Babies For the Billionaire

Part Eleven

©Birdy Stewart, 2014

         We hadn't really gone sight-seeing during our honeymoon like I'd hoped, but Rafaello made up for everything in bed, where he'd seemed determined to keep me.

          But now, four months later, I stood in the nursery Rafe and I had finished decorating just the night before. I would have done it much earlier, but Rafe and I'd had a three-month arguement on whether or not make up seperate bedrooms for the twins.

    "My son isn't going to grow up with purple unicorns painted on the wall, Ar," He'd argued, although his eyes always sparkled with amuesment.

    "He's not going to grow up with purple unicorns, Rafaello. It's yellow baby birds." I'd thrown back with a chuckle. "Besides, if we decide to split them up when they're old enough for a bed, we can decorate it then."

    Of course, I'd won the arguement, and now I stood, admiring the baby blue walls with little baby ducks waddling across the walls, the purple and yellow carpet covering most of the beautiful hard wood floor, the baby-themed wall hangings, and the white furniture. Rubbed my large belly before making my way over to the rocking chair that sat tucked into the corner next to the changing table.

    It was late March, and I gazed out the window to see the snow melting, the flowers beginning to bloom, and flocks of birds in the sky. It was a beautiful day. Spring was just sneaking up on us.

    "Ar?" Rafe's voice came from down the hall.

    "In here," I called, and waited for my husband to appear in the doorway. His masculine aura contrasted greatly with the infants' room.

    "There you are." He smiled and came towards me. I giggled and shrugged.

    "I've been in here a while." I responded. Rafe knelt down infront of me and held my hands in his large ones. “Is there something wrong?” I asked him. He hesitated before shaking his head.

    “No, nothing’s wrong ---”

    “But shouldn’t you be at work?” I questioned before he could finish.

    “What?” Rafaello grinned at me, “A man can’t skip out on work to see his pregnant wife?”

    “No, not if he’s Rafaello Geovani.” I chuckled. I could see his smile, it was forced, it didn’t reach his deep brown eyes like it usually did. “Tell me what’s wrong,” I urged. My husband only shook his head.

    “It’s nothing, tesoro, I told you.” He told me it was nothing but his eyes told me he was holding back from something. He wasn’t telling me whatever was caused him to come home in the middle of the day.

    “Rafaello, tell me what’s wrong,” I begged, “You’re scaring me.” Rafe looked down at my lap, sighed and shook his head.

    “Areila, there’s something I’ve been keeping from you.” He confessed. My heart caught in my chest suddenly, and my hands loosened their grip on his before I grabbed them tightly again.

    “What? You’re not seeing another woman, are you?” My voice were soft and timid, but his hard, black eyes came to meet with mine instantly. No, he had not been seeing other women, I could tell that now.

    “When I married you, I vowed that I would love no other, only you, il mio amore, you should never doubt that I would go against that.” His tone was nearly as hard as his eyes before they both softened with another heavy sigh. He rubbed his hand across his eyes and forehead and let it rest there, breaking our eye contact. “But this,” he said finally, removing his hand and regaining contact with my gaze, “has to do with something that occurred before the wedding. Probably before I even proposed that marriage deal for you and the twins.”

    “What is it, Rafaello?” I asked, gripping his hands in mine, pulling them closer to me on instinct. “Before the wedding? Before the engagement, even? What are you trying to say? What’s going on?” Rafe seemed to be fighting with himself before he finally looked me straight in the eye and spoke three words I hoped I’d never hear.

    “Keith is back.”

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    “What?” It came out barely as a whisper. I was hardly aware that Rafe grabbed my body, to keep me from falling out of the rocking chair. “Why didn‘t you tell me this sooner?”

    “Keith never left. He was never caught, tesoro, he’d been running free this entire time and I shouldn’t have kept that from you, but I’m telling you now to keep you safe.”

    “Safe? What do you mean?” I questioned. “Didn’t the police catch him? He‘s supposed to be in jail, right?”

    “Yes, yes he should be in jail, but he got away.” Rafaello paused and scrubbed his eyes again. “The cops didn’t even get him the first time.”

    “But you said---”

    “I know, il mio amore, but you need to listen to what I’m saying now. Over the last five months, the authorities have been trying to track where Keith has been moving to, and they contacted me at work today to tell me that he’s in the area---”

    “Five months ago…?” I said, somewhat to myself. “But he attacked me in the coffee shop long before that.”

    “Yes, five months ago…when you were in the car accident. They’ve tracked him from there.” My stomach lurched. No, it couldn’t be.

    “He…he caused the crash?” I asked, my voice quivering. Rafe slowly shook his head before continuing.

    “Ari, I know I kept this from you, I figured I could keep you safe if you didn’t know. Now, I’m not sure why I thought that because I should have been more careful with you walking around without knowing.”

    “More careful? What do you mean?”

    “I mean Keith is here. He’s coming for yo---” Before Rafe could finish, the window just to my left shattered as a blur of dark red flew through it. “Areila!” Rafe’s arms quickly came over my body, shielding me from the glass as I screamed in fear and shock. Tears welled up in my sealed eyelids as I buried my face in his shoulder, my shrieks still ringing in my ears.

    “Shh,” Rafe soothed, brushing my hair down my back. I didn’t realize I had been sobbing until I felt the damp material of his suit jacket rub against my cheek.

    I looked up from his shoulder as I heard a loud bang come from downstairs, as if a door was just kicked open, only to see a foggy gas coming from the object that had flown through the window. What I’d assumed was a brick was not a block of cement, but a round, red container. “Rafe…?” I questioned my husband as my mind suddenly became fuzzy.

    “Areila?” I knew he was right in front of me, holding me, but his familiar voice sounded a million miles away. What was happening to me? “Areila,” his voice came again, “it’s him. It’s Keith. I came home to warn you, to…keep you…safe…” As my vision blurred and became unfocused much like my head, Rafe seemed to be slipping out of consciousness---slipping away from me. “He’s coming for you, Ar…you and the babies. Go…get away… from…” At that moment, I watched the blur of dark color in my vision I believed was the love of my life fall the floor of the nursery. Everything moved slowly before my very eyes as I tried to grip onto reality.

    “Rafe…? Don’t…leave me…” As the words came unknowingly from my mouth, I saw another figure enter the room, walking straight towards me, before everything went black.

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I've done it again! A cliff-hanger! And a pretty big twist ;)

I'm In Love with the response the Part Nine recieved! So many votes! Don't stop now, we're on the last four!

And I'd like to hear what you guys think is going to happen after Areila and Rafe wake up. Who's scared for Ari and the babies? ;)

Well, that's all my time for now. Happy reading my dearest humming birds, until next time,

~Birdy

©Birdy Stewart, 2014