I nod, agreeing.
“You saw him on the security cameras? How many men did he bring?” Langston asks.
Enzo shakes his head. “He hasn’t shown up yet on the security cameras. It’s just a feeling I have.”
I take his hand. “Me too.”
Liesel spots our little pow wow, and walks over. She reads the fear in all of our eyes. “He’s here?”
We all nod.
I tighten my grip on Enzo’s hands because I know what the plan is. And I hate the plan.
But I also know, I have no choice.
“Kai?” Liesel says, telling me it’s time. I should have left long ago. Before Felix arrived. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave Enzo. I have to now.
I have to choose—Enzo or the baby.
I can’t protect them both.
Enzo can take care of himself, but it still kills me I can’t be here, fighting alongside him. I won’t know for hours if he lived or died.
But I don’t have a choice. I have to put my baby first.
I grab Enzo’s neck pulling him into the deepest kiss I’ve ever given him.
He kisses me back with everything he has, like he’s trying to exchange his heart and soul with mine. And I pour everything back, giving him a part of me to take with him always.
If there was ever a question about how we felt about each other, it’s gone now. No one who witnessed the kiss could see it as anything but an exchange of love.
“Kai!” I hear Liesel’s voice trying to break through my happy fog. I don’t want to go. I want to stay. I need to say.
Go, Enzo mouths.
And then he’s pulling away, while I’m gasping for more.
Our fingers are still intertwined, but that is all that is left.
“I love you, stingray.”
I hold back my sobs. Be strong. He doesn’t need to see you cry moments before he takes on his greatest foe.
“I love you, too,” I say, expelling all of my air as I speak. I have nothing left.
His heated eyes stare down to my belly and then back to my eyes, telling me to take care of our baby.
I nod, I will.
Then Liesel takes my other hand, and she’s pulling me away.
My eyes go to where Enzo and my’s hands still cling to each other. I watch as our hands are slowly pulled apart, until only our fingertips are touching. And then the connection breaks.
Enzo puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans as Liesel continues to pull me away.
I don’t pay attention to where we are walking; my gaze is still on his—soaking up every last drop of him.
Until we turn a corner.