Free It Could Happen Again (Zulu Spectre) by Aliyah Burke Page B

likely.” Still, regardless of that decision, she replayed Vic’s words of advice as she went to her room and shut herself behind the door.
    What harm would it do to forgive him? Would it change who she was now? Make her plans any different? Not likely. But she wouldn’t be carrying around all this anger and hurt. She spun around and opened the door a crack, only to freeze.
    A beautiful black woman was walking into his place.
    A week, it had been a week since she yelled at him. Perhaps he had moved on to something that was real. And perhaps now it was time for her to do so as well. Shutting the door, she squeezed her eyes against the pain that filled her. She rested her head against the wood and allowed herself a moment of self-pity wallowing. Just a moment, however, because she couldn’t blame him. She was the one who had slammed the door on their relationship. Fuck-buddy status, whatever it was they had.

Chapter Six
    Boston, Massachusetts
    “Thanks for the advice, Jack. I’m there, and about to do this now.”
    “You got it, Lights. See you when you get back.”
    Dale shoved his phone in his back pocket and climbed out of the taxi. “I’ll be right back; this won’t take long,” he said to the driver. Staring up at the large Cape Cod-style home before him, he sighed. It was impressive but the feeling he got from it was colder than the wind whipping unforgivingly around him.
    He strode up the walkway to the front door and rang the bell.
    A woman in a maid outfit answered. “Yes?”
    “May I speak to either Mr. or Mrs. Sumani, please?”
    “Who may I say is calling on them?”
    “Flight Leftenant Dale Curtayn.” He smoothed a hand down over his heavyweight blue-gray great coat.
    “Yes, sir.” She closed the door, and he waited, gazing around the neighborhood. He was being watched; he knew that. It was a feeling one learned to recognize out in the field, helped you stay alive.
    The door opened again, and she waved him in. “They will see you in the receiving room.”
    He walked silently across floors so shiny he could see his reflection in them. There was no character in this place. All statues and pictures. Just props. He didn’t feel life flowing through the walls as he did in Allie’s place.
    The maid silently opened a door, and he stepped through. A couple sat there. The man, in the largest chair, positioned to make him look to be in power. Beside him and slightly behind, sat a woman who had a niqab covering her face and a hijab.
    “Can I help you?”
    “Forgive my intrusion on you this afternoon. I am sorry to disturb you. I’ve come to talk to you about your daughter.”
    The man drew back slightly. “You know my Tidir? How do you know her?”
    “Not her. Allie.”
    “I have only one daughter.”
    Dale clenched his jaw. “Fine, claim what you want but we both know you have another daughter who is named Alimaia. You know, when you disclaimed her, ten years ago because she had moved in with a man then got kicked out, that man was me. I don’t know if you knew who I was, since you never came to our place to meet me, and I wasn’t welcome here. I made a mistake. Your daughter didn’t cheat on me. She’d never been anything less than faithful. All she wanted was to come home and find love when I wasn’t smart enough or good enough to give it to her.”
    He tugged on his glove. “Since then, I’ve grown up, gotten wiser, smarter. You, sir, are a failure of the greatest order for turning your back on your daughter. You, as well, ma’am. I want you to know, I’ve found her again, and I am going to win her back and marry her. Give her the love she so rightfully deserves. Had you just given her a chance, I’m sure you would have been proud of the woman she’s become. That’s all I had to say.” He turned away, only to pivot back. “Not true. I wanted to thank you for showing me how to be a better man. Because of your actions for my foolishness, you’ve shown me the type of man I never