He was sitting down in the coldest room he’d ever seen. With The Wall sitting next to him.

The Wall’s name was Ben, just Ben. He was the head of security of The Walsh company. He was big, no, make that huge. That’s why Luke decided to call him The Wall. He was like a wall. He kind of reminded him of The Thing, one of the Fantastic Four. Wasn’t the Thing’s name Ben too? He chuckled.

“What”

Luke almost flinched at the deep voice.

“Nothing”

The Wall looked at him for a while longer

“I am nervous, that’s all…”

“You are not going to faint on me or anything like that, are you?”

Luke smiled

“No, I don’t think so. The colonel scares me, does that make me stupid?”

“Yes”

Luke chuckled again, the guy was honest, that’s for sure.

“Punch me if I start getting hysterical”

“Okay”

Luke threw a glance at The Wall’s hands

“Mmmh, no, just touch me, that’ll be enough”

The Wall looked at him again

“If you think that you won’t be able to maintain a serene attitude maybe you should wait outside”

“No, I’ll do it, I have to…”

He looked at his own hands. He had to face him. The guy that almost killed his whole life. The guy that made their lives miserable for the last months. The guy that made him turn into his own husband’s stalker.

“Do you want me do the talking, just in case?”

”No”

The door opened and the colonel went inside with a warden. He made the colonel sit down on a chair facing Luke and The Wall and stood by the door. Luke looked at the colonel.

“Luke Snyder… what a surprise”

He turned to look at the warden

“Hey, Jack, let me introduce you to my daughter in law”

Luke could feel his anger rising up, he hated him. He could tell he was trying to provoke him. The last time they had to face each other Luke had ended up shouting and crying. He wasn’t going to do that today.

“Hello, Colonel Mayer”

The colonel pointed at The Wall

“Who’s that?”

“I am here to talk to you”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to a fag, so you can take your boyfriend here and go”

“I brought some papers for you to look at”

He put the papers on the table in front of the colonel

“What? A bank account?”

“This is my bank account in the Cayman Islands, and this is a letter we’ve sent.”

He showed the letter with all the info about the colonel, the photo, where to find him, and what would happen if Noah died.

“You are kidding, right?”

“No”

Keep calm, keep calm… You can do it, Luke, you can do it…

The colonel turned around to look at the warden

“Hey, take a look at this, Jack”

The warden didn’t move, didn’t even blink

“I can sue you for that, Mrs. Snyder, are you threatening me?”

“I am explaining to you that if something happens to me, to Noah or to any member of my family this man will come and”

“You are telling me that you have hired a hitman to kill me?”

“I haven’t hired anybody, Colonel”

“Here, with a prison warden present, you are telling me that if something happens to you this guy will come and kill me. Aren’t you a stupid litlle miss? You do know that this conversation is being recorded, right? That if something happens to me you’ll end up in jail, cos you are threatening me, stupid little bitch”

He smiled. What an evil smile… and he’s not caring much about what I am saying… shit… he’ll keep trying… He’ll kill Noah… The Wall looked at the warden and he left the room. The colonel saw it and looked at the Wall

“What? You’ve bribed Jack?”

“I am telling you to leave my family alone”

“How about that little cute boy? Aaron, right?”

Okay, no guy, no need to pay, he’ll kill him with his own hands and

The arm appeared out of nowhere and shot across the table to get hold of the colonel’s neck. He pushed him all the way into a wall cutting his air supply. The Wall put his face close to the colonel’s

“I am going to say this once, so you better listen. You are going to leave the Snyders alone. If anything happens to them you will die. Understood?”

The colonel couldn’t breath, let alone talk. You could tell that he was trying to but the grip of that big hand wasn’t leaving room for much.

“Understood?”

He loosened his grip and the colonel tried to get some air in his lungs

“Yes… yes…”

He tightened his hold on the colonel’s neck for a brief second and Luke saw the fear in his eyes. The Wall let go of him and the colonel fell on the floor

“Just so you know, no one bribed Jack, he’s a good friend”

He looked at Luke and motioned for him to get everything and move. Luke did it and they both left the room.

“Thanks, Jack, he’s gonna need a sec to recover”

“Okay, Ben”

“How’s the baby? Everything alright, I hope”

The warden smiled

“Yes, she’s beautiful”

“Good, good. I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Yes”

The Wall started walking towards the exit and Luke just followed him.

When they got to the car he looked at Ben. He was sitting down in the car looking ahead. If he was feeling something after that scene he was really good at hiding it.

“Thanks…”

“Aaron is your son, right?”

“Yes…”

“Smart kid?”

“Aha…”

“Good, I like kids, they are funny, aren’t they?”

Luke couldn’t believe it… the Wall actually liked something.

“You have any kids?”

“Nah, never married”

“Right… anyway… thank you”

“You are welcome”

Luke knew that thanks to that big guy they were free of the colonel. He saw it in his eyes, that fear. He did believe that he’ll die if anything happened to any Snyder… The Wall had saved them after all. He looked at him

“You are not going to hug me now, are you?”

Luke smiled

“I feel very tempted”

The Wall looked at him and Luke smiled at him again

“I think I’ll wait and let my husband hug me”

“Good”

He didn’t say another word for a long time. Not on the plane, not on the car going back home. When they arrived at Luke and Noah’s house Luke saw Aaron playing in the garden and Noah sitting down on the porch steps.

“That’s my family”

The Wall didn’t comment on it. Noah was standing up now

“Would you mind staying for a minute? I would like you to meet them”

“Okay”

They got out of the car and Luke looked at Noah and smiled.

“They look amazing, don’t they? My family…”

Noah smiled when he saw Luke’s face. Could it be possible? Were they free from his father? He let himself believe in happy endings when Luke hugged him and whispered in his ear

“We are free, it’s over”