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“How’d she get in here?” Mattia asks, crouching by the intruder.
“If I had to guess, when I concentrated all the security on the wedding and reception, she took advantage here.” I turn to Mattia and Aurelio. “Can you remove her? I’ll call for someone to retrieve her from downstairs.”
Both men take pains to take Nedi out as quietly as possible, and I turn on my wife with a thunderous expression.
Zakiya grabs my hands and kisses my palms as if that will ever be enough to soothe me. “If you expect me to apologize for taking the necessary action to save your life, I won’t. Not ever. I need you to live. Jinx needs you to live.”
I shake my head, knowing without Zakiya I wouldn’t even have a daughter. “Our daughter needs her mother, the woman who saved her at her most desperate moment.”
“But your love is so accepting. You’ve already brought out?—”
I kiss her to shut down our back and forth. “Zakiya, she needs us both, you must agree with me on that.”
“I do.” Her fight disappears with her acquiescence.
“And when facing a threat like Nedi, it doesn’t have to be a you or me sacrifice. What’s done is done, but in the future, let’s promise to avoid the gun by ducking out of the way.”
“Duck first, kill second. Got it,” she whispers, bowing her head.
She appears so open and vulnerable; I enclose her in an embrace, press my lips against her forehead, and breathe her in. Since Nedi’s appearance, I haven’t processed her near miss to appreciate my wife is truly unhurt. Now, the spiked adrenaline seeps out of my pores, unlocking my tense muscles and allowing me to bask in Zakiya’s warmth.
“I love you so fucking much.” I breathe the words against her forehead, hoping to imprint my message in her mind the way it is in her heart.
She kisses the area above my heart. “I love you, too.”
The silence surrounding us reminds me of all the times we’re in a room together, opening up to each other. Nothing else matters but us.
A movement flashes at the corner of my eye. In an instant, I recognize the pajamas I put on Jinx as I dressed her for bed, and I twirl Zakiya in front of the bloodstain evidence of the earlier violence to hide the gruesome sight from the six-year-old.
“Did you have a bad dream?” I ask while approaching my daughter.
The little girl nods, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
Zakiya intercepts her, making sure the billowing skirt of her dress protects her from a sight that may re-traumatize Jinx. My wife leads our daughter out, and I cover the stain as best I can until the cleanup crew arrives.
Our honeymoon was supposed to start in a couple days, but given the circumstances, I won’t wait. I collect our suitcases and return to the bedroom to pack.
When I’m done, I join Jinx and Zakiya in the child’s bedroom and start packing her things.
My daughter is wide awake and clinging to Zakiya. The kittens lie huddled in the voluminous skirt of my wife’s wedding dress, their tiny bodies shaking and eyes dilated as if awaiting a threat to appear at any moment. The picture they paint would fit the best art of the Romanticism period. If not for our circumstances, I would stand and indulge in watching them, but Jinx’s underlying fear prevents me from gaining any pleasure in the moment.
From what my daughter said, could she have confused the commotion in our bedroom with a dream? The cats seem to know something bad happened and have yet to calm.
“What are you doing?” Zakiya asks when she sees the bathing suit I stuff in the bag.
“We’re going on an adventure,” I reply for Jinx’s benefit, peering at them through the mirror to reassure her with more than my words.
Her curiosity peaked, she signs, “Where?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Zakiya cocks her head but doesn’t question me further.
With everything set, I usher them out the house without changing our clothes and head to Luxe Continental, Kent Luxe’s flagship hotel known for creating a new gold standard for luxury hotels.
Our assigned butler greets us at the valet and leads us to our suite. On short notice, the hotel staff has stocked the suite with toys, games, and Jinx’s favorite snacks. While she runs between the various options, the cats follow at her heels, pouncing on her and each other in the new space.
Zakiya sidles beside me and laces our fingers together. “I bet no one’s had a wedding night quite like ours.”
