Page 130 of Redeeming the Villain
Rubbing the back of my neck with my free hand, I spill the can of beans more. “Micah’s ashes … my uncle … he has them. He and your dad have kept them from me to keep me quiet. As long as I know his ashes are safe, I’ll never say a word to anyone I think will tell.”
A blanket of silence falls on the room, and Sunny shifts beside us, wiggling over to me and resting her head on my knee, as if she can sense my distress.
Looking up at Alora, I suck in a sharp breath. There’s something different in her stare right now—a seriousness.
Her sad tears boil into frustration. “I won’t let him get away with it, Malik.”
As much as I love her support, I can’t help but wonder if she’s second-guessing me at all. I mean, I wouldn’t blame her if she did. He’s her dad.
“You haven’t defended him …” I trail off nervously.
Leaning forward, she presses her lips softly against mine, and I reciprocate the gentleness.
“Believe it or not, you’re about the only person in this world I do trust. Of course I’m not going to defend him. I’ll always defendyou.”
I swear I can feel a vine of thorns unwrap from my heart at her words. The dam bursts behind my eyes.
“Thank you.” My whisper is a tendril of hope.
For the first time since that night, my shoulders relax ever so slightly. Not completely … but enough to matter.
“I’m not letting you get involved in this though. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I slide my hand over her crisscrossed legs in front of me. I just need to touch her, any and every part of her.
She shakes her head immediately. “You aren’t alone anymore, and you won’t be fighting that way either.”
“We don’t know what he’s really capable of,” I caution her.
“There’s something he doesn’t know, Malik.” Her shoulders roll back as an aura of power washes over her. “He has no idea whatI’mcapable of.”
She continues, “He raised me in his world—until the day I turned eighteen at least. Maybe it’s time I use my last name and the reputation he’s built for some good instead of hiding from it.”
“You scare me, Alora,” I murmur, and she smiles softly.
“Oh, yeah? I scare the big bad Malik?” she teases.
I nod. “Petrified.”
Staring at her, I do my best to memorize this moment, committing every detail to my mind. “Especially right now, with that vengeful gleam in your eye. You’re a force of nature.”
“We are when we’re together. I promise you that he will not get away with it.”
“How?” I ask such a simple yet heavy question.
“We’ll figure it out. But I promise we’ll be careful, and I’ll make sure Micah is safe and sound before we pull the trigger on whatever plan we come up with,” she says before waving her hands in the air dismissively. “I don’t want to talk about my dad anymore.”
I wait for her to continue.
“Will you tell me about him?” she whispers.
Nodding, I figure there’s one good place to start. Grabbing the back of my hoodie T-shirt, I pull it over my head, setting it beside us.
Her eyes start to wander over my chest and arms. “Tell me about them. Why’d you get each one?”
“Of course, there’s this.” I hold my hand up, and she traces the five letters with her finger.
She starts to trace the wordvillainarched across my chest. ”You know you’re not a villain right?”
I shrug. ”Aren’t we all a villain in someone else’s story?”
