Turn Towards the Sun: Book Three- Forever in Bloom (The Sunflower Trilogy) (29 page)

“Miss Pierce passed away in the ambulance on the way to hospital.”

“She’s dead?” I ask.

“Yes, ma’am. She’s dead. She was shot several times by police officers and died en route.”

“Any chance the baby survived?” I ask. I don’t see how. It’s much too early.

Officer Joanisse looks at a notebook. “I don’t see anything about a baby so I don’t believe it survived.”

She’s dead. Anna, stalker bitch, is finally out of my life forever and with her, the baby she forced Enzo to give her. I told myself that one way or another, Anna would be out of our lives forever and she is. I feel nothing but a sense of relief.

I look down at Enzo whose face says it all. He is just as relieved as I am.

“What do we need to do now, officer?” I ask.

“We’ll need to get statements from you both, if you’re well enough, Mr. Milano?”

Enzo nods his head and sits up a bit in the bed, wincing with pain. “I want to get this done tonight once and for all. We have a lot to share with you, officers.”

The two officers pull up a chair and Enzo and I share the whole sordid history with Anna from the first interactions with me at Girasole, to the blackmail, to tonight’s bloody showdown. Periodically, Enzo sips water and I remind him to pace himself. I’ve never seen him so weak and helpless before but I have to admit, it’s nice that I can be the one to take care of him for once.

After more than an hour, the officers thank us for our time and leave. I’m exhausted but there is no way I’m leaving Enzo. No way at all.

“Ava, you should rest. I’ll be okay here,” Enzo suggests.

“I’m not leaving. They’ll just have to bring in a cot for me.”

“Lay down here with me.”

I climb up on the bed and cuddle close to my husband, being careful to avoid the various tubes and machinery around him. Rubbing his chest, I just have to ask the question.

“Are you sad Anna’s baby died?”

“It’s always sad when a baby dies, but I have to wonder what kind of life that child would have had with an insane mother and a forced father. The only saving grace that child would have had in this world is you.”

“I don’t know about that. I think raising her child would have been harder than I imagined, especially after tonight.”

“I know but what a wonderful person you are to have tried.”

“Dax was involved on some level, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I will deal with him.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet.” Enzo reaches out and rubs my tummy. “My baby is in there. Our baby.”

“Yes, can you believe it? As soon as I stopped worrying, it happened.”

“When do you think it happened?”

I stop and think for a moment. I had my period while I was in Denver so it had to be after that. “The hood of the car in a rainstorm, perhaps?” I reply, grinning.

“Mmm, what a lovely place to conceive a child.”

“I love you, Enzo. You are my life. Thank you for coming back to me.”

“Ava, my love, I never left you.”

MORNING COMES AND I stretch my cramped body as best I can lying next to Enzo. The first thing I do is check and make sure he’s breathing and I’m relieved to find that he is. I shift to get up but Enzo grabs me and holds me tight.

“Don’t leave me,” he says, frantically.

“I won’t. I’m just going to the bathroom and it’s right there,” I say pointing to the room to our left.

“I don’t want you to go alone.”

“Enzo,” I say, rubbing his cheek. “She can’t hurt me anymore. She’s gone.”

He sighs, releasing me. “I forgot for a moment.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, an angel slept beside me all night.”

“Ah, I see Mr. Romantic is alive and well.”

“I am,” he says, grinning.

As I take the short walk to the bathroom, I hear a scuffle in the hallway and look out the door to see Dax trying to get past Grayson, Danny, and little Marisa. I open the door and step into the area and as soon as I do everyone stops and stares at me.

“What are you doing here, Dax?”

“I came to see Enzo. Is he alright?”

“Don’t answer him, Ava,” Grayson says. “He doesn’t deserve to know.”

Placing my hands on my hips, I say, “I think Grayson is right.”

“Ava, Mrs. Milano, please. I want you to hear my side of it,” Dax pleads.

I laugh. “Your side? You have some nerve.” I want to kick him out, but he did run for help that saved Enzo’s life and probably mine. He probably knows a lot more about what Anna did. I relent and decide to let him talk to us. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to say your piece. That’s it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I nod my head and Grayson and Danny release his arms while Marisa moves to the side to let him pass. “We’ll be right outside, Ava,” Danny adds.

When Dax and I enter, Enzo looks up and immediately stiffens. “What do you want?” Enzo asks.

“I want to explain. I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” Dax says.

“What did you mean to happen?” I ask.

“When she first contacted me, I didn’t think it was a big deal. She said you fired her. She was humiliated and she wanted to get you back. She said all she wanted to do was cause a little inconvenience for you.”

“How did she know she could contact you?” I ask.

“I wondered that too at first. Eventually I figured out that she heard me…” he looks at the floor briefly. “She heard me talking shit about you at a bar. She must have been following me. Either that or it was a coincidence.”

“Nothing Anna ever did was a coincidence,” I say.

“I went along with it for a while but then she started asking more personal questions and tried to get me to help her,” he continues. “I backed off as soon as she told me about some crazy lie she dreamed up about getting pregnant by you.”

“It wasn’t a lie, Dax. She was pregnant. I saw the ultrasound. She drugged Enzo in Vegas and took advantage.”

