was over. No more mystery about it. Benjamin had made efforts to prevent Aries’ conception to no avail, and when he’d seen him for the first time, looked into his child’s eyes knowing he was his, he’d rejected him all the same. That stung. Oh, dear God! Tears welled in Lauren’s eyes and she went after Aries, calling his name. Regret seized her. Guilt. Pangs of remorse. Why had she encouraged him to come here, to not give up? Aries would never admit he was hurting. He would never look her in her face and say, ‘I am in pain!’ When she burst out of the barn doors, he was already so far away, he looked like a mere speck on the grass.
“Aries!” she called out, sprinting after him. He finally stopped. As she gained momentum, she saw he kept his back to her. His motorcycle vest, the black leather with the cool patches and chains, seemed to her like a cloak fit to hide a crushed little boy trapped in a grown man’s tattooed body. One small being that refused to be seen. “Aries, please.”
He slowly turned around and faced her. Her heart fell to her damn toes, and her insides turned to jelly. In those amber eyes she could witness the agony she’d feared he would never release. The whites of his eyes bore a pinkish hue as if he’d been crying for hours, yet, not one tear fell. His hands fisted and he dropped his head, shaking it.
“Let’s just go,” he said.
Moments later, they were in his truck with ‘Good Feeling,’ by Jacquees, playing through the speakers. She placed her seatbelt on while the man kicked the car in reverse and sped down the driveway. She glanced at the radio, noticing he had it on an R&B station. She smiled to herself, knowing that was for her. Even during his emotional discomfort, he tried to make her feel okay. Once he got on the main drag, she took his hand. Minutes passed, but they felt like an eternity.
“Lauren, where to next?”
“Well, we can go get some dinner, take it back to my house or yours and—”
“No, we’ll eat a little later. I mean, what is the next property of my father’s? I want to get this over with.” He kept his eyes on the road.
“Aries, are you sure about this? I mean, it’s been a challenging day thus far. Is your mind right for another trip? Things could get worse.”
“No, they really can’t get worse, baby. You don’t get it. I expect nothing but shit from him. Pure shit.” He punched the steering wheel. “I want to find the pages to this fucking letter, all of ’em, and expose this man for who he is. Then I’ll show them to the lawyer and the rest of the money can be released to me so I can get on with my life. I don’t want this dragging out longer than it has to. I wanted to know who my father was. Well, looks like he’s telling me, now isn’t he? I need this over with. NOW.”
She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. After cracking her window, she snuck a glance at him and realized at that very moment, she just might be falling in love. On second thought, it wasn’t a ‘might.’
“It’s for you to choose, remember?”
“Well, the farm is done, baby. I’ve already searched his house a million times. I guess, uh, we can go to the closest place out this way, be practical with the gas and mileage.” She unrolled the papers she’d been reading earlier and scanned them again. “There was Japanese writing on this letter that was in the barn,” he added.
“Yeah. I noticed. When you calmed down, I was going to ask to scan that and use the translator app on my phone.” He pulled the letter out of his pocket and tossed it onto her lap.
“You can do it now.” When she did, he asked, “Well? What does it say?” He shot her a quick glance as the truck went up and down along a particularly hilly back road he’d decided to take.
“It says… it says, ‘I love you, Aries. Please don’t hate me.’
Aries turned up the music, gripped the steering wheel tight, and kept driving without saying a word. About fifteen minutes later, he pointed up ahead.
“Benjamin owns these two apartment buildings. In some of his notes, he called them the twin towers as some sort