That One Ride

Chapter 55: Complete

Teresa's POV

The staring contest continued for an entire minute. And that entire minute I kept my breath in my lungs.

Slowly, so slowly, dad lifted his chin and averted his eyes from Alex to me. Everything was so slow that it was a waste of time, and of course, who dared to win against Alex in the staring contest?

Dad cleared his throat and slid the chocolate bar inside his pocket. “He is right,” Dad said.

I smiled genuinely and lifted my eyes to Alex, who was already looking at me with so much love and affection that the red shade tinted my cheeks and ears. Soon, a lady in her fifties in a navy blue dress with a white apron came into the living room, her black heels clicking the floor as her head remained up in the air with pride. The hair bound in a tight bun gave her wrinkles more stretching. Her head bowed down at Alex, and her chin almost touched her chest, which Alex returned with a movement of his head downwards to one centimetre.

She placed a fruit bowl on the centre table and smiled at me, her cherry shade lips curling upward into a swing shape. Instantly, my lips followed the same expression as hers, and the smile she was radiating reached into her eyes.

“Good to have you back, Miss. I am Elizabeth.” She said.

I looked at Alex with a raised brow. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“She is the new house help and your maid.”

A knot twisted in my heart, as I put aside the thought of latching my lips on his for being so considerate about everything, and looked at Elizabeth. “Welcome to the house, Elizabeth. Please call me Teresa.”

She nodded and went back to the hole she came from.

Alex cleared his throat and settled himself on his favourite white chair like the king, resting his hands on the armrest, keeping the left foot on the right knee. He always looked so powerful without even trying.

“So, what’s gonna happen to them now?” I asked.

Alex’s head jerked in the direction of the fruit bowl and I shoved a piece of apple in my mouth. “Robert will be admitted to the psychiatric ward under the supervision of therapists and get the much-needed help. Adam and Eliana will be transferred back to the US, with the officers and all the evidence.”

“And I will go with them from tomorrow’s flight,” Dad said.

My heart dropped in my stomach as a nauseous feeling dreaded my mood. I curled the sweaty palm into a fist, controlling the sudden need for more air in the lungs as I focused on my breathing. The thought that he would be out of my sight again, and leave me behind, triggered the panic. “B-but why?”

A familiar enormous hand cupped my cheeks, and I looked straight into the eyes of dad. “Because I want to watch their faces when I get the justices I deserved for years. And for that, they need me there as a victim and a witness. I promise I will be back soon and never leave you like before. I promise. Now don’t overthink about it, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. One hundred and twenty per cent sure, giggle-bear.”

For an hour, all three of us stayed there like a family and talked about all the things worth 7 years. Dad had a list of questions which he always wanted to ask the man of my life, and he indeed shoot his questions at Alex. This time Alex was composed, a different calmness was written all over his face throughout the conversation as if he had no fear of anything in this world. It made my heart swell at how well dad and Alex were bonding with each other. When he finished with the tale of our story, dad surpassed a grin over his face, flashing the white teeth at me with an approving nod and it meant the world to me.