“Nah, I love it here. This is my home, mate.”
“No way, you have to…”
“Police, put your hands up.”
Oh, thank goodness! I put my hands up too, just to protest my innocence, not that I need to. The cops know that I’m not a part of this. Hayley spits out angrily, yelling expletives and Bryan does too. I think they are both shocked to see that Noah hasn’t followed all their stupid rules after all.
The evil glare I get from Hayley suggests that she knows that’s my fault. I smirk back, safe now, and proud that I made this happen. Now, Noah might even get to keep the money and the child. After all, he’s the one who deserves it all. Hayley should get nothing.
They are cuffed and shoved into the back of a police car, both looking so much smaller than they did only moments before with weapons in their hands. As they drive off, I breathe a deep sigh of relief, glad that this nightmare is over, don’t for good, and the good guy won out in the end.
Now I just hope that the poor boy, the innocent victim in all of this, is okay after his ordeal.
21
Noah
As soon as the cops car is gone, I lean down and hug Alex once more. Surprisingly, since everything that has happened, he doesn’t seem too traumatized, a little confused maybe, but that’s it.
“Are you okay?” I ask him quietly. “Are you hurt or anything?”
“No.” He shakes his head, determinedly. “Mom gave me a new toy.”
He shows me his new robot thing all proud of it. It seems one fear wasn’t necessary, she at least treated him well while she was looking after him. It doesn’t make up for what she did though, or the missed years.
“I’m glad you’re okay, I think we should go home though, don’t you?”
“Yes, I want to go to bed.”
I turn with him in my arms and see Mia behind me. My rock through all of this, looking like she’s shell shocked. I’m hardly surprised, that was incredibly weird. But it’s over now. Yes, there will be police statements and a court case if Hayley and Bryan don’t plead guilty, but they are bound to get jail time. I don’t have to panic every time my cell phone goes off anymore, I don’t have to freak out about my fucking baggage, it’s gone.
I get Alex into his car seat rapidly, checking him all over quickly and kissing him softly on the head. Life feels so much better with him by my side. He just makes everything worth living again. I don’t ever want to lose him again. I’m sure as hell going to work less now to be with him more, I need to.
“Thank you so much for helping me, Mia.” I pull her in for a hug. “It means so much.”
“Don’t forget your bag of cash,” she murmurs into my chest. “The cops left it for you.”
I laugh and shake my head. “The money barely matters. I have Alex back.”
“I know, but I can’t in all good conscience leave that amount of money here where criminals hang out.”
“Okay, I’ll get it, then we need to get back to my place. My mom will be freaking out.”
“I think Jenny needs the good news too, poor girl is a mess.”
I rush off to get the bag and leave Mia to get into the car, grateful that we all got out of that with our lives intact. When Mia screamed about the gun I freaked out that it was all going to go south.
I have my boy, I have the money, and I might even have the chance to get the girl back too.
After this, I’m going to make sure that Mia knows I want her, even if she says no because of Alex I need to know for sure. I will always as ‘what if’ if I don’t at least give her some honesty.
“Right.” I strap myself in, preparing myself to leave this site forever. “Come on then, let’s get the hell out of here. I think we all need some hot chocolate, don’t you think?”
* * *
I can hear Mia talking to my mom as I tuck Alex into bed. From here, it sounds like they are getting on really well which is awesome. If Mom likes her, then she must be awesome. I wont ever defy my mother’s judgement of character again. She is always right about everything, I need to just accept that.
“So, you sure you feel okay, Alex? You can tell me if you aren’t?”