Love & War Read online

  “Good to finally see you’re awake,” she greeted with a smile.

  YaYa looked down at her bandaged bodice and then up at the friendly Hispanic woman inquisitively.

  “You broke two ribs in the crash,” she explained. “You have a concussion and you were hypothermic when they pulled you out of the water. It took two hours to thaw you completely. You were like an ice cube. Your fingers and toes got the worst of it, but considering what you’ve been through . . . you are very lucky. I can’t say the same for the other girl who they fished out.”

  YaYa’s eyes widened in alarm. “Is she dead?”

  “No, but the gunshot wound to her chest is severe. The bullet is too close to her heart to remove it. They performed surgery to close her up, but it’s very painful. Not even the pain medications can numb all of what she is feeling. The worst part is she’s conscious,” the nurse informed. “She’s right up the hall . . . room 928.”

  What? YaYa thought. How the fuck does Leah keep surviving? She felt like she and Leah were tortured souls, connected by their obsession with one another. It seemed whenever YaYa lived, Leah did as well. She wondered if she had to die in order for Leah to finally receive her fate.

  She waited until she was alone before she attempted to move. Her feet felt like cement blocks and there was no sensation in her toes as she swung her legs to the side until she was standing. Tangled in the wires of the machines she was hooked up to YaYa braced herself before pulling the IV out of her arm. She opened her mouth and screamed silently as the needle came out. She searched for a bandage to stop the small trickle of blood that flowed from her arm. She pulled out every drawer until she finally found enough materials to treat herself.

  A part of her heart must have frozen as she lay on the banks of the icy river. Even after Leah’s gun had jammed, even after Leah had tried her hardest to ruin her life, YaYa had grabbed her as she made her way out of the sinking car. She had barely made it to the shore before she passed out beside a bleeding Leah, face down in the snow. YaYa hadn’t wanted to save Leah, but rather to have visible evidence of her death. If she had left Leah in the water there wasn’t a guarantee that her body would be found, leaving YaYa to always wonder. YaYa wanted to see her in a shallow grave. She had to witness that demise first-hand. It was the only reason that she had even risked her own life to bring Leah ashore. There seemed to be no end to the madness, however. Even with the gunshot to the chest, Leah had lived and YaYa refused to take anymore. She knew that there would be no peace in her world as long as Leah was in it. One of them had to go and YaYa had been through too much for it all to be for nothing.

  Her feet felt like they were being stabbed with a thousand tiny pins as she made her way out of the room. It was crazy how freezing cold eventually turned into burning torture. After being submerged in freezing water and lying out on the icy riverbank for hours, she had become hypothermic. Her toes felt like they would fall off at any second. She shouldn’t even have attempted to stand so soon but she didn’t care. She just wanted to see Leah. YaYa wanted to set her eyes on the bitch who had taken everything from her. She didn’t know what she would do when she saw her. Wait. Scratch that. She knew exactly what she would do. She would end her on sight. The time had come to cease the cat-and-mouse game. She crept through the hall, feeling invisible as the busy nurses rushed to and fro around her. It wasn’t long before the limp in her walk and the instability of her condition garnered attention from one of the scrubbed workers walking by.

  “Excuse me, miss, you’re in no shape to be out of your room,” a male physician said. His voice halted her mid-step and she weakly leaned against the wall in defeat. He was right. She could barely make it down the hall but she was too far to turn back. Years of beef had brought her to this moment and as she looked up into the dark brown eyes of the doctor who stood before her, she felt tears overcome her.

  She was still so groggy from the treatment and medications that had been inserted into her veins. Her rib cage screamed in agony with every step that she took. She reached out for him, her legs barely strong enough to keep her upright. The doctor quickly picked her up off of her feet and found the nearest wheelchair to place her in. “You’re in no condition to—”

  “Please,” she whispered in interruption. “I was brought here with my sister. She’s right up the hall in ICU. I just want to see her. I swear after that I’ll go back to my room. Please take me to see her. I’ll only stay a minute. She’s in 928.”

