CONVICTED (Completed)

-21-

"Surely is." He nodded. "I heard it was hell getting a flight back down."

"I'm so sorry to interrupt the reunion, but I need to go see my daughter." Gigi announced, "come in whenever you're ready." Turning on her heels, she looked at the receptionist, "please bring me to her."

"Yes, Mrs. Cruz." She nodded, continuing on her way.

Once the hall was clear, I looked back up at my old classmate who just so happened to be the one that was assigned to Zahriah's case. As a top of the class graduate, I had no worries when it came to him; in fact, I trusted him with my very life because I knew he felt the same. We thought very similar in terms of medical techniques so never for a moment did I second guess that Zahriah was going to make it.

"How's she?" I asked lowly.

"She's coming along. It was a lengthy procedure as I mentioned over the phone. I almost lost her twice."

"Hmmm." I nodded, feeling tense at the sound of that.

"However, she's a fighter. I could tell that she wanted to be here and not only that, but she wanted to save her child as well."

"How the hell did you save the baby man?! you're going to have to explain that to me over drinks or something!"

"I swear it wasn't even me, the bullet literally missed affecting the baby by a millimeter if anything. Once that was out of the way, my main concern was repair and controlling the bleeding."

"Miracle child for real."

"All of them are miracles to be quite frank." He smirked, "Zahriah, baby, Dominic... we got three other victims from the scene that made it. We only lost one out of the other's that were deceased once the police arrived."

"I don't even understand how someone could up and do that."

"Neither can I." he shook his head, "don't even want to think about it, because it's all just too sick for me."

"I'm telling you, I hate that Zahriah got involved with this."

"You and me both man, but she was in good hands and now that you're here; even better ones." He smiled, "now, let's get you inside to go see your daughter."

"Sounds like a plan, before we do though... there is one person I'd like to speak to."

"And who might that be?" his brows raised.

"I'll tell you in a second, but before I do... I'm going to need you to do something for me." My hands shook as I ran them down the side of my face.

"What might that be?"

"You might fight me on this, but trust me. I need it to be done for the safety of my family." I glanced around, "and I need you to point me to one of those little stores where I can grab a balloon or something."

DOMINIC ALEXANDER

"I swear all this medication got me higher than I've ever been." I smirked as my mother tried her best not to laugh, she sat across from me, flipping through some old magazine that was left behind in the recovery room that I was in. "You gotta try it."

"You're a whole mess, I swear." She giggled, finally closing it and placing it down beside her. "I'm glad you're awake. As much as I like it better when you're quiet, hearing your voice has never felt so good."

I don't know how I was alive, but I was nothing less than grateful. After hearing the doctor's recount of everything that happened in that surgery room; I wasn't supposed to be here today or the day after that the be quite frank. If it weren't for my mother's constant prayers and the idea of my future family waiting for me, I most definitely would've been six-feet-deep right now.