Dax looks at me. “No, Ava. It was a lie. She told me. When she told me she was pregnant and was going to use the information to break up your marriage, I told her that she shouldn’t use a child that way, that it would harm the kid in the long run, and that Enzo would never love her. Everyone knows that. I asked her how she even got that far with Enzo, knowing full well he would never cheat on you. Well eventually she got mad and admitted it wasn’t true. She forged the ultrasound she had on the computer. She was never pregnant at all.” He turns to Enzo. “In fact, I got out of her that you were so out of it after she roofied you that she couldn’t even get your pants off much less get you to, uh, perform. Sorry, ma’am,” he says in my direction.

“So she never had sex with Enzo?” I ask.

“No. She never had sex with him and she wasn’t pregnant with his baby or anyone else’s.”

“Are you sure?” I ask. Now I’m trembling.

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

A loud sob escapes my throat causing Enzo to rub my back. My worst nightmare was a lie. It was all lie. She was never with my husband and she didn’t have his baby in her.

“That chick was unhinged,” Dax continues. “The more I pushed her and told her that Enzo would never leave you for her, the more she talked. I told her I would report her and tell you two if she tried anything else and she disappeared, so I honestly thought she was gone. But then I thought I saw her outside at the opening and I thought, oh shit, something bad is going to happen. I tried to get to one of you, but so many people surrounded you both. I was keeping an eye on Mrs. Milano but all of a sudden I lost her in the crowd. I went to look for you, Enzo, and you were gone too. That’s when I started looking for everyone. I decided to go down the hall where the office is and that’s when I saw everything. I didn’t know if I should try to fight her off or get help. I decided to get help.”

“You did the right thing, Dax,” Enzo says. “Why did you go off alone anyway?” Enzo asks me.

“You texted me. At least I thought it was you.”

“My phone was missing.”

“She must have gotten close enough to take it from you,” I say.

“I’m sure you know this, but I think she had every intention of…” Dax stops short.

“Of killing me? Yes, I know. It’s the second time she’s tried,” I say.

“I had no idea. I swear. I just thought she was trying to get you back and well, you know the three of us had a rough history. I didn’t realize she was fucking nuts.”

“In the past few months she has drugged my husband, stolen my identity, faked a pregnancy, attempted to kill me
again
, and shot my husband. Fucking nuts doesn’t even begin to describe her.”

“The police said she’s dead, ya know,” Dax says.

“Yes, we know,” Enzo says.

“I’m really sorry for my part in this. I had no idea. I’m fully cooperating with the police and I just wanted you two to hear everything from me.”

Enzo has been remarkably quiet during this conversation. He must be exhausted. I show Dax out and go back to my husband’s side. “Everyone wants to see you but I told them they would have to wait. You need to rest.”

“Thank you, amore.”

“You were quiet when Dax was here. Are you okay?”

“I can’t believe all of it was a lie. The baby was a lie,” he whispers.

“You never had sex with her.”

“You have no idea how much it killed me to think that I let her touch me and that I was tainted by her. I wondered how I would look at a child that was born of that incident and not feel resentment.” He reaches up and rubs my cheek. “But you, my princess, la mia bellissima, you were going to stand by me no matter what. It is such an amazing feeling to know that you love me unconditionally.”

“Enzo, I don’t know if it’s even possible but I feel like I love you even more now. We’ve been through so much but we came through the storm together.”

“Yes, we did. Our love is forever.”

“Yes, per sempre.”

“I’d like to see our friends and family. I can manage a little while longer.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very. I want them all to know what we know. I want them all to celebrate our joy. We have a baby coming.”

“Let’s save that news for later. I just want to hold that between us for a while. So much else has happened that we can tell them about.”

“Okay, amore. I agree with you.”

I walk out into the lobby, thankful to see our friends. Cassie hands me a bag of clothes she brought me. I’m still wearing my blood stained dress and I’m happy to get out of it. I go in the bathroom to change and freshen up and when I come out, our friends and family stand around Enzo’s bed. He talks and laughs and seems like his old self already.

Leaning my head against the wall, a smile slides across my lips. Everything is going to be okay.

“READY TO GO home, Mr. Milano?” the morning nurse asks. “The doctor should be here soon for your official release but everything looks really good.”

Enzo sits up in his hospital bed looking strong and healthy- just three days later. If I didn’t know better, I would say he looks like nothing ever happened to him. I lay out his clothes that Cass brought from home for him.

“I am more than ready, yes,” he replies.

The doctor comes in and after reviewing his chart and giving some follow up care instructions, we are released from the hospital. They wheel Enzo to the front door in a wheelchair as Grayson pulls the car around. After helping Enzo inside, I climb into the seat next to him, twisting my fingers through his.

“I can’t wait to get home,” he says.

“Me too. Alex and Franco are coming over to talk about the hotel and the media. We still have a lot to do, tesoro.”

“Yes, I assumed as much. It will feel good to get back to our normal routine, no?”

“Yes, no more Secret Service detail, I hope? Although, I’ve grown kind of fond of Danny. Maybe we can find something for him to do full time.”

Enzo squeezes my hand. “As you wish.”

We pull up in front of our house. I already know it’s full of people. Everyone wanted to be here for Enzo’s return.

“I hope you don’t mind seeing everyone, Enzo. They wanted to welcome you home.”

“No, I’m happy to see everyone. I’m happy to be alive and to smell the fresh air and to have the sun in my eyes. I’m thankful to hear the birds and I’m most thankful to look at you and see your beautiful eyes staring back at me. I’m the most grateful man alive.”