Page 14 of Memento Mori
“Abel.”
“Thank fuck,” he said relief lacing his voice.
“I’m going to New York. Can you handle things here, while I go get my girl?”
“Yeah, I got you. But Tony, make this shit right.” He pointed his finger at me. “No more stringing her along. She’s too good of a woman for that shit.”
“I intend on it.” I embraced my brother. “Thanks, bro.”
“No need to thank me,” he said while he made his way to the elevator. “Keep in touch.”
I raced up the stairs to pack for a long weekend. I would keep her locked up as long as possible, at least until she understood how much I loved her, and only her.
“I’m coming,Bella.”
Chapter Five
HOW DO I START MY LIFE OVER AGAIN?
Aaliyah
“How could I have been so stupid?”
This was at least the millionth time I’d asked myself the same question, while I paced the small bedroom in the back of Abasi’s private jet.
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have kept believing every single lie he fed me for the past few months. He said he would choose me. That he was only keeping up appearances. He sure fooled me. He enjoyed the attention. If he didn’t, he would have pushed her away when she kissed him or snatched his hand away to stop her. I hadn’t experienced such heartache since the death of my parents. I stupidly believed this man was my forever.
I shook my head in disbelief, my cheeks wet with endless tears that refused to stop flowing. “You’re stronger than this Aaliyah,” I chided myself. “Stop crying over some useless man.”
The light knocking at the door forced a sigh from me. I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone. As soon as I entered the private jet, I shut myself in the room away from the pity and anger in my guards’ eyes.
Although these men were employed by Abasi, they were like my brothers, and most wanted blood from Antonio due to his disrespect. Many of them had been guarding me since I left university and joined Abasi’s organization full time. It was embarrassing they’d witnessed such blatant disrespect from someone who claimed to love me. The man who promised me the world.
“Come in, Abel!”
I knew it was him. He would be the only one who would come to make sure my world wasn’t falling apart, offering a reassuring presence in the midst of chaos.
Once upon a time, I believed Abel was the person I’d spend the rest of my life with. His beautiful flawless obsidian skin, and dark eyes, captivated me the first time we met. But we found we were better off as friends than lovers. While we were together, we cherished one another, but he couldn’t get past the daily dangers of my life. And I couldn’t get past him not trusting me to handle myself. He couldn’t separate his job as my guard from his place by my side. The strife between us started filtering into ourwork until we decided it was best if we were friends and it had been that way ever since.
When he walked in, he opened his arms like he’d always done when I was upset, and I walked to him. In his embrace, I unleashed the agony and pain I felt deep in my heart from Antonio’s betrayal.
Other than Antonio, Abel was the only person I could be my true self with. If I was vulnerable neither felt the need to tell me to be strong. They allowed me to be myself. They let me curse. They let me rant like a raving lunatic when I needed to. And they let me cry, just like I was doing now.
“Don’t cry, Nzuri. I hate to see your tears.” Beautiful.
I chuckled at the pet name he had always called me. “I’m sure I’m not so beautiful right now, Abel.” I stepped out of his arms and sat on the end of the bed, wiping the wetness from my face. “My hair is a mess, and my face is puffy from all these damn tears I’ve cried over that bastard. But they won’t stop coming.”
“You will always be beautiful to me,” he said, coming to sit beside me. I laid my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around me, pulling me in closer. “You know this.”
“I can’t believe he did this to me, Abel. I believed he loved me, but it was all a lie. The life we started to build together wasn’t real to him. To me, it was everything.”
“Do you want to hear what I believe? Or do you want to continue to cry over something that may have not been what you think you saw?”
Throughout the years, Abel had been the steady voice of reason in my life. Being around so many liars and those looking to get ahead in this world at all costs, it took me awhile to learn to trust anyone, including him. But when in doubt about what was going on around me, he had the uncanny ability to help me see both sides of a situation.
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me what you think I need to hear anyway, but I know what I saw, Abel.”
His warm and infectious laughter filled the air, making me feel even more at ease in his embrace. “Antonio does love you.”
