“Let’s get out of here,” Xander said to me. A slight brush of his fingers on my cheek soothed my soul.
A look at Pa though drained me.
He looked paler and weary. So weary and weak.
I nodded and moved forward, while Xander helped Pa.
Pa started coughing when we got to the entrance that took us back to the corridor.
Being on an actual floor allowed us to move faster.
However, when we turned the corridor Pa’s legs gave and he pulled out of Xander’s hold. I stopped my flight and moved back to them.
Pa shook his head at me, grabbed his chest and slumped down to the ground with his back against the wall. There was so much blood now.
I looked to Xander. His face was filled with the doom I felt. As were his eyes.
It was like he knew what was going to happen next. I did too, but I didn’t want it to.
I returned my focus to Pa and he shook his head again.
He reached out to cup my face and pulled me closer to plant a kiss on my forehead.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” Pa said in a frail voice. “I’m sorry I won’t see you become who you wanted to be. Bellezza, you’ll be a great artist. One of the finest.”
“You gave me my first paint set.” I smiled.
“Yes, and what a good idea that was. Follow your dreams Jia. Follow your heart, bellezza.” He gave me a weak smile and looked to Xander. “Please just get her out of here and make sure she’s safe. She’s the most important thing to me.”
Xander crouched down next to Pa and nodded.
“I will, she’s the most important thing to me too. She will be safe as long as I live.”
Pa’s hands dropped from my face. He reached for Xander’s shirt and nodded.
“That’s more than I could hope for … Ace.”
When he set his head back against the wall, his eyes became glassy and a tear trailed down the corner of is cheek.
“Pa, please don’t leave me. I love you.”
“I love you too, Jia. I will always be here.” He placed his hand on his heart , looked at me and then it was like something switched off inside him.
I sucked in a sharp breath and the tears pour from inside my soul.
As I looked at my father I saw him as my father. not the person who’d done so much wrong. Not that man who terrified me with all the ways he could shock me. It was the first time that he didn’t look like a monster.
“Papa…” I touched his cheek which now started to feel cold.
Xander placed his arm around me and I looked to him.
“Xander… my father…”
“I know I –”
Footsteps echoed down the hall. It was only the sound that snapped me back to reality. We were still in this place. The Ra were still very much at work and I didn’t think it mattered that Balthazar was dead.
The instinct to flee washed over me, but… how could I leave Pa?
How could I leave Pa here?
“Jia, listen to me, we have to get out of here now. We have to.”
“I can’t leave him here like this.” I shook my head. “I can’t Xander. I can’t just leave him.”
He tightened his grip on me and gazed deeply into my eyes. “I just promised your father I’d take care of you and keep you safe. I promised him Jia. I promised him. Please let me do that. Please allow me to do that.”
My shoulders tensed and I nodded realizing I didn’t have much time to think.
The footsteps were getting closer and were now accompanied by voices. It was definitely some of the men here. I could tell.
I stood up and Xander took my hand. One last look at Pa and we left. As soon as I moved numbness filled my body.
I ran as fast as I could with Xander next to me. We got to a path that led down a staircase. It was still part of the factory style set up but rougher looking like no one ever came out back here.
We went down to where the drains were and then it all changed to a tunnel like passage.
No one was chasing us but we were still going.
A light appeared ahead of us and I prayed it was daylight.
We got closer and my heart soared when I saw that it really was daylight. Sunlight streamed through the panels leading into the tunnels.
We went outside and the air filled my lungs.
I cast my gaze around me and saw that the situation was in hand.
Surrounding us was what I called an army.
It looked like the whole US army had come in to help.
Xander lowered his gun but kept hold of me.
It was over.
All of it was over and Pa was dead.
The thought brought the tears back and I broke down when Xander pulled me into his chest. Close to his heart.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Jia
Six months later …
I finished up the last strokes on the oil painting I’d done of the beach in Tuscany.
It looked just as I’d remembered it and I was happy with the work I’d done.
It was one of the places my parents used to take me on vacation when I was little. We had some happy memories there on the beach.
We’d spent hours on the beach just enjoying the way everything looked. It was there that I’d first decided I was going to be an artist. I was nine and I was so happy that I’d found my thing in life that I’d wanted to do.
I went back with Xander twice in the last few months. The first time was just for the sake of going back and to show him one of the places I treasured. We stayed in the beach house I always stayed at with my family. While I hadn’t been back in years I fell in love with the house and the place all over again. Just like the first time Pa took Ma and me there. The place reminded me of some kind of fairytale. Or a dream.
The next time Xander and I went was his doing.
The man never ceased to amaze me. It was for my birthday. A birthday trip that turned into something that healed me because I realized I had him. I really did.
For my birthday, Xander bought the house and asked me to move in with him.
That was what he did.
That was last month. When we got back I decided I’d do this painting. I was taking my time with it.
Like always painting provided the escape I needed whenever my thoughts were unsettled. The last few months had been beautiful for Xander and me but they were also hard.
“Is there anything else I can do before I go?” Anya asked pulling me from my thoughts.
My best friend had been my rock for the last six months. She’d barely left my side. Barely, and only when Xander was around. It was only then that she’d take her leave and honestly he was just as bad.
She’d come by to spend the day with me.
“I’ll be fine Anya. Go have fun with Tim.” I turned away from my easel and gave her a mischievous smile. She’d gone outside to talk with him over an hour ago. That was why I thought I’d spend the time painting.
She started blushing and ran a hand through her hair.
“Oh my gosh. I didn’t mean to be gone for so long.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t have to break away from your phone sex to come check on little old me.” I giggled. That was me trying to be me.
“We weren’t having phone sex.” She shook her head and came over to sit on the little wooden chair next to me.