°Sweet Dreams° (1)✔️

34. Red Rain.

Leaving Dad in my rear view mirror the second time was just as difficult as the first.

Vincent thought it wouldn't be wise for him to come to Italy with because he would be the fire to Leonardo's dynamite; and I agreed. But Dad did not.

It took some shoving to get him on the private jet to Chicago where he would visit his sister-in-law, but we were finally able to get him strapped to his seat for takeoff. Seeing Jaden's mother after all these years could have been the slightest reason for him to give up and go.

I gripped the tiny bottle in my hand as I walked beside Vincent to our jet. Both of our bags were slung on our shoulders with one of our heads looking forward and one looking back. The question of who's was going in what direction was an enigma.

"You'd like Carina. She's extraordinarily grounded and knows what she wants," Vincent says.

He began to continue from my lack of response.

"Nico is extremely strong headed. He doesn't like being told 'no'," he bumbled on.

"I can't do this."

He stopped going up the steps of the jet when he saw me drop my bag with planted feet on the concrete.

"What do you mean?"

A heaviness tugged down his brow and his serious emerald eye was sharper.

"Going to Italy would be a mistake."

"On your part, yes. Now let's go," he responded as he went to continue to board the aircraft.

"You don't get it do you? I'm not going Vince," I sternly repeated.

"We had a deal."

"I did my part," I tossed the vial from my hand to his chest which he thankfully caught. "That's my blood. You can take that and show your family what you've been doing without me being anywhere near it."

Vince closed his eyes for a blink and I knew that I triggered something.

But I didn't care.

"I knew I was going soft on you and I should've never given you my trust," he curled his lips downward. "You know me well enough now to know that I don't give out my trust easily."

"I'm not saying you made a mistake in doing so. I am not betraying you. You just need to understand that I-"

"That you can't go," he finalized.

"That and I am tired of thinking about how other people feel. I need to figure myself out first."

His head was still as he stared right through me. Oh how I wish I cared what he was feeling.

Thinking no other words were going to escape from his solid lips, I pivoted and thought about my journey ahead. That was until I heard the familiar clicking and rustling of a gun.

Before I could even turn around I could hear him slowly take a few steps toward my back before stopping inches away.

"Get in the plane."

The psycho is definitely back. Hell, he probably never left.

There were few things I was sure that would happen in the next few seconds. But my hands were moving faster than I could think.

I whisked around and caught Vincent's gun in my left hand to push it to the side. He was quick to bring it back up between my eyes.

My life flashed before me.

"Don't make me do this," he mumbled as I saw from my peripheral vision his index finger tap on the trigger.

"I want you to so badly," I whispered in the same menacing tone he used when he sliced me up in the basement of the frat.

"Hands where I can see them!"

A demanding voice made us both look up and gave me the chance to knock the gun from Vincent's hands.

"Jaden?" I slowly put down my raised hands when I saw his rugged brown face ridden of sleep.

"Amari, get in the car," he said. A gun was held in an authoritative and officer manner which made me question how he could've gotten a weapon if he hadn't graduated yet.

I looked toward Vincent and saw his hands were also up but the snarl was still tugging at his lips.

"See you in December if your father's not back in jail by then."

I know this wasn't him and I knew that he didn't mean it, but I couldn't help myself.

My right hand swiped across his face leaving three deep bloody trails from my nails making him groan in agony.

"Go make daddy proud Vincent."

I turned as he felt the blood that was dripping from his pale cheek.

My bag clung to my shoulder as I ran to the side of Jaden's car in fear of Vincent tugging me back.

"Drive!" I instructed forcefully to Jaden when I saw him cautiously retreat to the driver's seat.

He stepped heavily on the gas pedal and the images of the plane and a furious Vincent became smaller.

"How did you know where we were?" I asked after recollecting what was left of my breath.

"I watch the news damnit. Come on Amari, you can't think I'm that dumb," he exhaled as he drifted us onto the highway. "Did you do what you had to?"

My eyes glanced at him momentarily since my concentration was on my shaky fingers covered in the blood of a troubled man who I thought I cared about.

"That and some," I responded as I glanced out the window at the passing exits and nickel-colored sky.

"I was worried about you. Mostly since I heard that Vincent had killed that girl."

"What girl?"

"I think her name was Claire Evans. Some investigators found her body in his freezer in New York."

My throat started to feel tight and I began to feel sick.

He couldn't have killed Claire. Could he? She was the mother to his child!

Maybe he was a monster that could never be saved.

"So what now?"

After wiping my fingers on my jeans, I texted the new number in my phone my sizes and my allergy to roses.

"It's our time to be normal. We deserve it."