Page 5 of Bittersweet Redemption

My heart is racing, and sweat that has nothing to do with how hot it is outside beads on my back. How could this happen? Out of every house in Georgia, how did I end up with this man as my neighbor?

Because if looks could kill, I’d be six feet under right now.

His brown eyes glare at me, making me feel like he’s trying to incinerate me where I stand.

“Mommy, Mr. Kai draws tattoos,” Roman informs me after Kai and I have stared at each other for a moment too long.

“That’s cool, buddy. Hey, can you run on back home and start cleaning up your cars for me, please?”

“But Mommy,” he whines.

“Now, Roman.” I don’t really care if he cleans up his cars, but I want him away from this man, especially when he looks like he might strangle me at any moment. Kai’s jaw twitches. I know he has something he wants to say to me, but I’d rather my kid not hear it because I’m sure kid-friendly words won’t be coming out of his mouth.

“Ok,” Roman agrees. “Bye, Mr. Kai.”

Kai breaks his stare with me and turns to my son. “Nice to meet you, kid.”

Roman smiles before he skips back towards our house.

I open my mouth to say something, though I’m not sure what, and Kai cuts me off. “You need to move.”

It’s not at all what I was expecting him to say. I thought he’d call me a bitch, a liar, a life ruiner. All of which would be justified. But telling me I need to move when I literally moved into my new house yesterday was not on my radar.

“What?” I question. Surely he’s not serious.

“You need to pack up your shit and leave. You can’t be my neighbor, and I was here first.” He crosses his arms over his chest, and I’m annoyed that my eyes flick to his biceps. They’re covered in black ink, but I can still see the muscle definition. I hate that he’s attractive. Couldn’t he have had eyes that weren’t a beautiful shade of gold? Or lips that weren’t quite as kissable? Or a body that wasn’t lean and strong? Is that really too much to ask?

I huff and put my hands on my hips. “You were here first? What, are we in kindergarten?”

“You. Need. To. Leave.” He enunciates each word as if I don’t understand him.

My back straightens, and my shoulders square. “I’m not moving.” It took me forever to find a house in a good part of town that I could afford. I’m not moving just because he doesn’t want me here. “We can pretend each other doesn’t exist. I won’t look your way; you won’t look mine.”

He scoffs, and his face fills with disgust. For a second, I’m worried he might spit on me or something. “You expect me to live next to the woman who ruined my life?”

I swallow down the tears threatening to fall because I will not cry. Not here. Not now. Not in front of him. He doesn’t need to know the regret I’ve lived with every day for the past decade. “I also helped fix it, though,” I point out lamely.

“Yeah, ten years too fucking late. You lied on the stand and then felt bad about it ten years later. Poor you. I had to spend the best part of my life locked up because of you.”

“I didn’t lie on the stand,” I tell him, which is wrong again. I did lie all those years ago. I had to. And I felt terrible about it. But I can’t have Kai know I lied because then I could go to jail, and there is no way I would leave Roman. No freaking way. I take a deep breath. “I didn’t lie. I thought I saw you, but now I’m not sure.”

“Why the fuck would I come back to a crime scene I just ran from?” His eyebrows crinkle together, and his eyes are filled with anger.

“People do that shit all the time!” We’re raising our voices now, and I can only hope that Roman can’t hear us. “Don’t you ever watch true crime documentaries?”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I spent ten years in prison watching true crime documentaries. That’s exactly what I wanted to do in fucking prison.”

I sigh. There’s no point in arguing about the past. What’s done is done. “Look, I’m sorry. I really am. I had some difficult things going on in my life. I know that’s not a good excuse, but sometimes your mind can play tricks on you, you know? Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” I’m trying to extend an olive branch here. He has every reason to be mad at me. We both know I didn’t see him at the robbery because he didn’t do it. But I can’t take back what I did back then or how I testified. All I can do now is try to make it right.

“You can move.”

“I can’t move. I just moved in. I signed a contract,” I explain.

Kai towers over me. It’s intimidating, and normally I would be terrified in a situation like this. But this move and this house were supposed to be a fresh start for Roman and me. That includes standing up for myself. I’ve let people walk all over me for way too long. No more.

“I’m sure there’s a way out of your contract. You only had like one piece of furniture to move, so I’m sure it won’t take long to re-pack.”

My face burns with embarrassment because he noticed I hardly have any possessions. “Oh, I didn’t realize you had time to watch me move in while you had your little plaything over.” I don’t know why I brought the woman up. She has nothing to do with this conversation. I just need him to know that I noticed his business while he was noticing mine.