I entered the house and saw the anger rolling off of Zion. His shoulders heaved up and down as I failed at sneaking into the house. It was one in the morning and he had a game later which I added to his anger.
"Hey," I said to him in my smallest voice.
"Hey is all you have to say to me after sneaking out in the middle of the night and meeting your father?" Being cute would not work.
"I had to do this myself," I said. He shook his head before stomping away. I stood in the foyer deciding if I should give him space but followed behind him. Walking down the hallways, I did my best to keep the noise down. I knew to go to the gym; it was where he calmed himself.
When I walked inside, he was sitting on his weight bench, phone in hand. I knew he heard me entered but he wouldn't look at me. This was the first time I had pissed him off, so I did not understand how I would apologise. Walking over to him, he kept his head down glued to his phone so I sat on his lap.
With a grunt he looked up at me. Shooting him an apologetic smile he rolled his eyes. "That could have gone bad. We are partners, why didn't you tell me?"
"Im sorry, I wasn't thinking when I did it." I kissed his cheek while his arms tightened around my waist, phone still in hand. He let me kiss him but didn't give me one back. I would allow him to accept my apology in his own time. He pulled his arms from around me and looked back down at his phone.
"What's got your attention?" He didn't respond, so I pulled his phone from his hand.
"Stop playing and give me my phone back," Zion said. His tone was gruffer than what the one he normally used with me.
"Why? Who are you talking to?" I felt a flash of anger. He noticed my anger and placed his arms around my midsection.
"Calm down shawty I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize what we have, and you know that. It's my private investigator. He has information about Angela and Wilmer. I was going to call him before you came in here." I stared at him to see if he could meet my eyes, he could so I handed him his phone back.
"Call him, I want to hear too," I said. Zion dialed without thinking too much. A gravel like voice answered after a few rings.
"Give it to me," Zion said.
"They are back in town. I found a car following you all. They were mapping out your daily routine. I followed the car last night when it was following you and saw that this guy had stepped out of the vehicle and snapped a photograph but it was a different man than Wilmer." the PI said. They way he said things were like he was reading off a bullet-pointed list. A picture came on the screen showing Zion's father taking a picture of the house.
"I suspected as much, he's walking garbage so I'm not surprised," he said, surprised that his father was doing anything that could lead to financial gain. Even if that thing would harm a child of his.
"He's staying in a roach motel outside of the city. I just sent some videos of the two criminals kissing and outside your home. I will also send your father's address. I have to go now." The phone clicked into silence while Zion and I stared.
"We will end this," Zion said. I nodded at him and we began forming a game plan...
"Cyprus's lock the doors, security is here and we're leaving," Zion said to me while he lay in bed watching television. I looked over at me and smiled the got from under the covers and crawled over to him and put his arms around his shoulders. Zion pulled me close by my waist and kissed me. We were both ready for the scheme that took two days of planning to be set in motion.
It started with an anonymous email being sent out with Zion's father's address. Zane had suggested putting his father's location out in the open. They couldn't hurt him directly but passively they were both fine with. Next, we had to deal with Angela and Wilmer who camped out down the street waiting for a moment to strike.
I found it hard to sleep with them within our vicinity, but I forced myself to close my eyes. When I woke up, Zion was already out of bed before the alarm. We had a short window to get everything set-up before they made their move. We had involved the police who could assess the situation and come up with a solution.
I quickly got dressed and made my way to the living room. Cisco's uncles had taken him to Olympia, so he wouldn't be part of any fallout. Officers were walking around with tools and weapons. Zion stood in the middle of the living room surrounded by people telling him information.
"Sir, they have placed surveillance equipment in the foyer and living room. I have ten men here for this sting operation and we need you to keep them in those areas so we can get Wilmer and Angela's confessions," Detective Moreno said as he looked at Zion. It scared me to be bait, but it was the best option to get them put in jail.
Walking to Zion's side, he held my hand. We had no other options. "So are you prepared for this," Zion asked. I was nervous but not scared.
"I guess, I'm nervous but excited that we might get to live a normal life," I responded with a forced smile. The officers began hiding while Zion and I tried to watch a show.
The hours passed with nothing happening. It was excruciating to sit and wait for them. I was only a few minutes from calling everything of when I heard the beep of the security alarm saying that they had opened the front door. I had thought they wouldn't be dumb enough to just walk in the front door but they had proven me wrong.
Even a half intelligent burglar would have cut the alarm, but they were both desperate. They wanted control and revenge by any means necessary. Zion turned the television off and stood up. I was next to him, but he pulled me behind myself as Angela's voice entered the room.
