Chapter 9 - THE LIFE AFTER SURVIVING
A year passed.
Owen received a kidney transplant.
Our mother finally learned the full truth.
She slapped my father.
Then hugged him.
Then slapped him again.
I considered it balanced justice.
Thomas moved into a small apartment nearby.
Rebuilding eleven lost years turned out to be harder than surviving them.
There were no cinematic shortcuts.
We fought.
We cried.
Sometimes I ignored his calls.
Sometimes he sat beside Owen for six hours during treatment without speaking.
Slowly, he became our father again.
Not the father we remembered.
A new one.
Adrian started consulting legitimate companies on fraud prevention.
The irony entertained me endlessly.
One evening he came to the small restaurant where I now worked part-time.
He sat at table nine.
I stared.
“Seriously?”
“What?”
“Table nine?”
He looked at the number.
Then smiled.
“I didn't notice.”
“Terrible survival instincts.”
“I know someone better at that.”
He handed me a napkin.
Six words were written on it.
DINNER WITH ME. NO ASSASSINS. PROMISE.
I laughed.
Then looked at him.
“Is this a date?”
“If you want it to be.”
That mattered.
No pressure.
No debt.
No rescuing.
A choice.
“Yes.”
Adrian smiled.
“Tomorrow?”
“I work.”
“Tuesday?”
“Class.”
“Wednesday?”
“Maybe.”
He sighed.
“I'm beginning to miss being feared.”
“Wednesday.”
His smile returned.
And that was how the most feared man in Chicago got his first date with me.
May you like
By waiting three days.
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