106

Luka was in a good mood at breakfast the next morning. He was allowed to have cereal because he promised Ava to eat four pieces of the cut up fruit which was in a bowl. He held up his end of the bargain and even ate a couple of extra pieces as he tried some of the fruits for the first time. 

“Luka, I need to run a couple of errands this morning. I won’t be gone for more than two hours. Would it be okay if Anna looked after you?” Ava asked him as they were almost finished eating. 

“Sure,” he agreed.

“Why can’t Jax and I look after him?” Zane asked. Ava was so surprised it took her a moment to collect herself.

“I just thought you had business to take care or,” she said. 

“Nothing that can’t hold off for an hour or two. Right Jax?”

“Right,” Jax agreed as he walked into the dining room. “What am I agreeing to?” he then asked. Ava smiled at him.

“That we have time to keep Luka company for a couple of hours this morning,” Zane explained.

“Sure thing, that sounds like a lot of fun,” Jax agreed, stealing a piece of bacon from the serving table and happily chewing on it. 

“Why don’t you sit down and eat with us?” Ava asked. 

“Not hungry. I already had breakfast with Linda before she headed for work,” he told her, snatching up another piece of bacon. Ava just smiled and shook her head. Sometimes it was like having a kid with Jax around. But he was a good man and Ava thought of him as a brother. 

“How about it, Luka?” she asked. The boy looked at Jax. Ava could see he didn’t trust the man yet. But then he looked at Zane and smiled. 

“Okay,” he said. 

“Then it’s settled. I’m sure Anna can find some paper and pens if you would like to colour,” Ava told him as they got up from the table.

“Luka, I thought we could spend the morning in the garden. Why don’t you go find Anna in the kitchen and see if she can find a baseball and maybe some cookies and lemonade,” Zane said. Luka nodded eagerly and headed for the kitchen. 

“What’s up?” Ava asked as soon as Luka was out of earshot. 

“Where are you going, angel?” Zane asked, stepping into her space. 

“I need to do some things,” she told him, being vague on purpose. 

“I thought you agreed to stay at the house for two weeks,” he pointed out. 

“I did. But things change and I need to do something.”

“Why aren’t you telling me what it is?” he asked. Ava felt the full force of his scrutinising gaze on her. Zane knew how to read her like a book. There were few things she could hide from him. And to be truthful, she didn’t want to hide things from him. But some things needed to be kept safe, even from him. She trusted him, but she also knew that she couldn’t force the same trust onto others. 

“Do you trust me, Zane?” she asked.

“With every piece of my being,” he said without hesitation. She smiled and kissed him.

“Then trust me when I say I can’t tell you,” she said. 

“Will you be in danger?”

“No. I would never put myself, or our baby, in danger without letting you know,” she told him. 

“You will take tree men with you,” he said. It was not a request.

“Okay, if you let me pic them.”

“Who will you pic?”

“Tom, Lucinda and Amy,” she said. He raised an eyebrow. “Any objections?”

“You usually don’t use Lucinda or Amy,” he pointed out.

“No, because I usually let you pic which people I use as bodyguards.”

“They are good at what they do, I’ll alow it,” he agreed. “But if you're not back in two hours on the dot, I’ll start tearing this city down piece by piece.” The threat did exciting things to Ava. Who knew she loved hearing a man threaten to tear a city down to find her? 

“I love you too, and don’t worry. Just have fun with Luka and Jax,” she told him and kissed him. “That goes for you too, Jax,” she told her friend and gave him a kiss on his cheek as she walked past him. 

“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked as he looked at Zane. “He’s in a bad mood with you going into the city.” Ava just laughed and when to find her bodyguards. 

Tom parked the car outside the women’s shelter. Ava put her hand on his shoulder.

“You stay in the car, Tom,” she told him.

“I don’t think the boss would like that, Mrs A,” he said, sounding uncertain. 

“I know you are a good man, Tom. I trust you and know you would never hurt a woman. But the women inside the shelter have been through things, they have the right to feel secure in the one place they know are open to them,” she said. He nodded, but he looked to hate it. With Lucinda and Amy flanking her, Ava walked to the front door and buzzed the intercom. 

“Yes?” a voice was heard from the speaker. 

