I walk in to the room where my dad was laying down. His face was completely covered in bruises and cuts. I couldn't stop the tears forming in my eyes. It broke my heart to see him like this. This was my only parent, my hero, my guardian, how did this even happen? The doctor had now just left saying he has a fractured shoulder, broken ribs , but thankfully no internal bleeding. I hear my dad groan in pain and I get closer.
"Try not to move dad, you're hurt."
"I'm fine honey." He argues with me.
"Yeah well the doctor would like to disagree."
"Doctors exaggerate everything."
"Well whatever. He said you needed bed rest so stay still please." I say almost begging and he caresses my face. The door opens right away.
"The doctor left this prescription. Jacob went to get it already." Tom says standing in the door.
"Thank you." I say.
"Thank you son." My dad says making Tom snap his head his way right away. He doesn't say anything, he gives my dad a soft nod and leaves the room.
"I'll be here if you need anything." He says to me as he closes the door and I nod.
"So, how is it going with him?" My dad asks.
"Good." I smile and my dad lifts his eyebrows. "Tom is a good man dad."
"He kidnapped you and forced you to marry." He states.
"Yes, but he also saved me from Paulo and saved you too." I say and he stays quiet. "He cares about me dad, he protects me, takes care of me, loves me. And I love him too. Maybe we didn't have the ideal marriage process but I will forever be glad I married him. I don't regret it one bit." I say. My dad looks at me as if he's looking for to see if I was forced to say this but no, this was nothing but my heart talking.
Minutes passed as my dad told me about the horrible experience he had in hands of the psycho of Paulo Da Silva. Hearing his experiences made me remember about mine and I'm just glad that fucker will never be able to hurt someone I love again. A couple of knocks on the door make me clear my tears before it opens revealing Tom holding the medicine and water.
"It's here." He says and I rush to him to grab them.
"Thank you. Ok dad, you have to take 2 of these it says here." I say opening the container taking out 2 white pills. I give them to my dad and he takes them down with the water. I place the medicine in the night stand next to the bed.
"Umm, Hope." Tom says clearing his throat. I walk up to him. "I need to go back to London. We leave in a few hours please get ready."
"No. I'm not leaving, I can't leave my dad like this." I argue.
"Hope, I need to go back and I am not leaving you. Your dad will be taken back to Madrid at the same time, Diego will take care of him."
"No Tom, I'm saying with him. I'm his daughter, I'll take care of him."
"Listen to your husband, honey. I will be fine. Diego will get me a nurse or whatever I need to help me."
"I said no, i want to stay." I say.
"Hope.." Tom says loosing his calm.
"Tom, I'm staying, so you can go ahead and go without me."
***
Tom's POV:
It's been now almost 5 days since we rescued Rafael. He is doing well now, I'm sure it's because of all the care and love my wife has been giving him. Oh that's right, Hope Holland won another battle against me and per her request we stayed. Harrison and the twins went back, but I came to Spain with her. There was no way on earth I would leave her alone. By now the Da Silva already know Paulo was killed and must be looking for us even under the rocks.
"Everything is good don't worry." Harrison says on the line. "When are you coming back?" he asks.
"Today i just left the hotel, I'm on my way to pick up Hope. She left early to her dad's to make sure she left everything in place."
"What if she doesn't want to come back yet?" Harrison asks half laughing.
"I'll make her." I say making Harrison laugh.
"Tom we both know you can't say no to her. She gets whatever she wants from you. So maybe I'll see you in another month or so." He teases.
"Real funny Haz, I'll see you later." I say right before hanging up the phone. He's right, and I hate it.
When I arrive to Rafael's house, Hope meets me at the door with a kiss. For a second I can't but think that maybe, if we have had a normal relationship, this how it would be when I picked up Hope for a date or something.
"I missed you." She says when we break off the kiss.
"Me too. Are you ready?" I ask.
"I am." She flases me a smile.
"How's your dad?" I say walking in the house.
"He's going better thankfully." She says cheerful.
"Do you think I can talk to him?" I ask and she looks at me confused.
"Um- yeah of course. He's in his office, come on." She says grabbing me by the hand and pulling me to the office. She knocks twice and walks in, as always.
Rafael stands up as soon as he sees us.
"Tom, hello, welcome." He says.
"Thank you. I was hoping I could talk to you." I say.
