Let us go to the door.”
I got off my bike, fucking clenching my fists as my hands shook. And no matter how many deep breaths I took, I couldn’t calm myself. I knew I wouldn’t be able to. Because I knew how wrong this shit could go. I was under no illusions. I expected to have the door shut in my face and the cops called on my ass. For all I knew, they wanted me for breaking Dev outta the nuthouse all those years ago. No doubt Claire and Tom would have told them my part in it.
I gripped Phebe’s hand as we walked up the path to the massive white-painted house. Part of me relaxed at the sight of such an expensive place. Zane grew up here. He’d had more money than Dev or Tina could ever have given him. Not that money meant shit. But at least he hadn’t been in a shithole.