Page 54 of The Maverick (WaterFyre Rising #7)

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

ATTIKUS

When I entered the house, silence greeted me.

I called out to Vanessa, but no one answered.

I walked into my bedroom and found her sleeping in my bed.

That image spread warmth in my chest. She was the reason colors existed in this world.

She looked so beautiful and peaceful. Then she shifted, and her peaceful expression transformed into a frown as tears streamed down her face.

Why was my baby crying in her sleep?

“No!” She punched the air and kicked at the blanket. “Leave him alone!”

“Vanessa.” I gripped her wrist, fearing she might hurt herself.

“I’m going to kill all of you!” she cried as tears flooded her face with her eyes still closed. “Attikus!”

What kind of nightmare was she having?

“Vanessa, I’m here.” I held her hands down on the bed.

Then she sobbed and curled into a ball. I gathered her into my arms and held her as her anxious breathing subsided. What would have happened if I hadn’t returned home?

I pressed a kiss to her head. Then her body stiffened, and her eyes opened. She whipped her head toward me, and our eyes met.

She sat up and smiled as though she hadn’t just experienced a nightmare. “When did you get home?

“Just now.”

She cupped my face in her hands and kissed me. Then she hopped onto me and embraced me. We held onto each other for a long moment.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, now that you’re home.”

“Let me see that pretty face of yours.”

She straightened up. “It’s not very pretty right now.”

I brushed away the wetness that still lingered under her eyes. “Why were you crying?”

“It’s been an awful day,” she said as her expression changed. “I realized I’m capable of violence. There are new people on my shit list.” She held up a fist.

I stifled a smile. Was this the reason for her dream?

“Who are they?”

She touched my face and named the three people who had changed my life. She probably saw the question in my eyes because she gestured to the phone on the table. “That’s Miranda’s phone. She gave it to me.”

I grabbed it and used the code on the Post-it note to enter.

A video was already on the screen. I didn’t have to play it to know what it was. I recognized the clothing they wore that day.

Vanessa gripped my hand, and her worried expression told me this was the reason for her traumatic dream.

“I’ll be fine. I know what that video is all about. It will only push me harder to find Ashton.”

Vanessa rolled over and snuggled next to me. She gripped my arm as though she feared I might break from the video.

I hit play and watched the entire attack.

Vanessa rubbed her hand up and down my arm during the five-minute video.

Something unexpected happened. The video didn’t affect me like I thought it would.

Instead of enraging me, it healed me to see it from this perspective.

It was as though I had detached from the experience and was now looking at it from a different angle.

My heart thundered as I looked at Vanessa’s hand as she soothed me.

Love had removed the pain from mypast. It had allowed me to move on.

I hadn’t realized it until now. The energetic knots that had twisted me up all these years had loosened.

However, moving on didn’t mean I’d forgotten what had happened.

It didn’t mean my desire for vengeance had disappeared.

It just meant I could navigate without the dark shackles hindering me.

I knew love was a powerful emotion, but I didn’t know its capability until now. No wonder people were transformed by this potent emotion.

I placed the phone down on the table and took Vanessa’s hand, kissing it. “You were crying for me?”

She nodded as her eyes filled up again. “I punched those boys in my dream. Kicked one in the nuts. Ashton screamed like a girl. It felt good.”

I smiled but didn’t tell her I’d witnessed it. I wanted to keep that secret to myself.

“Thank you for kicking their asses for me.”

“Anytime.” She grinned. “Are you hungry? Did you have dinner yet?”

“I’m not hungry. I spoke to Detective Farmer on my way home, and he told me the man who hurt Miranda died in prison from a heart attack.” His accomplice died on the scene when he grabbed an officer’s gun.

“So many deaths,” she murmured.

“That just means the enemy is scared of what we might find out.”