"Yeah of course. Come in, take a sit." He says pointing to the chair informs in front of him. "I was hoping I could also talk to you before you leave." He adds.
"Well I'll leave you alone to talk." Hope says and starts to walk away before I stop her.
"Can you stay too please?" I ask. She looks at me confused but nods and sits in the chair next to me.
"Tom, I looked into your parents death, in fact Don Holland was in contact with someone he thought was me, there's emails, messages calls well the whole deal, it was Paulo all around." He says and hands me a folder. "I remember exactly when it happened, Paulo said he had business in Spain and kept saying it would be beneficial for both of us. I can swear to you I had no idea he was going to harm your parents. I am very sorry for what he did to you and your brothers. If I would've known, I wouldn't have let him do it. I'm a father myself and I can't imagine anyone doing this to my daughter." He adds.
"Rafael," I start. "I am a person who admits his mistakes and tries to rectify them if possible. I was manipulated against you and it's my fault for believing and not looking more deep into it before I acted against you hurting others in the process." I glance at Hope and reach for her hand. "I want to apologize to you, for misjudging you and accusing you of something you were innocent of, and for what I did to your daughter." I say looking Rafael in his eyes so he knows I'm being sincere. He gives me a small nod and a small smile. "And you Hope," I say turning completely to face my wife who has now teary eyes. "I ask you for forgiveness because you were the person who got hurt the most and least deserved it. I'm sorry for using you for my vengeance, I'm sorry for every tear you've cried and everything you've had to endure because of me, I'm sorry for bringing you into this fucked up mess. Just know that I am really sorry, and that I love you more than anything." I finish my sentence right before Hope throws the hands she previously had caressing my face, around my neck pulling me in for a hug. She softly cried on my shoulder. She lets go and gives me a smile.
"This speaks volume about you son, I don't have anything to forgive you for. All I'm going to ask you is that you take well care of my princess." He says and Hope let's put a small laugh.
"Oh that I will do." I say squeezing her hand.
"Come on." Rafael says standing up. I stand up too and meet him halfway. He brings me in for a hug. "You are a good man Tom." He says.
"Thank you sir."
"Oh god. I can't believe this just happened." Hope says in between laughs and tears making me and Rafael laugh.
"We have to go." I say.
"Oh yes," Hope says standing up quick and walking to the door. "D!" She yells. "Can you get me my things please? I'm leaving." She adds and Rafael chuckles.
"She still like this." He says half asking, half stating.
"Oh you should see her at home. She has my men doing things they would've never thought of doing." I say and he laughs again.
We say our goodbyes to Diego and Rafael and head out to the airport. Hope and I are both sitting in the back, her hand in mine and her head resting on my shoulder.
"Tom?" She says looking for my face.
"Mmm." I reply looking at her
"What you did today, talking to my dad, it meant a lot to me. Truly." There's a special sparkle in her beautiful green eyes.
"I figured it would. But I did it because I know it's the correct thing to do. And I really meant it, everything." I say.
"I know you did." She says placing a kiss on my cheek and resting her head back on my shoulder.
When we arrive to our home in London, my brothers and Harrison are in the living room.
"Is there a family reunion we didn't know about?" Hope asks as we walk in to meet them.
"Yes we were talking about who was going to take over Tom's position since he was not going to come back from Spain." Harry jokes and I roll my eyes.
"Perfect. That means we can move over there for good." Hope adds to the joke.
"No thanks." I say.
"Tea?" Sam asks.
"Sure." Hope says and hurries to sit next to him.
"How's your dad?" Harrison asks.
"He's doing better thankfully." She says cheerful.
"Hope I heard you turned out to be an expert with a gun." Sam asks and she laughs. "You really had us fooled."
"I just can't believe you all believe me. Of course I know how to shot a gun. I didn't like it and I hoped I never had to but," she shrugs her shoulders. "It is what is is. I do want to learn some self defense or something, Harrison if we can."
"Of course boss." He answers.
I look at the image I have in front of me. My wife and my brothers, my bestfriend, all together in the same place smiling and talking. For the past years I've been living with nothing but desire of revenge. I'm glad I found out the truth and by getting rid of the piece of shit Paulo I was not only able to avenge my parents but also to protect my wife. One worry less, for now.
"So guys," Hope says sipping her tea. "What are the plans for Christmas?"