Page 135 of Finally Us (Next Generation 5)

“Help me,” I heard him say.

My stomach tightened. A part of me wanted to go to him. To help him. To get him to safety but I couldn’t. He needed to know and understand.

Others would have used brute force but not me. Not when I had a family of my own that I had to get home to. I couldn’t jeopardize that happiness just for revenge.

Mason should have gone somewhere else. Somewhere that had enough water beneath the bridge, that when he jumped, the only thing he would have to worry about was drowning. Instead, he had to worry about bleeding out. He was lucky that making him jump was the only thing I did to him, but I had Gigi and Hannah to get home to. I refused to go to them with that darkness tainting my soul.

He just better pray that I never saw him again because making him jump off a bridge would be the last thing he would have to worry about.

Gigi

It had been afew weeks since I was shot. I was healing nicely, and we were finally bringing Hannah home from the hospital.

Ever since he had found out what Mason and Tenise had done, there was an edge to Vince. Something happened but he never told me what. I didn’t press and knew that if he needed me, I would be there. Until then, I left it alone.

Vince pulled us up in front of a house sitting on a large property. It was surrounded by trees. The house was just outside the city. It was close enough that it wouldn’t take long to get back into town but far enough that the road wasn’t overrun with traffic.

“Whose house is this?” I asked, looking back at Vince.

He winked, killing the engine and leaving the car.

I opened the passenger door as he came around to my side of the vehicle and held out his hand. I slipped my fingers between his, letting him help me out of the car. “Vince.”

“So impatient.” He chuckled, placing a soft peck on my forehead before going to the back of the car and pulling the car seat out of it. Hannah was sound asleep. She looked so peaceful. Not like she had almost lost her life. “Come.” Vince kicked the door closed and came up to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leading me up the sidewalk to the front porch.

“I’m not impatient you know. I just have no idea what we’re doing here.”

“I’ll tell you in a moment.” He went up the steps and unlocked the front door. “Ready?” He pushed it open and stepped to the side. “After you, Gigi.”

I had no idea what was going on but went into the house anyway. My eyes widened at what laid before me. To the right was a large living room. To the left, a set of stairs went up to a second floor. Straight ahead of me, was a hall that I could only assume led into the kitchen. “Vince, who lives here?”

“We do, baby.”

I spun around. “What?”

Vince placed the car seat on the floor, lowering to one knee. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a diamond ring.

I gasped, covering my mouth. “Vince.”

“From the first moment I remember meeting you, I’ve been in love with you. I made it my mission to crack down your walls and show you that even though you no longer had the career you wanted in dancing, that you could still be happy.”

I lowered to my knees, covering his hands with mine.

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to mine. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Gigi. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” I threw my arms around his neck and crushed my mouth to his, knocking him back onto his ass.

He chuckled, hooking an arm around my middle. “You’ve made me the happiest man in existence.” He slipped the ring onto my finger. It had a gold band with a single solitaire diamond. It was perfect. “You hear that, baby girl?” he asked Hannah. “Your mama is going to finally make an honest man out of me.”

I laughed, kissing him fully on the mouth. “I love you.” I kissed him again. “I love you so damn much,” I said between pecks.

“And I love you.” His hands cupped my ass, pulling me flush against him. “Let me give my girls a tour and then later…” His thumb brushed along my bottom lip.

A sly grin spread on my face. “You want to christen the house?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows.

“I want to give you a special tour. Later.”

“I like that idea.” I sealed it with a kiss, a silent promise that I refused to break.

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