  The doctor checked his watch as if he were pressed for time and then motioned for one of the candy stripers who were walking by in haste. “Young lady, please take this patient to 928 to visit her sister. Give her five minutes. After that take her directly back to her own room and make sure she doesn’t get out of her bed.” He turned to YaYa. “I’m going to personally pop in to check on you to make sure you aren’t going for any more strolls, all right?”

  She nodded and gave him a grateful smile as the candy striper wheeled her up the hall and into Leah’s room.

  YaYa gasped when she saw the condition that Leah was in. She was hooked up to so many machines. Wires and tubes went in and out of her arms and nose. In their epic battle YaYa had been injured but she had definitely come out on top. A small victory wasn’t enough for her, however. She was ready to win the war. It was the only way for her to move on with her life. The machines, the gunshot wound . . . it’ll only keep Leah down for so long. She will come for me. She always comes for me, YaYa thought. There was something about Leah’s existence that made YaYa feel cornered. Even with Leah hooked up to tubes and monitors, YaYa still feared her. It was ingrained in her, like she had been conditioned to fear Leah. Like a belt acted as reinforcement to a child, YaYa was a slave to Leah’s madness. It was the kind of terror that would only go away in death. Either her own or Leah’s, but it was clear that coexistence was not an option. A tear escaped her eyes and she turned to the candy striper. “Can I have a minute?” she asked.

  The young girl gave her a pat on the shoulder and replied, “Sure.”

  When YaYa was alone with Leah she stared at her, weighing the options in her mind. She was so overwhelmed with hate, with uncertainty, with terror. Leah brought out the very worst in her. She didn’t want to be stuck anymore. She felt forever frozen in a sick competition with Leah. All she wanted at that moment was to be rid of the evil that had consumed her life. Gripping the wheelchair she slowly rose as she weakly made her way to the door. She clicked the lock on the door and then turned back to make the painful trip back across the room. By the time she was standing over Leah, she was exhausted. She didn’t realize it but the extent of her injuries was serious and if she were not careful she would bring herself great harm through overexertion alone. YaYa reached up and turned off the monitor; then she leaned over Leah until her mouth was directly by Leah’s ear. “I hope you burn in hell, you evil bitch,” she said. The sound of YaYa’s voice caused Leah’s eyes to flutter and when YaYa wrapped her hands around Leah’s neck, her eyes flew open. She tightened her grasp, stopping her airflow, automatically causing Leah’s body to tense. YaYa’s squeezed so tightly that there was no room to doubt the fact that Leah was about to die. Tears flooded both of their eyes as they stared at one another. Leah’s heart beat as adrenaline pulsed through her. She and Leah had once been friends, they had once lived carefree, getting money together and blowing it fast until Leah’s jealousy changed the course of their relationship. Now they were common enemies and as YaYa choked the life out of Leah, her entire body trembled. Leah couldn’t fight back if she wanted to. So instead of resisting she gave in to YaYa and prepared for the inevitable.

  A knock at the door caused YaYa to squeeze harder. She didn’t have much time to finish this.

  “YaYa!”

  Indie’s voice rang in her ear but she didn’t stop. She refused to loosen her grip. “YaYa, don’t do this. This isn’t the time . . . or the place,” he said through the door. “You do this and there is no turning back. No getting
out of it. There are too many eyes in this hospital, YaYa. I lose you for good. Sky loses you.”

  YaYa gritted her teeth as she applied even more pressure to Leah’s neck, choking her out. The severity of Leah’s wounds didn’t allow her to put up a fight. YaYa had the upper hand and could easily win the war, but Indie’s words had not gone unheard; they were loud and clear. He had shaken her and as images of Indie and their child flashed through her mind she began to let up. If she went through with this, if she murdered Leah with her own two hands, in the midst of the busy hospital, the repercussions would be irrevocable.

  “Open the door, YaYa!” Indie shouted.