"Hello Zion, hello whore," she said, referring to me. I clenched my jaw. Being called a whore didn't elicit the reaction. It was seeing the white man who tried to rape me enter the room. They both looked drained physically and emotionally. Living on the run didn't seem to help with staying youthful. It had only been a few months, but they had aged like presidents.
"What are you doing here," Zion asked, wanting to go straight into a confession but also knew Angela wasn't gullible. I knew that I shouldn't draw the conversation out as I noticed Wilmer had a bulge on his side. I knew there had a gun on him. I grew up seeing that same bulge when my dad carried his.
"You know why I'm here, give me my son. Cisco, Mommy is here," she yelled aloud to a boy who wasn't even at home.
"You don't even have the legal right to see him," I said to her in a calm tone. It was amazing how calm we both had become knowing that the police were just out the door.
"I can't believe they gave custody to a slut like you. You are nothing but a cum dump for men with money," Wilmer spat at me, and my blood started to boil just a little hearing his words.
"Well, you aren't nothing but a sad spoon fed, muscle headed idiot who had to pay for someone's attention. You're so pathetic that you had to flee the country at the thought of being pulled out the closet after trying to rape Cyprus. What are you two even doing together anyway," Zion asked?
"Well, the bitch is evil, and every villain needs a henchman," I said, from behind Zion in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Don't call me a bitch you dumb ass cunt, I want my son and I'm not leaving till I get him," she yelled at us.
"He's not here, and you're not taking him anywhere. You lost your rights when you abandoned him.. You aren't a parent, and I won't allow him into your mess," Zion yelled. The tension in the room was high. Wilmer shifted his hand to his hip. Zion caught the action, and I was hoping the police would step in soon.
"Fuck you," Wilmer exclaimed.
"You're getting testy there aren't you, you know what's funny? Your father didn't even care that you were gay. Hell, I doubt he'd even want to put you in jail but you didn't steal his money you stole investor money. After I sent that video, they looked into everything you touched. Your actions caused all of this. I would have never ended up with Zion had it not been for your attempted rape." I looked as his face warped.
"How sad is it to be used by a woman who only keeps you around hoping to get my fiance? I can't even feel sorry for you. Why are you even here, you're so unimportant that I almost forgot you existed?" Zion said. Wilmer turned the shade of a tomato.
"Fuck both of you, I only took that money to take care of your hoe ass," he yelled trying to intimidate us which wasn't working since he was digging a hole for himself.
"So you took all of that money from investors and crossed borders to get me when I hate your ass," I said and subtly cracked a smirk.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying," Wilmer said, looking at us as if we were dumb.
"You fucking dumb ass," Angela said catching on quickly. "This feels like a setup. They got you to confess." Snatching the gun from the waistband of Wilmer's pants and pointed it at us. We both lifted our hands up fear filling my body for only half a second. Her actions sparked a chain reaction from the men hidden around the house. The moment she brandished the weapon all of Detective Moreno's men barged in surrounding her.
"Put your gun down now and get on your knees, please do not resist," Moreno said, holding his gun up. Wilmer went full baby immediately. He started crying as he got down on his knees with his hands up. It was almost funny to watch the big man acting like a child with snot and tears running down his face.
"Ma'am the gun now," Moreno shouted. Angela's crouched beside Wilmer and put his own gun to his head. He started heaving the moment the metal touched his temple.
"Angela, come on you're making this worse on yourself. Are you really going to kill that man," Zion asked. He obscured some activity with his body as I stood shocked at the turn of events.
"Shut the fuck up, either you people bring my son here now or I'll kill him," she said, sounding deranged. It was because she was out of control and not because she wanted her son.
"Go ahead," Zion said and received a soft punch to the back.
"What? Shut up," Angela said while standing up, pulling Wilmer with her.
"You have three seconds to drop the gun," Moreno warned. He motioned his sharpshooters to get in place.
"Or what?" Angela laughed at the threat.
"Three," Moreno said training his gun at Angela's lower half.
"Two." Angela quickly moved her gun towards our group.
"One," Moreno said and pulled his trigger. The sharpshooter pulled his as well hitting her shoulder. A third shot rang out, and I ducked. It was not in time; I could feel a sharp burning sensations in my abdomen.
I heard Angela crying from the shots to her knee and shoulder. I couldn't focus on anything but the pain and the fear of death.
"Baby," Zion said with tears falling down his face. He grabbed my shoulder gently but urgently using his free hand to touch near my wound. I felt a searing disorienting pain and fell on my couch. I looked down at the bloody hole in my t-shirt. Looking up, Zion's eyes were wide with fear as my blood soaked the white couch.
I was sure this would be how I died. In the arms of my fiance in the house, I had learned to call home.