“What was your husband like?” I asked. Zuria’s life was so mysterious, and I wanted to know more.
“Well,” Zuria glanced at me, “He was a very cold and calculated man. He liked giving commands. He liked being in charge. He didn’t like big gatherings.” she paused, “If you’re talking about physical features he was extremely handsome, I mean like drop-dead gorgeous. He had thick dark hair. His eyes were like midnight.”
I frowned at her. He didn’t sound anything like Valdo. “Did you love him?”
She smiled, “Very much.”
I didn’t understand. Apart from his good looks, he seems very toxic. How could she have loved a man like that? She’s so sweet, completely opposite from her husband. “Why?”
Was it possible to love someone who was cruel and demanding?
“When I met him, I needed someone like him in my life. My life was out of control, and he fixed it. He thought me how to control my emotion and so many other things.” she shrugged. “It never bothered me that he was a dick to most people because he was romantic, passionate and caring when it came to me.” She sighed, “The only problem I had with him was that he never expressed his feelings. We were married for years, and he never once told me he loved me. It was something I needed because I grow up without love. Not knowing how to love and not being loved by anyone. The only person who has ever told me ‘I love you’ is my son.” I heard the pain in her voice.
I looked at her smile, “I love you, Zuria.” Zuria was an amazing woman, and it was hard no to love her. She deserved to know that she was loved.
She chuckled, “I love you, Jakobia.”
“You are..” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because something crashed into the back of the car. I looked behind us at the car that had hit us, “It’s not stopping, why isn’t it stopping?” I looked back at Zuria, but she was looking straight ahead, increasing her speed. “Why aren’t you stopping?”
“That was not an accident.” She said, looking straight ahead.
“It wasn’t?” I asked with a frown. Someone intentionally hit the back of her car?
Even though Zuria was driving faster, the car managed to catch up and slammed in us a second time, this time waking up Jamaica and Alessandro. Jamaica started screaming; I turn to look at my screaming baby. Alessandro was frightened by her cries, and so he began to cry as well.
My heart was pounding. I wanted to hug her in my arms until she stopped crying.
Why was someone trying to run us off the road?
Zuroia removed her right hands from the steering wheel and started dialling a number through the car phone.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” A male voice with an Italian accent came through the speakers.
“What’s going on, Niccolo?” Zuria asked furiously.
“I’m good, Bella. Thanks for asking.” after a pause, he continued, “Why is Alessandro crying?”
“Someone’s trying to run me off the road, Niccolo. I have two kids in the car with me.” I could tell Zuria was trying her bed to keep calm, but her anger was obvious.
“Che Cosa, who’s is trying to run you off the road?” he asked with concern laced in his voice. Was he a relative of hers?
Nah, she was an orphan. She didn’t have a family, but maybe her husband did.
Giovanni was an Italian name.
“I don’t know, Niccolo. That’s why I’m asking you. What have you done this time?” This time? This isn’t the first time someone tried to run her off the road? Was Niccolo mixed up in something bad? Was that the reason someone was trying to run us off the road?
“I haven’t done anything! I don’t know why someone would do that.” the car slammed into us again. He heard the slam, “Cazzo! Where are you?” he barked.
“I’m at the Bowery and Smith,” she answered calmly. How can she be so calm in a situation like this?
“I’ll send someone.” Niccolo ended the call.
Was he a policeman?
Zuria took a deep breath and placed her hand back on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry. You should never have to experience something like this.”
I wanted to tell her it was okay, but it wasn’t. My heart was pounding, and my baby was crying.
“Sandro, Calmati. Please stop crying. Everything will be okay. Andra tutto bene.” She assured her son looking in the rear-view mirror. My eyes widen. I didn’t know Zuria spoke Italian.
I looked at the woman beside me. There were so many things I didn’t know about her and her past. It made me even more scared. Zuria drove a Mercedes Benz. She wore expensively looking for clothes. She’s never complained about money. In fact, I’ve seen her giving money to Emily a few times. She was a single mom. Where did all that money come from?
The car slammed into us again. The impact was so hard I hit my head on my glass. I groaned in pain.
“I’m sorry,” Zuria muttered.
I turned to look at the children. They were still in place, thanks to the car seats. I looked through the back glass and looked at the car that was doing the damage. It was around five meters away from us. It was a black Subaru. As the vehicle approached closer, the driver’s figure became clearer.
My heart froze when I got a glance at the driver’s face.
I turned around quickly and looked ahead, “It’s not you.” I look at Zuria. “The person who is trying to run us off the road is William.”
“What?”
“William, Jamaica’s father. He’s the one driving the black Subaru.” We hadn’t heard from William after he received the DNA results. I really thought he had given up but apparently not.
He was trying to kill me.
Hot tears streamed down my cheeks.
I’m going to die.
My crazy psychotic ex is going to kill me.
Zuria noticed the tears and placed her right hand on my leg, “You’re going to be okay. I won’t let him hurt you.” As much her words had well-meaning, William was trying to kill everyone in the car and not just me.
Zuria turned the car onto a new street at the stop and continued driving at high speed. I looked behind me thinking that we had finally lost him, but William didn’t give up. He was still behind us.
“God! Talk about crazy ex-boyfriends!” she said, trying to lighten the mood but I didn’t laugh. William was indeed crazy. He wouldn’t leave me the hell alone. For the first time in my life, I had everything I’ve ever wanted, a happy family, but William wouldn’t let me be happy.
He’s trying to ruin everything in my life and for what?
William’s car slammed into the side of Zuria’s, this time causing the car to swerve off the road and into a tree. The airbags of the vehicle deployed as our bodies went forward. I felt a stinking pain into my head, and that was the last time I remembered before passing out.
…
“I want to see my wife. I want to see my wife.” I lifted my head and opened my eyes when I heard Valdo’s voice.
“I’m in here,” I shouted.
A sense of peace flowed through me when Valdo opened the door, and my eyes met his. He walked over to me and hugged me. “I came as soon as I heard.” he pulled away and cupped my cheeks, “How are you? How is Jamaica? How is Zuria? How is Alessandro?” he looked around the room that had a few other empty beds, “Where are they?”
I placed my hand on his shoulders, “I’m fine. Jamaica is fine. Zuria hurt her foot; the nurses are patching it up for her now. Alessandro is okay. They have him and Jamaica at the children’s ward. They want to make sure they weren’t hurt in the accident. We’re all okay. The doctor said that we could go home once they’ve done with Zuria and the kids.”
He sighed and looked at me, “I was terrified when the hospital called. They didn’t give me much information, all they told me was that you were run off the road.” he cupped my cheeks and looked into my eyes, “I thought I had lost you.”
I shook my head, “No. I’m right here.”
He placed his lips over mine and kissed me softly. He pulled away and looked into my eyes, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I wrapped my arms around him tightly.
“Who would do something like that?”
I tensed and pulled away from him, “It was William.”
“What?” he tensed and looked at me with a frown.
“I saw his face through the back glass. He’s the one responsible.” Valdo pulled away from me and stood up.
He walked around the room with his hand in a fist. He was angry. It was a side of him I never knew. His behaviour was completely justified. William was out of control. He almost killed us today.
“I’ve had enough him.” he took a deep breath. “He’s taken his obsessive behaviour too far. I’m going to kill him.”
“Not if I kill him first.”
Valdo and I turned to look at who entered the room.
“Niccolo.”