“I know what he does,” I spoke up. I didn’t like how we may have come across one another, but that didn’t mean I’d let someone talk like that to Zachariah.
“And you okay with that?” Kent asked, his eyes pinned me to my seat.
“He saved me from a painful death that Cody surely had lined out,” I stated, holding my head high. “So yes, I’m fine with what he does. There is nothing I could do about it anyway.”
“Hmm,” Kent said in thought. It seemed as though he knew something I didn’t. He probably did, since I hardly knew anything about myself anymore.
“Enough,” Carlos stated in warning. “This is not the place to interrogate my future daughter-in-law.”
“Fine, fine,” Kent said, letting his hard look drop away. “Just gotta make sure she’s right for my grandson.” I could understand that. It certainly would have been something my own father should have done.
“She’s perfect for him,” Melio spoke up for once. “She wouldn’t still be here if she wasn’t. You know that.”
“True,” Kent said with a one shoulder shrug. “Sorry for that, but in my line of life . . .” he trailed off as he looked at me once more.
“You’re worried,” I spoke. “As you should be. I won’t take his money, nor make his life any more difficult than it is. He saved me; I owe him my life.”
“You owe me nothing, Avidya,” Zachariah spoke, a soft look on his face. “And everyone here should know by now that you would never take my money. It was a fight to let me buy you the clothes you have on today.” He laughed at the end, knowing if I knew the price the clothes were, I probably would have certainly put up a fight.
“See, they are perfect for one another,” Julia stated in awe. “Now, let’s eat, shall we?”
“You’re mine, forever,” Zachariah whispered in my ear as the food was brought out to the table. “Your body, mind and soul, Avidya Ray.”
His words went straight to my core, and I flushed as deep of a red as ever.
