Fighting Love

♠Chapter Twenty One

Your battles are meant to make you stronger

TROY'S POV

Losing a family member through death is hard to deal with. I was a boy when my grandmother died and I didn't understand death. They said she went to heaven, and heaven is a good place to be. When you lose your entire family, that has harder, a lot more painful, and it sucked to watch her grieve and I couldn't make it better. I knew I couldn't bring them back, but I hoped to make it easier to deal with.

The day we got back from the riverside, Trisa ran upstairs and locked herself inside her mother's bedroom. She wouldn't answer anyone's call, and she ignored me and Marlon for hours. I knew it was a tough time for her, but I also knew locking yourself away doesn't make it better.

After the lawyer came and left, she bolted upstairs and slammed the door shut. I thought it was best to give her space until I heard her screaming and shattering glass inside the bedroom. I knew if I tried to talk to her, it would turn into an argument, so I did the one thing I knew would keep her quiet for a few days.  I'd never put so much effort into kissing someone before, especially since it was solely for her to feel good. 

 Afterwards, I met Marlon in her brother's room. He was busy smiling about something on his phone. "Bro, we should call the gang for their stuff now," He said.

He looked up and nodded yes before burying his head back into his phone. "Yeah, I'll meet you downstairs."

"Alright." I found the phone on the coffee table and dialed the unsaved phone number. It rang twice before a husky voice answered. "You best be calling to hand over what your worthless father stole. "

"You know where the house is, so come for it." I didn't wait for him to respond. Based on the way he spoke, I knew he was the gang leader or the second in command. Trisa wanted nothing to do with all of this. She couldn't handle it.

"They should be here soon." I turn to Marlon, who entered the living room.

"Oh, we should warn the guys outside," he said.

"Yeah, do that." I wasn't worried because I knew the security was top-notch and skilled. My priority was making sure my girl was okay. Everyone else knew how to defend themselves.

I sat on the couch with my head thrown over the handle, reminiscing on times when I hung out with my old gang, doing ill-mannered things and bike racing. It was never anything extreme, but I always got into feuds because of my anger.

I didn't notice I had fallen asleep until I felt a violent slap across my face.

"Wheres the girl."

I shot up to a gun pointed at my face. My body stiffened and stumble backward. "She left," I lied. "She said she can't handle all of this, so she asked me to give you your stuff."

I inched in my back pocket and pulled out the bank card, paper, and key the lawyer had given Trisa.

The guy grabbed them from me and examined them, then spoke. "We know what the key is for. Now, give us the girl, or your friend dies."

"What the fuck are you..." they cut my words short by the gun being jabbed into my forehead. The door busted open, revealing Marlon being held by a tall, muscular guy. His muscles were as big as my leg.

One of their men sauntered upstairs to retrieve Trisa. My heart stopped beating. She was asleep, and though I was sure she would put up a fight, she was also too soft and unfit for it to make a difference. Silence enveloped the room as we waited for him to return. They kept the guns pointed to our faces to keep us from moving. If I had a gun too, it wouldn't be this easy, but since they outnumbered us, it was best to stay calm.

The man came back alone. A relieved sigh escaped my lips and the suited guy in front of me spoke sharply. "You have Twenty-four hours to bring the girl, or this one dies." He pointed to Marlon and smirked, then ordered his men to move out.

I waited until they left, before running upstairs to see where Trisa could have possibly hidden. "Fluff, baby, are you here," I called. "Fluff, Fluff, baby, answer me, dammit!" I checked all the bedrooms, but she wasn't in any. "Fluff, it's me, please come out." I entered the washroom and found her stepping out of the dirty linen basket. I wasn't even going to ask how she thought of that because even I wouldn't. I tackled her with a hug and we fell onto the floor on a pile of dirty clothes. "Oh, God, Fluff, I'm so sorry."

She sobbed into the crook of my neck. "I'm scared." She sobbed harder.

"Baby, they have Marlon and were here to take you. "

She stared at me wide-eyed. "What!"

I brought him into it. If I knew it would be dangerous, I wouldn't have brought him along. "Don't worry baby I will get him back and I promise I will protect you."
She held me tighter, and as muffled sounds escaped her lips, I could only imagine how scared she was.

Her father was an asshole for doing that to his family. She was alone, but she was my family now, and over my dead body was anyone going to snatch her from me. "Let's get you out of here."

We strutted out, then I told her to pack what she needed. We weren't safe anymore. It seemed I needed a little more help from my mom. After packing, we met in the living room before leaving. "Hey." I cupped her face in my hands. "Fluff, breathe. It'll be okay."

She shook her head and attached herself to me at the hip.

"Mom, a gang kidnapped Marlon."

"Son, what on earth did you do this time?" She whisper shouted into the phone. She did that when she was upset, but near someone, she didn't want to hear her conversation.

"Nothing, just help me, ok."

She hissed. "Nothing gets your best friend kidnapped?"

Before I could retort, Trisa tears the phone from my ears. "Mrs. Wilson, it's Troy's Girlfriend." Something inside me flickered when she called herself my girlfriend. "Troy did nothing, it's my fault they took Marlon and I'm next if you don't help us. Please."

She paused and waited for an answer. "Fine, I'll send you some help and I'll get you guys a safe house too."

"Oh, thank you so much, Mrs. Wilson." I looked at Troy from the passenger's side and shook my head yes. A text message brought my attention back to the phone.

"What is it, fluff?" He glanced at me, then back on the road.

"Your mom is giving us the address to a safe house. Follow Main Street out of town, then turn left onto the second dirt road. It's the only house there."

We drove quietly for about an hour-and-a-half, before seeing hedges that led us to a modern stone-built cabin. It was empty but strictly secured. A passcode and security cameras guarded the gate. It also secured the entire cabin.

It surprised me how quickly the gang got to the house, and I couldn't believe they even had snipers. They could've taken us out any time. I didn't expect things to escalate this much so quickly.