I sped back to Kim's house. I knew I should've gone home to my wife, but I put all our lives at risk now. If I never went to Kim's house that night, then I would not be in this situation right now. I'm always fucking shit up!

I was barely in the drive way before I hopped out of the car. I banged on the door until my knuckles ached. She opened the door with a cup of red wine in hand.

"Chris, what's going on?"

"Your fucking brother!"

"What did he do?"

"Followed me to the damn grocery store from your house!"

She shook her head, signaling me to come inside. I stood against the living room wall.

"Every time I feel sorry for you, you remind me of the stupid shit that you're capable of!" I shouted.

"You don't understand Chris!"

"Well enlighten me then!"

"My brother is dangerous!"

"I already know that Kim! Tell me something I don't know!"

"If I didn't bring you to him that night he would have killed you!"

"He told me that!"

"He would have killed me too!"

I stared at her. She turned her back to me and lifted her shirt up. Purple and blue bruises were etched into her skin.

"He did this to you?"

If she says yes then I am screwed.

"Yeah. If I didn't tell him where you lived, he was going to beat me until I died!"

"So instead you told him when I was coming over?"

"Yeah."

I stepped closer to her and she stepped back.

"Thank you," I said, fighting the urge to comfort her.

"He's crazy Chris.", she kept her head hung low.

"I know. He wants me to kill some random guy for him. He didn't want you to know."

"Oh my God!! Who is it?"

I pulled the guys photo out of my pocket.

"Do you know him?" I asked, hoping I could get some backstory on the poor victim.

"No. But if Will wants him dead and you don't do it, he'll kill you and your wife."

"Damn man!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know..."

"I can try to talk to him."

"No Kim, look what he's done to you already! Why would he do that to you, you're his sister!"

"Half-sister."

"Half?"

"Yeah, we have the same mother. She was a drug addict and we ended up growing up in foster homes together. Never knew our fathers."

"But why does he care about some gang more than he cares about you?"

"Because I didn't wanna be involved in that life. I wanted to go to school and be somebody. That gang is his life. His loyalty is only to them."

"So, what am I supposed to do? This guy won't hesitate to kill my family!"

"The best advice I have is to stay away from me and to do what he wants you to do."

She made it sound so simple. As if taking someone else's life was that easy.

As I walked out the door she called out to me, "Chris!"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Every time I stopped at a red light I looked at the picture. Killing this man was something I dreaded, but it was either him and his family or mine.

When I got home, Vanessa was sweeping the kitchen floor listening to classical music. I sat down at the table.

"Where are the groceries?" she asked.

"Oh, they're in the truck, I'll go get them."

My mind was racing with thoughts.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired."

"I didn't know grocery shopping could be so tiring," she said sarcastically.

"That's not the only place I went..."

"I'm listening."

 She sat down in the chair next to me and turned the music down on her phone.

"No, I didn't."

"Well, where else did you go?"

"To Kim's house."

"What!!?"

"Just listen."

She leaned back with her arms folder over her chest.

"I let everything go. For good. I will never see or speak of Kim again."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I want things to be better than they use to. I want to be the husband you deserve."

She smiled at me. I placed my hand on her stomach.

"How did she take it?"

"She understood. She took it better than I expected. According to her, she's going back to school and she found someone who she thinks she can settle down with."

I pulled that lie right out of the air.

"Good for her."

We sat in silence.

"Have you had sex with her lately?" she asked.

"No."

"I believe you."

"Thanks baby."

I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"If we're going to make this work, we have to trust each other," she said.

"I agree."

I got up and got the groceries out of the truck. We put them up together in the kitchen and it felt like we were making strides to be our old selves again. She fixed us both a cup of vanilla ice cream and we cuddled up on the couch. We laughed as we watched a comedy special. I tried my best to live in the moment, but Will's threat kept replaying over and over in my head. 

Vanessa and our unborn child are all I care about in this world. I couldn't let anything happen to them. Even if that meant ending someone else's life to save the lives of the one's I love.