  YaYa released Leah and as soon as she did Leah began to choke uncontrollably as she gasped for air. “I knew you were weak,” she managed to insult as she gulped desperately for oxygen to feed her starving lungs. She laughed condescendingly as she coughed into her balled fist. Each cough sent extreme pain pulsing through her, but it was better than not feeling anything at all. It was better than the death that she had narrowly evaded.

  YaYa had begun to retreat but when she heard Leah’s words she stopped dead in her tracks. Her hand was on the door and she looked at Indie through the rectangular window. His eyes were pleading with her, urging her to unlock the door so that he could get inside. YaYa wanted to open it and run into his arms. She wanted to let him rescue her, like always, but this wasn’t his fight. He was not the one who introduced crazy into their lives. Leah had pushed her to the edge of destruction so many times and she was ready to take control back. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed silently as her brow furrowed in angst. She turned back to Leah with cold determination coursing through her veins. She stood directly over her as she heard Indie begin to knock on the door.

  “Somebody come open this door! Now!” She heard another voice. She recognized it as Agent Norris.

  The handle rattled. There wasn’t enough time to do what she meant to, but she needed to make one thing clear.

  “Every time I try to give you a pass you remind me why I can’t. Rest up, Leah, and enjoy your time here because as soon as you step foot outside of this hospital, I’m on your ass. You want to see the old YaYa, you’ve got her,” she promised. YaYa flipped the switch on the machines, turning them back on just as Indie, Agent Norris, and one of the doctors burst through the door.

  The bewilderment and confusion on all of their faces was evident. “What’s going on in here? Why was the door locked?” the doctor demanded as he rushed to Leah’s bedside and checked her vitals as he looked from Leah to YaYa.

  Leah was fading in and out as YaYa turned to the doctor and said, “I needed to prey over her.”

  The doctor had no idea that YaYa was truly acting as a predator, but Indie and Agent Norris knew exactly what she meant. “Please, she is in no condition for visitors and you also need your rest, Ms. Morgan.”

  “I’ll take her back to her room,” one of the nurses said.

  “That won’t be necessary, I’m taking her home,” Indie interjected.

  He picked YaYa up off of her feet and she rested her head on his chest as he carried her out of the hospital. “I wanted to kill her,” she whispered.

  “I know,” Indie said. He kissed the top of her head and didn’t look back as he walked her out of the front door. Chase waited curbside and hopped out of the car when he saw Norris coming after Indie in haste.

  “Mr. Perkins!” Norris shouted as he approached. Indie placed YaYa in the back seat and then met eyes with Chase.

  “Drive off. Get her lost. I’ll call you when I’m on my way to get the location,” Indie instructed.

  “I want to stay with you,” YaYa protested.

  “This isn’t up for debate, ma, I’ll catch up soon. Don’t give my nigga a hard time,” Indie said seriously.

  “Are you going to come back for me?” she asked, concerned about the state of her relationship.

  “Always,” he promised as he closed the door. He hit the top of the roof, signaling for Chase to pull off. He needed for YaYa to be tucked away somewhere safe. He wanted her untouchable until he could figure out what the next move would be.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? We both know what almost happened in that room. I need to question her,” Norris stated heatedly. “She’s supposed to be dead and I haven’t fully explained to my superiors why she isn’t. YaYa and I need to be telling the same story or I lose my fucking shield! They took her prints, drew her blood, she’s going to pull up in the system—”

  “You tell whatever story you need to tell to make her life normal again. We faked her death for her own protection right? Witness protection. Leah was too great of a threat.” He paused for a beat as he looked around before continuing. “I’m tired of my woman being a ghost. I’m tired of her living in fear. This entire thing ends now. Leah came for her! She is always going to come for her. YaYa isn’t built for any of this. The game, the pressure that comes with getting this much money, the enemies . . . she can’t handle it. I need her back and I need Leah gone.”

  “She’ll be arrested for attacking YaYa, the ADA will bring charges . . .”

