Ross P.O.V
"I'm so excited daddy." Anais coos as she expresses her happiness.
"I'm glad you are muffin." I grin as I look at her through the rear view mirror.
We are on the way to pick up Trina. Just the thought of her reminds me that I have a heart and that it's doing it's job with all the pumping and jumping.
I call her.
"Yeah we're outside if you're already down in the lobby." I tell her as I am parked by the entrance to the door.
"Okay I'm on the way out." She says before hanging up.
The bellman opens the door for her as she walks out of the door looking as beautiful as always. Her locs were styled up in to tiny cute pigtails and the back flowing down. She had on ripped jean shorts, and a tucked in plain white shirt, and Nike visor hat, and matching white Nike airs. The temperature in early April is hot in Houston.
As she gracefully walked towards the car my daughter squealed with excitement.
"Hey guys!" Trina says as she gets in the car. As she places her purse down I notice that she's wearing my ring and it makes my heart thump hard giving me a wake up call.
"Hey baby." I say as I lean over to her and kissing her on the cheek.
Anais squeals again at me kissing Trina. "Can I kiss her too!?"
Her question causing Trina to giggle. "I'm so excited to be spending this day with you." She says.
"Me too! Daddy is going to take us shopping." My angel says in an excited tone.
"Alright alright, let's go before my wallet makes a run for it." I joke.
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Later that day
After all the shopping, surprisingly the damage wasn't even a dent in my wallet. Mostly Anais wanted toys. Trina dressed Anais up in clothes that I couldn't help but buy. Trina settled with getting matching bracelets with Anais but didn't want me to spend on her which frustrated me a bit. But nonetheless if I saw Trina admiring something I'd walk behind her and have an employee grab and purchase it. So she has a few bags she doesn't even know about.
We got Anais her ice cream and stopped by a park so Anais could play.
"She is so beautiful and bright. And she's only two!" Trina admires Anais from afar.
"Her birthday is on the 28th." I tell her.
"Oh my Gosh, are y'all going to throw a party?" She asks excited.
"Of course, a lot of my business partners have young children. So I'll throw a kids party." I tell her.
"I wanna come." Trina says pouting.
"Anais wouldn't want it any other way." I lean against her nudging her with my arm.
"Um, R.J." She looks at me nervously but intently.
"Yes baby." I slide closer to her needing her physical touch.
"I have something for you. I bought it in the jewelry store, I asked Anais to distract you for me. I'm sorry." She says while digging in her purse and pulling out a velvet box.
"Trina, w-ha, but how??" I'm just shocked that she got me something.
She glances out to the park scanning for Anais and I follow her gaze spotting her spinning with some park friends she's made.
"You bought me a promise ring, and I love it so much but after lots of thought, I wondered, 'do men ever receive promise rings?' Of course I googled it. Men totally wear promise rings. So I bought you one." She rambles nervously as she hands the box to me.
I open the box and I see a nicely designed band, not too over the top, just my taste. I just look at her.
"I also figured, 'R.J. Is a pretty masculine guy who isn't into gifts like this' so it's ok if you don't want to wear it on your find but I brought a roped chain in case you wanted to wear it as a necklace." She pulls out another velvet box but it was longer and opens it revealing the ropes necklace.
"Don't worry, I don't really expect you to wear it until you're ready, and I know this is completely out of my comfort zone but I wanted to do something special for you a-." As Trina was still rambling I leaned in and kissed her pulling her in to my arms.
"I love it and thank you so much." I kiss her lips two more times before slipping the ring onto the necklace and putting it on.
"Heeyy! When is it gonna be my turn?" Anais sudden popped up in front of us with her hands on her hips.
"Well I don't know..." I say as I slowly reach for her snatching her into a hug while tickling and kissing her cheeks. "I think right about now!." And Trina joins in tickling and kissing her on the forehead as she throws her head back trying to avoid my kisses.
"Daddy, I made some new friends." She says after calming down.
"Oh really well let's go meet them." We all get up and go to her new friends and their parents.
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In the car on the way back home Anais was fast asleep so Trina and I talked.
"R.J. Forgive me if I'm being too nosy, but how did it become just you and Anais?" She worded her question so it wasn't personal but it was one I knew I'd have to tell her one day.
"Veronica was killed by a hit and run. The police report said the perpetrator hit her car so hard she drove off and over a bridge and there her car flip and she died instantly. Her car and her body was unrecognizable..." I say while gripping the steering wheel tightly.
Trina just sat in silence.
"Anais was only two weeks old when I got the phone call. I was devastated, and for the first time, money couldn't find the answers to this mystery." I sigh. "So it's been me and Anais, and while the pain doesn't go away, it does get easier to tolerate, I've been able to move on. And I never thought I'd tell this story to anyone but yet here I am." I chuckle.
"Do you think she might still be alive?" Trina's question shocks me.
I just chuckle. "This isn't a movie. I know she's gone, her body was just burnt from the car catching on fire after the flip."
Trina places her hand on my leg. "Thank you for telling me." She smiles at me.
It was nice not to hear a 'I'm sorry for your loss' or have sympathetic eyes on me.
As I look in the rear view mirror at my sleeping daughter I notice a pair of headlight quickly approaching my car. This makes me nervous.
"Woah, what the-." Trina says as she notices too as the car tailgates driving very closely on us.
I grip the steering wheel tightly in case they try to hit us but after a few minutes of riding up on me they back off, and then speed up and passes us.
"Oh my God!" Trina said as she held her chest. "What the hell was that!"
"I think we're being followed all day" I say as I call up Mack.
"Hello." He answers quickly.
"License plate number FDL3571G, run it, find the owner, and bring him to me." R.J says in a dark voice.
"Got it." Mack says hanging up.
"R.J. Don't go and do something crazy okay?" Trina looks at me while nodding As I pull up to the entrance of her penthouse building.
"Go inside, and lock up, stay safe and I'll text you when I've made it home safe." He says to me with a serious face.
"Okay..." she starts to get out but I pull her back in, kissing her deeply.
I wait as she goes in, and a little bit after to make sure no one suspicious tried to sneak in behind her. Then driving off I look out my rear view at my still sleeping child while holding on to the promise ring Trina bought me.
Whoever you are just know you're a dead bitch, because no one is going to fuck with my family.
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A/N: 😬 Queue the music
R.J.: *plays elevator music
A/N: ....🧐🥴
R.J.: That's how long it's taking you to get to the action.
A/N: 🥹🤧🥺 you don't mean that.
Don't mind him he's cranky right now 😅😅🥲, if you liked this chapter don't forget to ⭐️💬🗣️
-Chuu💋