“Hello, I’m Ava Velky. I’m here to see Fatima,” Ava said. There was a long silence, and then the door buzzed. The three of them walked inside. “Lucinda, could you wait here for me?” Ava asked as they walked into the common room. Lucinda looked as she was to object, but thought better of it and nodded. Ava took Amy and walked up the stairs to the second floor, where she knew Fatima had her office. Fatima stood outside her office and smiled at Ava.

The two of them hugged. After Zane had brought down Johnson and his business, Fatima had finally been free. She had no family to return to as her father had sold her to pay off his debts, just like Ava’s uncle had done. Ava had made sure Fatima got a place to stay and help to deal with what she had been through during her three years in captivity. Now the two of them were friends and Ava had seen the passion Fatima had for helping others and had put her as manager over the woman’s shelter she had made Zane build. 

“Ava, what a pleasant surprise. Is this an inspection?” Fatima asked.

“No, I needed to speak to you, my friend,” Ava said.

“Let’s talk in my office,” Fatima offered and opened the door. 

“Wait for me here, Amy,” Ava said and walked into the office with her friend. 

“Do you need help? We can have you safe in half an hour,” Fatima asked. Ava smiled. Her friend had never seen the side of Zane that Ava did. Fatima was dead set against Ava returning to him and was convinced she would one day need to be rescued from him. Ava knew Fatima had a plan ready for that day. She didn’t mind. She understood that after the life Fatima had lived, she would never trust a man like Zane. 

“No, I’m safe, as always,” Ava told her. “But I have found myself in a peculiar situation that I think you can help me with. So I’m asking you to listen to my story. I know how seriously you take the anonymity of the women and children who live here and I would never ask you to break it,” Ava continued. Her friend nodded and they sat down on the couch in her office. 

“Then how can I help you?” Fatima asked. 

“Listen to what I’m going to tell you,” Ava said.

“I can do that,” Fatima agreed.

“Yesterday, we had reason to pick up a man. This man is a bad man. He is an ex of my closest friend and was abusive towards him when they were together. Now he started to reach out to my friend again and I couldn’t have that. I was powerless before, but I’m not now.

Some of the boys picked up the man and we persuaded him it was in his best interest to stop doing what he was doing and made sure he got out of the state.” Fatima listened and frowned, but nodded. “When the boys picked the man up, he had a child, a boy, with him.

We took the child in. He’s a wonderful little thing but has had a hard life. He told me one day his mother had just disappeared and since then he had been alone with the man. We don’t know if the man is his father or not. But we kept the boy safe. I asked a friend to do some digging to see if we could find the boy’s mother. He found an eyewitness who saw the mother, in a bad state, going into Lady Gray’s tea shop,” Aya said.

“Oh,” Fatima said. Aya smiled and nodded. They both knew that the teashop served as a safe spot for women to go if they needed help. They had a connection to all the serious women’s shelters in the city and would make sure the woman was safe and could be picked up unnoticed.

“I’m telling you this as I know you know the story of most of the women here. If Luka’s mother is here, you would know. If she isn’t, you know the managers of the other shelters and can reach out. My wish is to reunite her with her son. Luka needs his mother. I promise we will do everything in our power to give the two of them a new life. They will be given new identities, fool proof ones, start out capital and safe passage to the place of their choosing,” Ava said. Fatima looked at her for a moment. 

“And I don’t need to tell you anything?” she asked Ava.

“No. I would like to meet the mother. But if she dosn’t want to, I will trust you will make sure she is safe for Luka to return to,” Ava told her. Fatima nodded again.

“Give me a day.”

“Take your time. Luka is safe with us for now. Zane seems to enjoy his company and it’s good practise for the future,” Ava said, placing her hand on her stomach. Fatima looked at the hand for a moment.

“Oh, Ava, you didn’t,” Fatima said. Ava frowned. She usually didn’t mind her friend’s objection to her relationship with Zane. But this was crossing a line. It was about their child. Her other hand joined her first on her stomach as if to protect it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. A child is always a gift. I’m happy for you,” Fatima said. It sounded forced but Ava didn’t know if it was because she hated the idea of the child or if it was due to Fatima not being able to have children after what Johnson had put her through. 

“Thank you. Please let me know what you can find out. I must be going. I promised Zane I wouldn’t be out too long.” Ava stood up and hugged her friend. She had a sudden need to go to Zane, she wanted his arms around her. “Home, please, Tom,” she said as they got into the car.