Dancing with a stranger

Chapter|24✨

Standing at the entrance to the living room watching my father chase Aaliyah around the living room since she learned to walk. before we hit the road. I just laughed at the two of them. After the funeral, I got a lawyer to pull up a contract and I signed that My father can not contact me for business anymore. I bowed out of the gang and my father agreed to it.

Grace is engaged to Charlie and a little boy on the way they moved to North Carolina. When I haven't figured out where I'm heading just yet.

After Aaliyah tired her papa out he picked her up bringing her over to me. He pulled us into a hug kissing me on the cheek and then kissing liyah. We she should get going I tell him I have one more stop to make.

I dreaded it pulling through the iron gate. Parking under a big beautiful willow tree. I take Aaliyah out of her car seat and put her on the ground grabbing her hand to walk the path.

I found that all too familiar headstone. Kian Alonso Garcia loving son and father. Laying the flower on the headstone Aaliyah walked up to it giggling and kissed it. I smiled.

A light breeze picked up and I felt someone watching me. I turned around and found nobody besides an elder couple sitting on a bench under a tree. I grabbed Aaliyah and headed back to the car and I noticed a tall figure wearing a hat and what looked like a trench coat walking into the woods disappearing.

Fastening liyah in her seat I noticed a single rose on the hood of my car. I grabbed it staring at it like it would give answers. then I hopped in the front seat headed down the main road not looking back.

The drive felt like a blur, my hands gripping the wheel as my mind raced with questions, none of which had clear answers. The rose on the hood of my car lingered in my thoughts, its presence unsettling. It had to be someone who knew me, knew Kian, but who? And why leave it there, in that moment, after everything I had just felt? I glanced in the rearview mirror, catching sight of Aaliyah's tired eyes, her little face pressed against the window, already falling asleep. She was the reason I kept moving forward, the reason I had to keep pushing, even when everything around me was falling into uncertainty.

As I drove, I tried to push aside the unease that gnawed at me. It wasn't the first time I'd felt like someone was watching, someone waiting, but I couldn't place why now it felt so much stronger. Maybe it was because I was finally starting to feel like I was on my own again, with a real future ahead of me, and that made me vulnerable.

We passed the turnoff for Grace's new home in North Carolina, and I allowed myself a brief smile. I was happy for her, for the life she and Charlie were building. They deserved it. I wished I could be as sure of my own path, but the unknowns loomed ahead of me like shadows in the distance. Still, I wasn't alone. I had Aaliyah. And for her, I had to make a life that was full of light, not lingering in the dark corners of my past.

A few miles out, I felt the weight of the day beginning to sink in-everything about Kian, the loss, the strange feeling of closure I had with him, and now the ghostly presence of that rose. My phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the screen. It was my father.

I hesitated for only a moment before answering.

"Stella," he said, his voice gruff but steady. "I heard about the rose."

I froze, my heart skipping a beat. "You heard about it?"

"Yeah. You don't have to worry about it. It's someone from my old business. They're watching. They always do. But you don't need to get involved. Not anymore."

I tightened my grip on the wheel, my eyes narrowing. "So this is just... some kind of warning?"

"Not a warning. Just a sign," he replied. "You don't need to worry about it, Stella. Your life is your own now."

I bit my lip, trying to keep my emotions in check. "You think I haven't noticed? You think I don't know how these things work by now? The last thing I need is someone from your past trying to tie me back in. I've made my choice."

"I know, kid," he said softly, a rare tone of understanding in his voice. "But when you live this life, you don't always get to choose. They'll leave you alone... but only for as long as it suits them."

The weight of his words settled in my chest. I could feel the weight of Kian's absence like a hollow ache, something I would never fully be able to escape. But I had Aaliyah. And that was my promise now-her safety, her future. I couldn't let this world, my father's world, take that away from me.

"I'm not going back, Dad," I said, my voice firm.

"I know you're not, Stella. Just be careful. And don't forget, I'm still here... if you need anything."

I hung up without another word, the silence in the car pressing down on me. The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of the past. But the rose on the hood lingered, a reminder that some things would always follow, no matter how far I ran.

I pulled onto the highway, Aaliyah finally asleep in the backseat, and tried to focus on the road ahead. There was still so much uncertainty in my life, but for the first time in a long time, I felt something I hadn't in years: hope. The future was mine to shape now.

And for once, I didn't feel like I was running from it.