  Indie didn’t even need to have concerns about Leah. He had tried everything except eliminating the problem himself. He wasn’t leaving her prosecution up to chance. After the danger she had cursed his family with he was going to take care of her personally. His bigger concern was YaYa’s return. For so long she had been underground, living under an assumed name. He needed her back and more importantly he needed to remind her of the little girl from the hood who he had fallen in love with. “It’s time for YaYa to come back. I’m not talking aliases and all that . . . I want Disaya Morgan, alive and well. Free from prosecution or any possible threat. What amount of money can make that happen?” he asked. “When I make her my wife I want to be speaking to Disaya, not some alias we’ve made up to keep her hidden from the world,” Indie said.

  “We do this right, Indie, my career is on the line,” Norris said in a low tone as he looked around cautiously.

  “I’ve got two million that says fuck your career. With that kind of paper you won’t need that badge,” Indie said.

  Visibly indecisive Norris shifted in his stance as he ruffled his hair in distress. “I can draw up paperwork . . . say I was hiding her under a protection order to keep Leah Richards from finding her.”

  “Whatever you have to do, make it happen,” Indie said. The authority in his voice left little room for rebuttal. “I’ll wait for the call.”

  When he was finally inside the privacy of a cab he allowed himself to process everything that had just occurred. He had walked out on the love of his life, left her vulnerable, and almost lost her because of it. The thought of what could have been burned his eyes as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was supposed to be her protector; there was no way that Leah should have ever gotten so close. He had tried to stay out of it, tried to dismiss Leah as just a crazy, jealous ex who needed help, but it was clear that she was a threat. She was as ruthless as they came and it was time for him to intervene. Indie had never taken a shot at anyone and missed so now that his crosshairs were set, Leah would not shimmy her way out of this one alive.

  Nothing but the sound of the vintage grandfather clock sounded off inside the 8,000–square foot log cabin as YaYa and Chase sat, waiting for Indie to arrive. It was a beautiful place, built from the ground up with modern finishes. It was supposed to have been the honeymoon spot for Indie and YaYa. Tucked away in the upstate mountains of New York and surrounded by nothing but vistas of snowcapped hills, it was perfect . . . or at least it would have been. Instead of making love by the crackling fireplace and celebrating their nuptials, YaYa was recovering from her run-in with her worst enemy.

  “You may as well go to sleep. Get some rest. It looks like you could use it. It took us six hours to get up here. With the roads as bad as they are Indie probably won’t make it until morning anyway,” Chase said. He was short with her and for good reason. YaYa had snak
ed Chase and ruined his friendship with Indie over pure lies. She knew that he had plenty of reason not to trust her. He wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice and she knew that he was in her presence out of obligation and loyalty to Indie. YaYa felt so badly about the deceitful things that she had done. Chase had been nothing but loyal in the past and she had tainted his character when she had spun her web of lies.

  “There is something I need to say to you, Chase,” YaYa said as she sat with her feet propped up on the couch. She still wore the thin hospital gown that had been issued to her and she shivered slightly from the draftiness of the large cabin.

  “You don’t have to say anything to me, YaYa. Last time we were this close, just the two of us, some foul shit popped off afterward. I just want to post up and enjoy this silence until Indie arrives,” he replied honestly. “I have no hard feelings, I just want to make sure there are no misunderstandings.”

  “I apologize for what I did to you, Chase. It was foul and I was in a really bad place. This entire beef with Leah turned me into somebody tha’ I’m not,” YaYa said.

  She quivered.

  “You’re cold?” Chase asked after a beat of silence.

  “Freezing and a little weak. My feet and fingers feel like they’re going to fall off,” she answered.

  He rose to his feet and grabbed a blanket off the sofa. He wrapped it around YaYa’s shoulders. “All is forgiven, YaYa,” he said. “It was never needed. Now relax and get some sleep. I’m sure Indie will wake you when he arrives.”