Culpables years later...

Chapter 4

Noah

Amazingly, the morning passed quickly and the meetings were not that long. Even our boss was agreeable with his mood. During the break from one meeting to the next, I had time to read Nick's message, and I responded with a heart.

And when it was lunch break, I went to lunch with Carla. We went to our favorite bistro, where we ordered a salad and a sandwich. We started talking about the morning until I started asking what was going on. "You know, I met someone online and he seems like it. I think I like him, of course it's crazy because we've only been texting each other for a few weeks. But he's the one I think about before I go to sleep and wake up."

It made me happy to know that she was happy. "Is it crazy that I like him already?" "Love wouldn't be love if there wasn't something crazy about it. Just watch who you let into your life, okay?" "You know me, Noah, I'm always careful." Laughing, I shook my head. "How are you and your family doing? Are you looking forward to a vacation? Honeymoon 2.0 for Nick and Noah?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it that, but yeah, we're looking forward to it." "Then what about Andrew? Where is he when you're on vacation?" I took a sip of my smoothie before replying. "He's with his grandparents. They're at home, and he's not alone, he's got his cousin and Thor and N." We kept talking until we had to get back to work. While I was back in the office, I texted Nick.

Nick❤️

Do you want to cook something tonight?

Filet and potatos?

Looking forward to you😘

When I sent the message, I smiled. The funny thing was, Nick had never been the type to send emojis on messages. On that rare occasion, he used a heart emoji or a laughing one. The day was unspectacular, so I went shopping after work for tonight. Funnily enough, Nick hadn't answered me yet, which was weird for him. Sure, he has more work to do than usual, but he usually answers me. I hope everything was okay? Not that he has to work late today.

When I got home, I put the ingredients in the fridge and changed. Freshly made, I set about cooking. The meat was in the pan and the potatoes were in the oven, when all of a sudden the door opened and Nick walked in.

I walked up to him and gave him a greeting kiss. "Hey, I thought you weren't coming. Was everything okay at work?" He looked absent, stroking my hair behind my ear with one hand. "Nick? What happened?" Now he looked at me, and I saw in his eyes something I hadn't seen in a long time. "We have to sit down for a minute, I have to tell you something, Noah." He took my hand and pulled me onto the couch next to him. "Nick, you're scaring me. What happened?" Nick seemed to be beside himself, and he didn't know where to start. "Noah, there's something you need to know. I got a call today from Lopez about Michael. He was supposed to be transferred to the psychotic, but he escaped. The police are looking for him, but apparently he had help, and there's no sign of him. They're looking for him, but we can't count on that. We'll do the one week of Mykonos, but we'll take our whole family with us and Steve with Alex as security. After that, we'll stay low and live somewhere else. Where it's safe." My heart stopped. He was free. He wanted revenge, like my father did. None of this could have happened. I put my hand to my mouth and looked at Nick. "What are we going to do, Nick? Hide until he's in custody? He wants revenge." My heart beat faster. Nick, who squeezed my hand, tried to talk me into saying, "The most important thing is to protect our family. And that's what I'm going to do, Noah. I promise you."

"I can't go through all this again, Nick. We're never going to be alone." I sobbed and got up and walked up and down. "Do our parents know?" Nick got up and walked toward me as he held me tightly and pressed my head to his chest. "Yeah. Everything's going to be fine. Our family's going to be fine, and we're going to take care of each other."

I let Nick give me a big hug and whisper comforting things in my ear. That was the end of the romantic night. Our dinner was largely about what precautions we need to take to protect ourselves. Later, sitting on the couch with a bottle of wine, Andie was brought over. I was unable to talk to anyone else today, so Nick had to answer the door. While Nick was still talking at the door, Andie came running up to me and jumped onto the couch next to me, snuggled under my blanket and leaned against me. "How was your day? Did you have fun?" "Yeah, I did really good at school today and even got a great from the teacher." Filled with pride, I gave him a kiss on the forehead and told him how proud we were. "Mom, are you okay? You seem sad." "I just had a rough day, all right, honey." I hugged him tightly and promised myself I wouldn't let anything happen to him. The moment Nick came up to us on the couch and looked at us, I realized the same thought I had in his eyes. We weren't going to let anyone hurt our family. He came closer to us so he put one arm around me and stroked Andie's head with the other.

We were both trying to be normal for Andie, but that was difficult for us. Nick and I were both very scared, but for Andie, we had to be strong. He had wished he could watch a movie with us, so much the decision on Bear Brothers at Disney. He usually managed to see the movie through the end, only today he's half asleep. So I turned off the TV, and Nicholas carried him to his bed, and he put him into his bed, where he slept peacefully. I stood in the doorway watching this scene. Nick looked at me with a smile. Together, we would get ready for bed and lie down in bed, enjoying the closeness of each other. In those situations, we realized how much we needed each other. "Everything will be fine, I promise you freckles. Besides, family vacations can only be fun." Laughing, I shook my head. "Exactly one week in a confined space with our parents, that's going to be fun." "The two of us together again in Greece at sunset on the beach. I remember where you wore that beautiful white dress. I only had eyes for you, and all the other mens only had eyes for you. We're going to enjoy this, Noah. We're not going to let it ruin us."

He was right. We're not going to let that take away from us, we're not going to live in fear. I put an arm down, and he pulled me tightly, so my head was in the crook of his neck, and he drove my back up and down. And together, we went to sleep, with the promise that everything would be okay and that no one would get hurt.